A Model for Successful Engineering Internship: Growing Our Own Future Engineers

UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute reported there has been a 60 percent drop in science and engineering majors among incoming college freshmen since the year 2000. Competition for the dwindling number of graduating entry-level engineers is fierce. At the same time, the academic experience of engineering rarely emulates what students can expect in the real world. Students need relevant work opportunities to validate their career plans while keeping them engaged in their engineering degree programs. Two years ago, we established an Internship Program to respond to both sides of this challenge. Internship expands the concept of training beyond enhancing the skills of existing staff, to include a company making a training investment in student engineers they might like to hire full-time someday. In this paper, we provide a template for our successful Internship Program as a model for other employers who would like to "grow their own" entry-level engineers.