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Purpose
An internship provides an opportunity for a student to work in an
industrial, government, or academic environment under the direction of
a supervisor representing the interests of the employer and to
experience first hand what chemists do in a professional setting.
Normally the employer will be a business in which products or services
are sold for profit or a governmental or academic agency performing
prescribed specific functions.
An internship can be a valuable addition to the normal academic
program and can strengthen the resume of a student seeking employment
in their profession. Usually the internship is arranged by the student
and often the arrangements are independent from the chemistry
department.
To promote internships, the chemistry department now
1) provides the means to obtain some academic credit for
internships and to formally acknowledge internship credit on the
transcript (CH 410)
2) has established a list of contacts with local Oregon industries for
external internships
3) has established some internal internships within the department
Types of
Interships available are:
External internships - working
experiences in which the intern supervisor is outside of the OSU
chemistry department
Internal internships - working experiences within the chemistry
department, the intern supervisor is a chemistry faculty member at OSU
Timing
All chemistry majors are encouraged to consider an internship; however,
it is important to have made significant progress toward completing the
first two years of the chemistry curriculum (i.e., one year of general
chemistry with lab; one year of physics with lab; one year of organic
chemistry lecture; two terms of organic or experimental chemistry lab;
and differential and integral calculus) before applying.
Grading and Credits
CH 410 may be taken for a letter grade (A-F) or on a S/U basis and is a
variable credit course (1-3 cr). A grade of satisfactory (S) is
equivalent to a letter grade of C- or better (AR18.a.3).
Credit restrictions for CH 410:
maximum per term: 3 cr (during academic year but 6 cr in summer)
total allowed on program: 6 cr
total counting for CSEa: 3 cr
a CSE designates career supportive electives which are
a component of the advanced chemistry and biochemistry options for the
B.S. degree and of the B.A. degree.
Use for a career supportive
elective:
CH 410 must be taken on a letter-grade basis (not S/U) to count as a
CSE.
CH 410 may count as a "laboratory course" in the CSE credits only
if it is an external internship and certified by the OSU academic
liaison. To be a laboratory course, the primary emphasis of the
internship must be laboratory work and involve the student in
learning new laboratory skills and methodology different from
those addressed in the student's normal laboratory courses at
OSU. In general, internships involving routine measurements or
primarily data entry are not considered "laboratory" courses.
Internal internships such as the teaching internship are not laboratory
courses.
Expectations
For each credit of CH 410, the student is expected to work a minimum of
3 hours per week of focused work over the 10-week academic quarter, or
30 - 40 hours per academic quarter.
A student may enroll for internship credit for more than one term;
however, it is expected that the internship experience will be
different for each subsequent term.
Internships may unpaid or paid (usually paid hourly by the
employer). Internships are usually part-time during the school
year but can be full time during the summer. Students who enroll
for an internship during the academic year along with other course work
at OSU should take a lighter load. A 3-cr internship should be
considered to be equivalent to a normal 3-cr course in terms of time
commitment.
Difference between internship
(CH 410) and research (CH 401)
Undergraduate Research is an opportunity for the student to work with a
research scientist on new and open-ended scientific projects with the
goal to experience first hand aspects of performing independent
research. If the research is to be conducted at OSU, the student
generally registers for CH 401 and receives academic credit for the
work. If the research is conducted in another department or is
off-campus, the student, the academic advisor (or another faculty
member), and the off-campus mentor agree on the terms of the research
project (e.g., hours of work, hours of academic credit, final products,
etc.). See the policies webpage
for more
details.
Student researchers may apply for fellowships to support
their research work at various academic, government, or private
laboratories (e.g., URISC (OSU); ERULF(DOE); REU( NSF), etc.).
Often summer research programs are entitled "summer
research internships". Usually students should enroll for CH 401
if the program is clearly an undergraduate research program.
Students should enroll in CH 410 rather than CH 401 if the
primary emphasis of a program is directed toward a service or product
for profit or a service provided by a government agency rather than
research.
External
Intership
Application
The goals and expectations of an external internship learning
experience are to be established well in advance of the start of the
internship. These goals and expectations are agreed upon by the intern
supervisor (professional scientist or engineer at the site of the
internship), the OSU academic liaison (usually the student’s academic
advisor or other designated faculty member), and the student, and then
recorded on the form provided entitled, "Internship Learning Agreement."
Student Internship
Agreement Form,
Department of Chemistry, OSU
This document must be filed with the academic liaison before the
student enrolls in CH 410. The OSU academic liaison will contact
the external intern supervisor of the student to confirm that the
program is appropriate and arrange for the intern supervisor to send a
letter evaluating the student's performance at the end of the
internship.
The student must also submit to the chemistry office an "APPROVAL FORM
FOR BLANKET NUMBER COURSES IN CHEMISTRY" that is signed by the faculty
advisor in order to enroll in CH 410.
Approval Form for
Blanket
number courses
Be sure to enroll in the section number 021 denoted
internship/external
The directions for filling out the internship form and the
accompanying approval for for blanket number courses is given below:
Directions for Filling Out the
forms
for the external internship
By Wednesday of finals week of the term enrolled, the student must
submit to his or her OSU academic liaison a three-page (about 1000
word) final report and arrange for the intern supervisor to submit an
evaluation letter to the academic liaison. The report should address
the following issues: how the work completed supported the
student's career goals as outlined in the original agreement, what
skills were learned beyond what was expected, what expertise was gained
about specific techniques, and what was learned about communication,
organization, and teamwork issues. The OSU academic liaison will
submit a letter grade based on the student's report and intern
supervisor's letter.
For a list of possible External
Internships, see this page.
Internal
Intership
Application
For an internal internship (within the chemistry department), the
intern supervisor is a faculty member in the OSU chemistry department.
The requirements for an internal internship are specified in a separate
document for that specific internship. The student must also
submit to the chemistry office an "APPROVAL FORM FOR BLANKET NUMBER
COURSES IN CHEMISTRY" that is signed by the faculty advisor in order to
enroll in CH 410.
Approval Form for
Blanket
number courses
Currently the department offers two internal internships:
1) internship/teaching -
CH 410,
section 001
2) internship/lab
development
- CH 410, section 011
Special Internships that are
designated for specific options
Currently, CH 410 is a component of the forensic science option.
A 2 to 3 cr external internship in a crime lab is one of the
possible elective courses. This external internship is arranged
by the student and is generally unpaid.
last updated 03/26/2004
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