Industrial Internships

By combining the class room and the work place, a scientific internship in an industrial setting allows our students to apply skills which they are still in the process of mastering and reinforce their knowledge which they have just learned in the classroom. This real world experience also allows students to test their career goals, to build their professional foundations, and give them a competitive edge in the job marketplace.

At Rider University, we have established contacts and partnerships with many local chemical and pharmaceutical industries to facilitate the placement of students from our chemistry program through internships.

Internships can take two forms.

(1) An internship for college credit through the university
To get college credit for an internship, students register for the course "Internship in Science" IND-405. This course has a variable credit assignment of up to 3 credits per semester dependent upon the amount of contact time. A brief description for this course is as follows:
IND-405: Qualified students will work under joint supervision of a Rider University faculty member and a mentor from an organization or institution appropriate to the interests of the student. Prior to the initiation of the internship, a proposal will be prepared by the pared by the student in cooperation with the sponsoring faculty member and the mentor from the participating organization. This proposal will include an introduction, summary of methods and materials, what results are expected, how to evaluate the project results, and a timetable for completion of the project. Specific evaluation criteria will be developed by the faculty member and provided to the student for inclusion in the proposal before initiation of the internship. It is reasonable to assume that different projects, different interests and different opportunities will require differing modes of evaluation. Each internship project will include a paper to be submitted to the faculty and corporate mentors for evaluation. Participation in the Science Poster Session at the conclusion of the internship is expected.

(2) A paid internship through an individual company.
The second type of internship is a direct internship with a particular company. These take two forms. Summer internships and part time internships during the semester. Local industrial laboratories such as Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Wyeth-Ayerst and Betz Laboratories run summer internship programs for which students can apply early in the spring semester. Each summer many of our students readily find internship positions in these companies which pay reasonable wages for a summer job and provide a invaluable experience. Highly motivated and skilled students from our programs have been asked to stay on in their position in the company on a part-time basis during the semester. These positions are usually paid as well. We strongly encourage this for students who are able to continue in these positions during the semester and manage a full course load in excellent academic standing.

We find that students who have a taste for industrial science become even more motivated in the classroom. Finally, such partnerships with industry inform our faculty of the directions of industrial chemistry, which allows us to provide training in areas useful to industrial needs.