How to Apply for an Off-Campus Research Internship (For Students)

Student in lab

A core mission of the College is to prepare our students for leadership and innovation. We aim to provide you with multidisciplinary discovery opportunities, in particular with industry. The College collaborates with industry partners to provide high impact opportunities to rising undergraduate students in the third year or more.

You would spend up to 20 hours per week during the fall or spring semester at the industry partner during the 16 weeks of a semester. If you will be seeking credit for the internship, you will need to identify a faculty or graduate student advisor to ensure that a related scientific question is developed as part of your work with the sponsoring partner.  The advisor meets on average with you biweekly and with the sponsor and you together monthly to monitor your progress. 

You are responsible for submitting a final report at the end of the experience. The internship sponsor is asked to review and approve the final report before submission to ensure that you fulfilled the objectives of the program. Students who are accepted for an internship may continue the same project in subsequent semester(s) if mutually agreed upon by the student, industry and faculty sponsor.

Please note that you may be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the sponsor, which may be a requirement to be accepted as an intern. These agreements are between you and the sponsor and do not involve the University.

Eligibility and Application Process

  • Junior and Senior undergraduate majors in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or Chemical Biology.
  • The College will list projects available through industry partners on this website.
  • Applications are collected and compiled by the College of Chemistry. They are then shared with each industry partner to enable them to select the student of their choice.
  • The College will review each student’s transcript and credits towards graduation to determine the impact of participating on the student’s expected graduation date.
  • To be considered, students must submit a 500-word statement of intent, resume, one reference letter and a work sample based on the specifics of the internship sponsorship, and if required by the sponsor, must be available for an interview.  Students will be evaluated for their maturity and evidence of ambition, work ethic, and motivation. 
  • Any work samples, when required, can include code, a lab report or design project from a previous course. The sponsors may list specific types of work samples for their specific projects, which will be described in the description of projects.
  • The letter of reference should come from someone who can speak to your qualifications as a student or professional. As such, personal reference letters will not be accepted.
  • Students may choose to enroll in an independent research course for credit while participating but are not required to do so.
  • Students may apply to no more than two specific projects per semester and may participate in only one.

Interested students are asked to download and complete this form and send it and necessary materials as one PDF file (two complete files if cover letters or other materials are specific to the project) to UG Research at ug_research@berkeley.edu. Recommendation letters may be sent separately to the email address. Please follow the calendar of due dates for the corresponding semester you wish to do an internship.

Internship Semester Materials Due by
Fall August 1
Spring January 5

Summer Internship Applications

Information on summer internships is coming soon, please check back again at a later date.

UC Berkeley is not directly involved in the application or selection for summer interships. To apply for a summer internship, students will contact the listed industry partner. 

Summer interns may be considered for the Fall as a continuing intern with a specific sponsor but must submit an application to be considered. This ensures fair and equitable access for all students who are applying.

Naget Carrick, Career Counselor

Najet Carrick

Career Adviser

If you are interested in off-campus research opportunities, please make an appointment with Najet via Handshake.

Questions?

For additional information or questions about the program please email:

ug_research@berkeley.edu