Internships allow students to experience work in their desired industry. Students and companies partner to combine classroom studies with supervised work experience, allowing students to apply their learnings to real-world projects. Exploring a professional setting helps students clarify career objectives, solidify networks, and build relevant experience for their resumes.

Each faculty member provides their own research opportunities to students, especially PhD and master students. The faculty may also provide research projects for undergraduates, partially as a supplement for the undergraduate curriculum. Students involved in undergraduate research work on cutting-edge scientific problems as part of a team comprising faculty, PhD students, master students, and other undergraduates. 

Industry Partnerships

Student internships contribute positive value for businesses of all scales. The Computer Science (CS) department seeks collaborations with employers to outline specific criteria for internships and to discover advantageous opportunities including correlations with coursework and student groups/clubs.  

We also host remote recruiting sessions from 4:00 to 4:50 pm on Mondays during the academic year (September through June). These sessions are well attended by enthusiastic and qualified Computer Science, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Data Science majors. Sessions typically involve a ~20-minute presentation followed by Q&A. 

Please email industry@cs.uoregon.edu for more information 

Employers may also connect with the University Career Center to post positions on Handshake and coordinate participation in Career Fairs and other recruiting/networking events 

Credit for Computer Science Internships  

CS and MACS majors may register for up to two credits of CS 404 (P/NP) per term during their internship.   

CS 407/507 Career/Internship Seminar

Requirements:  

• Students must register for credit before the internship begins (credit will not be awarded retroactively)  
• Internships must focus primarily on computer science learning activities and/or skills development  
• The learnings/skills must be at a technical level beyond Intermediate Data Structures (CS 313) - industry-grade software development under direct supervision of an industry mentor will typically qualify; being hired to build a simple website without supervision will certainly not 
• Organizations are expected to define your position as an internship and allocate time and resources to identifying mutual goals and providing supervision, feedback, and evaluation  
• Interns are expected to have direct and consistent contact with their industry mentor  
• Unpaid internships must follow the Fair Labor Standards Act internship criteria  
• Students should fill out an approval form and review this with a CS faculty adviser; the form must include the name of the company, type of work, duration of the internship, and contact information for the industry mentor 
• Students will be required to provide the faculty adviser with an update on their activities at a minimum every two weeks during the internship (at the discretion of the adviser) and a retrospective paper on their learnings at the end of their internship  
• CS 404 credits may be paired with CS 407 Career/Internship seminar credits for a total of four upper division elective credits  
• International students may be able to participate in the J-1 Student Intern Program  
• Please email internship-credit@cs.uoregon.edu for more information 

Advice for Landing an Internship

• Start early, applications often begin to close in January 
• Utilize the University Career Center to sharpen career skills (interviewing, resume, elevator-pitch)  
• Engage with as many resources as possible: Handshake, LinkedIn, Indeed, Career Fairs, Friends/Families/Neighbors  
• Post your resume on Handshake, LinkedIn, and your personal website  
• Post personal projects on GitHub  
• Include links to your LinkedIn and GitHub pages on your resume  
• Check campus for student groups and clubs related to your industry  
• Get involved with people building software (hackathons, game jams, design sprints, open-source projects, micro internships, programming competitions)  
• Work on developing soft skills that can strengthen and distinguish you as a candidate (working service/communication roles, volunteering, learning industry-related tools, group projects)  
• Seek advice from advisers, professors, family, friends, and anyone in tech; a single session can help outline things you may have overlooked  
• Take the CS 407/507 Career/Internship seminar after taking CS 212 – it's offered every term 

Internship-prep Timeline  

Presented as a blueprint for your preparation and search – it’s never too late to do any of these. 

CS Seminars and Individual Study Courses 

Individual study courses (40x courses) provide upper division Computer Science students with an opportunity to learn outside of a regular classroom setting, for example, in seminars or individualized study courses such as internship or research. Out-of-classroom learning experiences can greatly enrich the undergraduate major; students are encouraged to explore 40x opportunities and to schedule an appointment to discuss any of them with a CS faculty advisor. 

To register for an individual study course, students should fill out an Individualized Study Approval Form and review this with a CS advisor or faculty supervisor. Students must have completed CS 313 to be eligible to register for CS 40x courses.  All 40x courses (except for some 407 seminars) require instructor approval. Signed forms should be submitted at the Computer Science office, where proposals will be processed. Students will be notified by email when they are able to register for the class.  

All 40x courses (except CS 405 Reading) are Pass/NoPass only. 

A maximum of 8 credits in CS courses with numbers less than 410 may be applied to the Computer Science major upper-division electives requirement. Courses numbered 400-409 may be taken for a maximum of 4 credits when used to satisfy this requirement.  Courses numbered 399, 407, or 410 may be repeated only with different course subtitles. 

More information about individual study courses (CS 40x) is here. 

Technical/Trade Organizations

Participating Companies/Organizations

Please contact industry@cs.uoregon.edu if you are interested in partnering with us! 

Additional Internships