The Internship Network in the Mathematical Sciences

A Short Guide for Academic Institutions

Introduction

This document summarizes the lessons learned during the five-year existence of the Internship Network in the Mathematical Sciences, which operated from 2020 to 2025. The goal of this NSF-funded program was to facilitate the integration of students into mathematical jobs in business, industry, or government (BIG) because although most students do not realize it, the majority of them will end up in such careers.

The program complemented the typical core education received by doctoral candidates in theoretical or applied mathematics with training sessions and industrial internships specifically tailored for these students. The three major components were:

  1. Developing and delivering technical training modules that covered basic Python programming, statistical methods, machine learning, and short open-ended projects involving real-world data. These intensive training sessions were scheduled on weekends to avoid competing with regular academic activities, as the program was extra-curricular for students. These workshops took place in-person except for the first year, when they were run remotely due to COVID-19.
  2. Developing and teaching professional training modules that focused on resume and interview preparation, networking, team work, and effective communications. Short training workshops that included hands-on practice sessions were held over Zoom on weekday evenings. Follow-up activities included online meetings with mentors to help students improve their skills, and to provide advice and feedback on job search strategies.
  3. Coordinating a summer internship job placement service tailored for participating students. Through its NSF grant funding, INMAS was able to provide part of the remuneration to students obtaining an internship through INMAS, therefore lowering the cost of participation for hosting companies and making the proposition more attractive to them.

From the perspective of BIG organizations hosting interns, the INMAS program provided:

  1. Access to a talent pool that helped industrial R&D succeed and integrate into a regional ecosystem.
  2. Cost-sharing of internships as an incentive for accepting interns trained in a discipline from which some organizations would not typically recruit.
  3. Opportunities for company personnel to mentor.

Finally, the INMAS program aimed at shifting the culture in academic institutions by demonstrating the benefits of a broader industrial engagement which increases the societal impact of mathematics. This activity involved:

  1. Maintaining timely communications with local champions in each of the participating nodes.
  2. Inquiring about the needs from the nodes through regular assessment surveys.
  3. Sharing the progress of participating students as measured through regular assessment exercises conducted by an external evaluator.
  4. Maintaining a network of students, professors and educators who are supportive of developing and providing role models for the next generation of mathematicians in BIG careers.

The purpose of this document is to provide a detailed road map and/or inspiration to institutions desiring to implement a similar or scaled-down version of a program addressing the needs identified by INMAS.

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