The Computer Science & Engineering Department encourages our students to get a taste of professional work in the field through internships by offering a course for internship credit, CSCE A395. Most students do internships full-time in the summer, but part-time work the academic year is also an option. 

Getting an Internship

It is the student’s responsibility to find their internship. The Department, College, and University sends out internship announcements and hosts career/job fairs, but it is up to the student to contact the employer to receive an internship offer

We encourage employers and students to find each other on handshake, http://uaa.joinhandshake.com. Handshake is a recruiting platform that allows employers to post job opportunities, students to post resumes, and both to make a connection.

Internship Requirements

CSCE A395 is Pass/No Pass and passing accrues 3 credits. It qualifies as an upper division elective for the CS and CSE degree programs.

To qualify for CSCE A395:

• A student must generally have completed CSCE A311, Data Structures & Algorithms. This means that eligible students will at least have completed introductory courses in Java, C++, and be able to construct moderately complex programs.  Exceptions are possible for students with additional skills and background.
• The internship must include work that exercises CS&E skills. Usually this means the job must require either programming, database, testing, computing research, or hardware/software analysis or design to received credit. IT-related work generally will not qualify. If you are not sure whether the work of a particular internship will qualify, please talk to the Department Chair.
• Time spent on the internship should occupy 10 or more working hours per week for a 15-week semester.

Internship Process

1. Find internship employment - Resources for finding an internship include:
   1. http://uaa.joinhandshake.com
   2. http://akdevalliance.com/
2. Submit a 1-2 paragraph description of the internship to the Department Chair to determine whether the job qualifies for the internship
3. Do the internship, documenting your work as you progress.
4. Upon completion:
   1. Turn in a final project report (see guidelines below).
   2. Get a letter from your supervisor that evaluates your job performance.
   3. Schedule and deliver a 15-minute presentation of your work.  Typically, this is given in Powerpoint format, but you are free to choose whatever medium you prefer.  Faculty members and other students may attend.
   4. Your instructor will assign a grade.

Final Project Report

Your final project report should include the following topics (as appropriate), and typically varies from 6-10 pages, not including code:

• Overview of the company or organization
• Overview of your project
• Planning process for your project
• Detailed analysis and design of your solution, including any architectural or block diagrams
• Description of your implementation
• User's Manual or screenshots of product
• Analysis or discussion of completed project
• Conclusions and lessons learned from the internship process; what might make it better
• Code listing or diagrams
• Supervisor's letter of evaluation

Include diagrams, figures, screen dumps, or other materials, as appropriate.  Be sure to check with your employer first about any potential legal issues regarding intellectual property.  If special considerations had to be taken with your employer regarding what can be disclosed, please explain in your final report.

Equity, Respect, and Safety

Members of UAA and visitors have the right to be free from all forms of gender and sex-based misconduct including sexual violence, sexual harassment, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. UAA expects all members of the community to conduct themselves in a manner that does not infringe upon the rights of others. Gender-based and sexual misconduct has a negative impact on members of our community. Therefore, UAA has a zero tolerance policy for gender-based and sexual misconduct. This extends to students that UAA places in internships.

For more information, visit https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/about/equity-and-compliance/

Past Internships

CS&E students have completed internships at a variety of organizations, including GCI, Resource Data Incorporated, the State of Alaska, Anchorage School District, Honeywell, the Municipality of Anchorage, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, and others.