The Experience that is shaping the rest of my life

By Hannah Hoag

Every spring millions of university students look for summer work. Some work in retail, others in the service industry, but those curious about science careers can find themselves redesigning mirrors for the Hubble Space Telescope, developing drugs or testing components of a particle accelerator. Internships exist in all sectors, from academic and research institutions to government laboratories to industry campuses.

A summer internship is a great way to get experience in a variety of settings. Students make valuable contacts, learn about lab culture or alternative careers, and may even get published. Moreover, undergraduates get a chance to try out academia or industry before taking the leap to graduate school.

Undergraduates often use the chance to explore research. Most research vacancies are found in academia or at centres such as the Harvard Stem Cell Institute or the Department of Energy's Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois. These programmes are mostly intended for undergraduates in their third and fourth years. "It tells them whether or not they are interested in doing research in astronomy or astrophysics, or whether they are interested in research at all," says the director of the summer internship programme at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Students there may spend their summer analysing data from X-ray satellites or looking for gas emissions from galactic clusters.

At NASA, summer students can participate in lab work at different research centres across the country. "One of NASA's missions is to inspire the next generation of explorers," says Dave Rosage, director of the NASA Academy and the NASA Robotics Academy at Goddard Space Flight Center, near Washington DC. Undergraduates in the summer research programme have a chance to conducthigh-risk cutting-edge research.

Interns work on research problems three days a week, with Thursdays and Fridays set aside for lectures, group project work and field trips to other NASA centres.

Abbott Laboratories in Illinois also brings graduates and undergraduates to its campus each summer to identify talented individuals, with the intention of hiring them as full-time employees. “Students leave with meaningful and transferable work experience”, says Christi Lehner, director of college relations.

In addition to research experience, summer internships are full of perks, which students may want to consider when choosing a programme. Lunch-and-learn sessions offer students a chance to interact with principle investigators, programme directors or vice-presidents.

"You can navigate your way through the organization once you have got through the door as an intern," says Lehner. "It opens up future positions throughout the company."

Most internships provide a window into research culture. At the end of the summer, the majority of students must present the fruits of their labours. It might be a poster for staff and parents or a presentation for board members.

Students often find themselves as co-authors on journal articles. Besides, choosing a supervisor for the final-year thesis is significantly easier when they can go into a meeting and talk about their summer research, list the techniques that they know and give a presentation.

An internship may provide a chance to try out an alternative career. At Jackson Laboratory, science students with an interest in writing can join the lab's public-relations staff for the summer. “They enjoy communicating and translating science to the general population," says Geiger. All in all, the experience and relationships gained from an internship can bring young scientists closer to achieving their dream jobs.

(Adapted from the http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/2006/060126/full/nj7075-504a.html)

 

Comprehension check

1. Work with a partner. Look back in the text. Find the expressions in bold and work out their meaning from the context. Use a dictionary if necessary.

2. Match the verbs in A with their complements in B. Translate the phrases into your native language.

A	B
make	a window into research culture
try out	research problems
sign	students a chance
analyze	the fruits of their labours
inspire	valuable contacts
work on	a presentation
offer	the contract
provide	data
present	academia or industry
give	the next generation of explorers

 

Discuss

Ø What are the benefits of internship?

Ø What kind of opportunities does it provide?

Ø Do you agree that internship is equally important to all university students?

Ø Are there any internship programmes available for students in your country?

Ø If not, do you think they would be popular with science students in this country? Why?/Why not?

 

Focus on language

1. Read the sentence from the text. Note how the structure of the sentence changes when it is reported.

§ “Students leave with meaningful and transferable work experience”, says Christi Lehner, director of college relations.

§ Christi Lehner, director of college relations said/agreed that students left with meaningful and transferable work experience.

 

 

Reported Speech Reported speech is used to express what others have said. It is also used when you are writing a paper at college level. In this case, it involves paraphrasing and summarizing what different authors have said. e.g.: Professor Jenkins said: “You have to submi t your course work on Friday.” Professor Jenkins said (that) we had to submit our course work on Friday.   Verbs of speaking + that Verbs of speaking + pronoun + that say agree explain reply complain suggest tell e.g.: “You are absolutely right!” – He told me (that) I was absolutely right. “I saw Professor Jenkins yesterday.” – She said (that) she had seen Professor Jenkins the day before yesterday. “Students have broken a lot of glassware today!” – The lab assistant complained that students had broken a lot of glassware that day.   Verbs of speaking + to + verb Verbs of speaking + noun/pronoun offer refuse agree introduce greet accept refuse explain interrupt e.g. “Look, I can’t go to the party tonight” – She refused to go to the party. “ Hello everybody, nice to see you.” – He greeted everybody. “Now let’s see how we can solve this equation.” – He explained (how to solve) the equation.

2. Complete the table to illustrate the basic rules for backshift when transforming direct speech into reported speech.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
now
	the day before
two days ago
	the week before
next year
	the next day / the following day
here
	that
these

3. Complete the table showing the change of tenses in reported speech.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Simple Present
Present Progressive
Simple Past
Present Perfect Simple
Past Perfect Simple
Past Progressive
Present Perfect Progressive
Past Perfect Progressive
Future (be going to)
Future (will)

 

4. Report what the former interns said about their experience.

 

 

Get real

Search the Internet to find information on the internship programmes in your field of science abroad. Choose the internship programme you would like to do best of all. Take notes about the programme under the following guidelines:

· Name of the job

· Opportunities for foreign students

· Duties involved

· Personal qualities required

· Skills and qualifications to gain

Present and discuss the information on the internship programmes you have found. See how many students would like to do it.

 

Reading

1. Work with a partner. Discuss these questions.

a) What kind of a job do you hope to get with your university degree?

b) What degree should you get to work in research areas?

c) Which would you prefer: to work in pure or applied science? Why?

d) Why do industries require the application of scientific knowledge?

2. As a class name as many science-related jobs as you can ending in -ist, - er / or, - ant / ent, - tian / cian. How many have you got?

 

3. Read the text and note down the names of the jobs that are new for you. In pairs compare your lists.