Internships

Contents

Instructions Before Seeking an Internship

    1. Seek out volunteer opportunities to conduct research with faculty
    2.  When enrolled in Bioinformatics 1, student must meet with their faculty advisor, and write a cover letter and résumé/CV.
      • Your faculty advisor is NOT the Program Director who signed you into the program
      • You are notified of your faculty advisor by school email along with advisement hours during the advisement period. Otherwise, check the Department for office hours
    3. When enrolled in Bioinformatics 1, student must attend an Internship Symposium where students finishing the experience will defend their projects in an open oral examination.
    4. Students must submit a résumé/CV and personal statement to the Internship Coordinator prior to requesting a meeting regarding the Internship.
    5. Investigate Internship possibilities making use of the internship contacts before meeting with the Internship Coordinator to illustrate due diligence.
      • Deadlines and due dates for applications must be considered.
      • The internship coordinator periodically sends out announcements regarding opportunities. These come mostly in October/November for the next summer.
    6. Students can begin to apply for internships the semester before enrolling in the prerequisite courses, if they are to be taken concurrently. If not, student must begin to apply in the semester before enrolling in the second prerequisite course. 
    7. Interview for internship positions.
    8. In order to enroll on BIO4900, the following must all apply:
      • Permission to enroll will only be granted to those who supply a tentative Research Plan (proposal in the format provided in the manual) to the Internship Coordinator by 4 weeks prior to the initiation of the semester of intended registration. 
      • The prerequisite courses have been taken (but may be over-ridden)
      • The internship site has agreed to take the student and filled in the necessary paperwork.
      • The internship coordinator must have approved the internship.

Plan of Action

What is Med3910 or BIO4900?

MED3910 was the course number assigned to the capstone in the major for Biomedical Informatics. This course was later revised under the course number BIO4900 to reflect better the nature of this course as a capstone. This course requires a corresponding Internship experience where the student performs independent research in Biology, Bioinformatics or Health Informatics. Research requires that one asks a research question or has a hypothesis with a subsequent plan in examining and analyzing the data. The course number MED3910 is being phased out and not available. A research internship experience serves as partial fulfillment for the BIO4900 course as it serves the foundation of the course deliverables as described by the manual and grading rubrics.

BIO4900 is not a course that will accept clerical, data entry or secretarial internships as they do not have inherent research involved nor to they have the student illustrate the culmination of the degree.

Students MUST seek out internship opportunities on their own with the guidance of the Internship coordinator. Students should seek out these opportunities at least a year before intended graduation with the mindset that many opportunities only occur in the summer months. The Internship Coordinator will aid in review of critical application documents, such as the Cover letter (personal letter) and Curriculum Vitae (resume).

What are BIO4910 and BIO4920?

The combination of BIO4910/4920 are the substitution for BIO4900 where the student seeks out internal mentorship at New York City College of Technology for an appropriate experiential project that is approved by the Internship Coordinator. These are credit equivalent and fulfill the requirements of BIO4900. Registration for these courses also require permission by the Internship Coordinator, as well as a preliminary research plan. Mentorship by a faculty member is not an entitlement and requires the standard process of application directly to the faculty member. A Preliminary Project Proposal must be submitted to the Internship Coordinator at least 1 month prior to the initiation of intended semester of registration for approval. 

Introduction to the course

Welcome to the site for the Internship in Biomedical Informatics Course (MED 3910). This site will serve to give you information on finding and applying for internships as well as enrolling in the course. It is up to you to make sure that you keep an eye on dates and deadlines, check the calendar below and look for emails from the Internship Coordinator, Prof. Seto. The BIB club will also email you with opportunities for Internships, if you are a member of the club. Try to search relevant databases like Biotech Careers. It is the student’s responsibility to seek out internship opportunities that are relevant to the major. The Department does NOT place you.

Remember to be eligible to enroll in this course, you must have taken MED 4229, and BIO 3352, and be enrolled in the Biomedical Informatics Program. If you have not taken these classes and have found an Internship, contact the Internship Coordinator to discuss and you may receive permission to register. You will need the permission of the internship coordinator (who may over-ride the pre-requisites) and will only be admitted to the course upon providing a internship Research Plan. A preliminary Project Proposal/Research Plan should be provided to the Internship coordinator at least 2 weeks prior to the start of classes for the semester of intended registration.

Most programs only offer places to Interns with a GPA of 3.0 to 3.3 so competition is very high, you should apply early. Stand out when you apply. How do you do this? Have some research experience under your belt. Take part in  Undergraduate Research Programs available at City Tech. This way you have something to write about in your personal statement, you have something extra on your CV and you have a mentor who is capable of writing a good recommendation. A recommendation is not an entitlement for having sat through a course with an instructor. As the word implies, the recommender should be able to advocate on your behalf.

Grading

The Internship is graded as follows:
Spring 2019

Fall 2018

Spring 2018

 

Fall 2017

Summer 2017

  • Research Plan 10%
  • Introduction and Citations 5%
  • Student journal 7.5%
  • Midterm progress report 15%
  • Supervisor evaluations 20% (mid & final)
  • Final written report 25%
  • Oral presentation 17.5%

Spring 2017

  • Research Plan 10%
  • Student journal 10%
  • Midterm progress report 17.5%
  • Supervisor evaluations 20% (mid & final)
  • Final written report 25%
  • Oral presentation 17.5%

Fall 2016

  • Research Plan 10%
  • Student journal 10%
  • Midterm progress report 15%
  • Supervisor evaluations 30%
  • Final written report 20%
  • Oral presentation 15%