Internships
We encourage our students to do at least one internship in the course of their undergraduate career, as a complement to the formal academic training we offer. Students can obtain interesting positions where they can exercise the skills they learn in the classroom while exploring potential employers. Our rich environment of high-tech companies make this an attractive prospect.
The Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science participates in the MECOP program, which is an industry-run internship program that offers trained mentors and interesting experiences in a variety of regional companies. Students must interview to be accepted to the program. Once accepted, they do two six-month paid internships and graduate with a degree, a resume, and a network of potential employers.
The PSU/PDX Cooperative Education Program (PCEP) is a two year cooperative educational program in which Computer Science students work 20 hours per week at one of our local PCEP Partner companies in a series of defined internship roles, while concurrently taking eight credits each term at PSU. Undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to apply.
Local employers also seek out our students for less formal internship opportunities. We maintain a bulletin board where students can review jobs and internships related to Computer Science.
Research
We have a wide variety of research programs. Our faculty enjoy working with undergraduates and many of them have funding for summer jobs for students to work on research. Students can also get project credit for this work or can do unpaid projects during the academic year. Students who plan on advancing to graduate school are advised to accumulate research experience as undergraduates. We have placed students from our program at top schools such as Carnegie-Mellon, University of Washington, and Berkeley, based on this type of experience along with excellent grades.