Industrial Internship Annual Celebration – UMass BTP Biotechnology Training Program

The BTP has a strong history of placing BTP trainees in Industrial Internships. Each fall we celebrate the BTP trainees who have completed their industrial internship during the past year at a celebration luncheon at the Historic Old Chapel. In September, just after returning from their internships, BTP industrial interns each present a 10-minute description of their internship experience over lunch in the historic Old Chapel.

Before we started the Annual Internship Celebration, we received feedback from faculty who viewed the industrial internships as a distraction from students’ progress toward degree completion. The success of the BTP internships has completely reversed that perception on our campus. In our recent external advisory review, one faculty member commented, “The students are much more focused and productive after the internships, so I am no longer concerned that internships increase time to degree.” Another faculty member whose student was an intern in the summer of 2019, “I am not worried. I know this will only make her research better.” To date, all of the BTP students have performed their industrial internships off site. Now that a number of companies have leased space in the IALS, we anticipate that the opportunities for students to experience industrial internships locally will also increase.

Due to the increased focus of the BTP on industrial internships, the number of graduate students outside of BTP who seek industrial internships and co-ops has increased, so we invite non-BTP students who are returning from internships to participate in the Internship Celebration as well.

2024 Industrial Internship Celebration