AccessComputing Student Internships

AccessComputing student interns have completed over 120 internships. They have worked on computing projects and research in industry settings, workshops, and labs. They have learned how to request reasonable accommodations, communicate with supervisors and co-workers, collaborate with others, and manage priorities. Their internship experiences have improved their resumes, helped them meet graduation requirements, improved their confidence, and further developed their network of professional contacts. As one student shared, "This experience would be very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve from regular course projects. It definitely will be a shining point on my resume. Consequently, it will help build my career in the near future."

Some specific examples of research projects include:

• A project called "Indoor Radio Propagation Analysis using RFID and WiFi Technologies" at the University of South Carolina.
• A project researching network activity and behavior at Clemson University to improve the end-user experience and make improvements to the network.

Further examples of paid internships completed by AccessComputing interns include:

• A manager of an assistive technology computing lab.
• A software engineering intern at IBM.
• A robotics interface research intern at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Research suggests that students who participate in work-based learning do better in school because they get to apply their knowledge in real-world settings, which reinforces learning from the classroom. As one student said, "I am very happy to get this research opportunity. This experience allows me to connect discrete knowledge points together, and most importantly, it allows me to apply knowledge, particularly in mathematics, to a more practical science and engineering field."

Computing students with disabilities in the United States are encouraged to contact AccessComputing staff to learn more by sending a message to accesscomp@uw.edu.