The inaugural cohort of undergraduate interns in the CITRIS Workforce Innovation Program gained real-world experience in areas of tech innovation central to California’s future, while their hosts benefited from sharp minds and fresh perspectives.
This summer, 84 University of California undergraduates explored careers in aviation, climate resilience, digital health, robotics and semiconductors as interns in the eight-week CITRIS Workforce Innovation Program, which launched in spring 2022 with significant support from the state.
The students came from an array of backgrounds and academic majors, and they represented, in roughly equal numbers, the four campuses affiliated with the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS): UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz. They were matched with 45 different host organizations that ranged in size from small startups, nonprofits and campus laboratories to multinational corporations and national labs, with locations across the state and headquarters around the world.