Internship Information

Internship Information

Internship Request Approval Procedure

All ECE graduate students who are interested in pursuing an internship and/or registering for credit hours while completing a degree program must submit the following forms via email to gradadvising@ece.ufl.edu by the below listed deadlines:

  • Fall Semester: August 1
  • Spring Semester: December 1
  • Summer Semester: May 2

Students must have completed at least 18 UF ECE graduate level credits, have a minimum major and cumulative GPA of 3.0, and be in good standing to be eligible to complete an internship. To be classified as an internship, job duties must consist of engineering design. Positions not acceptable for graduate internships include undergraduate level work, technician, data entry, clerical work, etc.

Paperwork MUST be approved BEFORE the registration deadline of the semester in which the student will intern. It takes approximately one week for this paperwork to be processed at the department level, so please plan accordingly.

International Students

International students who are interested in pursuing an internship should consult with the UFIC about the Curricular Practical Training (CPT) process before starting this procedure.

International students cannot delay their graduation date because of an internship. All international M.S. students must graduate by the second Spring that they are enrolled at UF.

International students on full-time internship (over 20 hours/week) must register for:
  • Fall/Spring: 3 credits of EGN 5949 Internship Work Experience. You may also register for up to 3 credits of EDGE coursework. International students on full-time internship may not register for more than 6 total credits (by UFIC rules).
  • Summer: 2 credits of EGN 5949 Internship Work Experience. You may also register for up to 3 credits of EDGE coursework. International students on full-time internship may not register for more than 6 total credits (by UFIC rules).
International students on part-time internship (20 hours/week or less) must register for:
  • Fall/Spring: 2 credits of EGN 5949 Internship Work Experience. You may also register for up to 7 credits of EDGE coursework. International students on part-time internship may not register for more than 9 total credits (by UFIC rules).
  • Summer: 1 credits of EGN 5949 Internship Work Experience. You may also register for up to 4 credits of EDGE coursework. International students on part-time internship may not register for more than 6 total credits (by UFIC rules).
To request approval for an internship, you will need to submit the following documents:
  • 1. Letter of Offer from Company on the Company’s Letterhead, Which Should Include the Following:
    • Start and end dates of internship —  must not interfere with academic deadlines. Verify these dates with the ECE Student Services Office (LAR 230) or with the Grad CalendarFor students on appointment (i.e., TA, RA), start and end dates of internship MUST NOT interfere with the start and end dates of their appointment. Verify these dates with the ECE Payroll Office ece-hr@eng.ufl.edu or the Grad Calendar.
    • Hourly rate or salary
    • Supervisor (who you report to) — should be an engineer
    • Duties — must clearly be engineering work that will contribute to your graduate education
    • Site where work will be performed
    • Signature from hiring authority
  • 2. A completed and accurate Graduate Internship Request Form
  • 3. CPT Departmental Authorization Form
  • 4. Registration Authorization Form
    • Non-thesis MS students are required to register for the appropriate number of credits of EGN 5949 (S/U). Students must find a faculty member in the ECE department to supervise these hours. The student and faculty must complete the EGN 5949 Registration Form. Graduate students may count a maximum of 6 credits of unstructured credit hours (EEL 5905, EEL 6905, and EGN 5949) toward their degree. Ph.D. and thesis MS students may instead choose to register for EGN 5949 or research hours if the internship is closely aligned with their research. Thesis or PhD students who want to register for the relevant research hours need to obtain approval from their advisor on the ECE Department Request for Graduate Internship Form.
  • 5. After submitting the forms above, students on an F-1 visa must request Curricular Practical Training via UFIC’s online system. Please designate the current ECE Graduate Advisor, Cynthia Turnercturner@ece.ufl.edu as the recommender. More information on CPT and the online request form is available on the UFIC web site.

U.S. Students

In order to request approval for an internship, you will need to submit the following documents:

1. Letter of Offer from Company on the Company’s Letterhead

  • Start and end dates of internship —  must not interfere with academic deadlines. Verify these dates with the ECE Student Services Office (LAR 230) or the Academic Calendar (Canvas)For students on appointment (i.e., TA, RA), start and end dates of internship MUST NOT interfere with the start and end dates of their appointment. Verify these dates with the ECE Payroll Office ece-hr@eng.ufl.edu or the Academic Calendar (Canvas).
  • Hourly rate or salary
  • Supervisor (who you report to) — should be an engineer
  • Duties — must clearly be engineering work that will contribute to your graduate education
  • Site where work will be performed
  • Signature from hiring authority

2. ECE Department Request for Graduate Internship Form

3. Appropriate Registration Authorization Form

  • Students who want to receive credit for their internship may register for 1-3 credit hours of EGN 5949 (S/U). Students must find a faculty member in the ECE department to supervise these hours. The student and faculty must complete the EGN 5949 Registration Form.  Graduate students may count a maximum of 6 credits of unstructured credit hours (EEL 5905, EEL 6905, and EGN 5949) toward their degree. Ph.D. and thesis MS students may instead choose to register for EGN 5949 or research hours if the internship is closely aligned with their research. Thesis or PhD students who want to register for the relevant research hours need to obtain approval from their advisor on the ECE Department Graduate Internship Request Form
  • Registration is not required for U.S. citizens unless they are completing a two semester internship.  Students who do not register for three consecutive semesters(including summer semesters) will be required to apply for readmission.

4. Recipients of the Graduate School Preeminence Award (GSPA)

  • GSPA recipients must have their faculty advisor(PI) send an email to the Graduate Advisor, Cynthia Turner (cturner@ece.ufl.edu), requesting that their award be deferred while on internship. Cynthia will submit a petition on the student’s behalf to the Graduate School requesting a deferral of the GSPA award.
  • Deferrals of GSPA awards MUST be approved by Graduate School before the start of the semester that students will be interning. Deferral requests must be made at least two weeks before the start of the interning semester. Requests not approved before the start of the internship semester may result in the loss of GSPA funds for the internship semester.

5. Recipients of the Dean’s Research Award (DRA)

  • Students are not permitted to defer DRA funding while on internship. DRA recipients who choose to complete an internship will forfeit their award during the internship semester(s). The DRA will resume once the student resumes their academic studies provided that their last semester of cohort funding has not expired.