CSE488
Internship in Computer Science
Course Information
| Semester: |
Spring 2009 - Fall 2009 |
| Time: |
No regular meeting time |
| Prerequisite: |
CSE major, U3 or U4 standing; permission of department |
| Goal: |
Provide a mechanism to gain professional skills, create personal contacts, and gain first hand experience in a computing-related field. |
| Instructor: |
Dr. Robert Kelly |
| E-mail: |
Robert.Kelly@stonybrook.edu |
| Office hours: |
Tuesdays, 10:00AM-11:30AM,
Wednesdays, 2:15PM-3:45PM,
and by appointment.
By appointment only during the summer. |
| Office location: |
Computer Science 2427, 2nd floor. |
Content
This course addresses participation in local, state, national, or international private enterprise, public agencies, or nonprofit institutions.
Students are required to submit a written proposal, progress reports, and a final report on their experience to the client and to the department.
May be repeated up to a limit of 12 Credits,
but CSE 488 and ISE 488 cannot be used as electives to satisfy CSE major requirements.
Background
If you are an international students holding an F-1 Student Visa,
you cannot work in the United States during your studies unless you receive
special permission. CPT, Curricular Practical Training,
is an employment authorization given to students during their studies.
This is a great chance to get hands-on-experience working for a company in the US
in a way that enhances your education.
To take advantage of this opportunity, you should:
- Schedule an appointment with an International Students advisor to discuss the process for applying for CPT.
- You should apply for a job. You can find a job through the various on-campus Job Fairs or through on-line services such as Monster.
Be sure to check with the Career Center for job opportunities. They are very helpful in all aspects
of job searching. You should check that the position offered is an internship and is available for F-1 Students. It is advisable to look for
a summer internship as this won’t deduct from the amount of time you might need for an OPT, a different program offered for graduating students.
- When a company offers you a position, you should inform your new employer that a process of 2 to 4 weeks might be needed before you can
start working.
- Download the CPT application form and complete it.
- Ask your employer to write a job offer letter. Your new employer should follow the instructions in the CPT application under ‘Employment
Job Offer’.
- Schedule an appointment with either the CSE488 instructor or with the Undergraduate Director, and ask him to
write a support letter for your employment. Follow the instructions in the CPT application under "Guidelines for Academic Advisors
Preparing the Support Letter." The support letter should explain why your internship is an "integral part of your program of study".
The University requires that your internship is either mandatory or else optional, but used to meet graduation requirements. Your CSE 488
advisor will review your academic record to ensure that the credits for the internship course are required to meet your graduation requirements.
- Fill out a "Permission to Enroll for Internship" form. You can find the form on the back of the wall of the Undergraduate Computer
Science secretary’s office. You may need to fill out an additional ‘Internship Agreement’ form for the Career Center; this form is also located
outside the Undergraduate secretary’s office.
- Once you have been approved to enroll for an internship, register for the CSE 488 course online.
- Make copies of all letters and forms and hand in your CPT application along with your I-20 form to International Students Services. Check
periodically with International Student Services to confirm that your CPT was approved.
- If you do not hold a Social Security Card, you will need to apply for one before you can start work. You can apply for your card through
the Social Security office in Patchogue.
Assignment Information
You are required to submit weekly status reports for this course. Each report should be sent to as a MS Word or PDF file attached to an e-mail.
The name of the file should include your last name (not mine) and the date of the end of the reporting period. For example, the file could be
named:
Kelly-050809.pdf
The weekly report should be between a half a page and a page and should contain:
- Student name
- Student ID
- Semester
- Accomplishments
- Planned activities for the following week
- Statement of relationship between activities and your Stony Brook coursework
At the end of the semester, you should submit a final report (approximately 5 pages) describing your internship activities. The filename of
the report should follow the same conventions as your weekly report, except that the semester and "-FinalReport" should replace the
date, as in:
Kelly-Summer09-FinalReport.pdf
The report should contain:
- Student name
- Student ID
- Semester
- Summary of semester internship activities
- Statement of computer science skills developed during the internship
- Statement of relationship between activities and your Stony Brook coursework
- Statement of the value of the internship experience in the development of your computer science skills
An excellent final report, although longer that required, was provided by Viraj Mehta.
His internship final report describes his experiences at JPMorgan Chase.
Grades and Exams
This is a three credit S/U graded course. Your final grade is based primarily on your weekly status reports and your final report.
The Pass/No Credit (P/NC) option is not available for this course.