Co-ops and Internships

Internship

The internship provides the student with the opportunity to practice and/or apply knowledge and skills in various civil and environmental engineering professional environments.

Students can receive 3 credits for doing an internship with engineering firms or government agencies. These 3 credits can only be used for technical electives. 

Co-op Internship

Many students pursue an internship to gain practical experience and enhance their credentials when looking for permanent employment after graduation. The School of Engineering and Rutgers' office of Career Exploration and Success organize career fairs and can provide other resources.

Course ID:  180: 496/497 ‘COOP CIV/ENV ENGG’   (3 credits)  

Catalog Description:  The internship provides the student with the opportunity to practice and/or apply knowledge and skills in various civil and environmental engineering professional environments. This internship is intended to provide a capstone experience to the student's undergraduate studies by integrating prior course work into a working engineering environment. The experience also motivates the student for further learning. The credits earned are the educational benefits of the experience.  

Eligibility:   Open only to cee junior (Summer only) and senior (Summer, Fall, Spring)  

Prerequisites:  Students must satisfy the following criteria to be eligible to enter an internship:

(i) Completed a minimum of 90 credits with a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5.  

(ii) Completed a minimum of 18 credits in the major, with a major cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5.

(iii) The Internship can be taken at the summer going into the junior year or senior year. The workload should follow a standard credit definition, i.e., 4 hours of work per week per credit for 14 weeks or 56 total hours per credit.  The student must spend a minimum of 12 to 15 hours per week to earn these 3 credits.

(iv) Students electing to participate in the Co-op Internship program for Pass/No credit cannot designate any additional Technical Electives as Pass/No Credit.

Registration for the co-op course is by special permission only.

To receive special permission (SPN) to register, you need to email the following items to the Undergraduate Director.  

1. An offer letter from the company/firm that is offering the internship that shows the type of work and the duration of the internship. The letter should be on the company letter head.

2. A completed copy of the COOP Form (form available next page)

3. A written proposal. The written proposal should include educational and professional benefits from the internship, anticipated engineering responsibilities at work, and expected project tasks if already known, how the internship can help in the future (about 150-250 words)

To receive a ‘PA’ grade and credits for the co-op, the student should submit a final report. The final report shall include project description, daily log and progress reports, any calculations, drawings, plots, photos, etc... that you worked on. Sample reports are available in the department office to help you with your final internship report. The final report should be submitted to the faculty advisor before the end of the semester in which the co-op is registered.