Automotive Engineering Internships

The Deep Orange internship is an exclusive alternative to the industry internship. As part of the Deep Orange project, each team member will demonstrate, conduct and document a unique engineering assignment as part of a large-scope team project. Within the Deep Orange team, each member will identify objectives, responsibilities, tasks, timelines and deliverables within the first two weeks of the start of each semester based on the higher-level goals and deliverables. Early termination (prior to completing six months) of the internship will result in a loss of credits that count towards completing the automotive engineering internship. Accumulated Deep Orange internship credits cannot be used to supplement credits earned from an industrial internship.

Procedures

1. FORMALLY APPLY The student must formally apply (letter, motivation, area of interest, copy of transcript, resume) for a Deep Orange internship. Specific instructions about the application process and timelines will be communicated to students.
2. OFFER LETTER If the student is selected for the Deep Orange internship, they will receive an offer letter on Clemson University letterhead. The offer will include the following components: job description; assistantship/scholarship information (if applicable); duration of the internship; and direct supervisor contact information.
3. ADVISOR APPROVAL The student will present the offer to their academic advisor for approval/disapproval.
4. GRC APPROVAL After advisor approval/disapproval, the student's advisor must forward the job offer to the Graduate Research Committee within the Department of Automotive Engineering for secondary approval.
5. REGISTRATION Notification of the GRC's decision will be sent to the student via email. The student will then register for AuE 890-400. Students typically register for three credits during the summer and three during the spring. Alternative registration plans should be discussed with the faculty in charge of that year's "Deep Orange" project.
6. EVALUATIONS The student will submit student and employer evaluations by the last day of class during the semester when the internship is completed. Students will use the online form to complete their experience evaluation. The student's supervisor must evaluate their performance using the online form.

Early termination (prior to completing six months) of the internship will result in a loss of credits that count towards completing the automotive engineering internship. Accumulated Deep Orange internship credits cannot be used to supplement credits earned from an industrial internship. Deep Orange students are required to remain with Deep Orange for the entire six-month duration with no exceptions.

Department Internship Procedure

Must be completed for all students hired as interns, even if they were previously Graduate Assistants*. In some rare instances, students may complete projects and/or work in a professor’s lab for internship credits.

1. OFFER LETTER The faculty member provides the student with an official offer letter. This should be on departmental letterhead and must contain a job description, internship duration details, compensation status (paid or unpaid), and number of hours to be worked each week. For paid internships, the letter must include salary information and the proper account number. The duration of the internship, hours to be worked, and account information will be used to put the student on the payroll. This information must be specific and accurate.
2. ADVISOR APPROVAL The student will present the offer to his/her advisor for approval. The advisor must show his/her approval by signing off on the offer letter.
3. GRC APPROVAL The advisor will submit the offer letter to the GRC for secondary approval.
4. OFFER APPROVAL The GRC will notify the staff internship coordinator whether the offer is approved or disapproved. The staff internship coordinator will let the student and his/her advisor and hiring professor (if not the advisor) know if the offer is approved.
5. PAYROLL SUBMITTAL If the internship is paid, the hiring professor will submit a copy of the offer letter to the payroll staff (Kim Phillips) for onboarding. Any additional onboarding paperwork will come from Kim.
6. REGISTRATION The student will then register for AuE 890 according to the following guidelines.
7. STUDENT REPORTS Students working on internal internships must submit the same reports required of students working on industrial internships.
8. EVALUATIONS The student will submit student and employer evaluations by the last day of class during the semester when the internship is completed. Students will use the online form to complete their evaluation of the experience. The student's supervisor must evaluate his/her performance using the online form

Internship Reports

Students working on internal internships must submit the same reports required of students working on industrial internships.

Report content requirements: Two pages describing the nature of the work being performed, what skills (engineering or other) the student has utilized to perform their tasks, and what skills they should acquire in the future to improve their performance.

Report format requirements: The two-page report should be submitted as a PDF and should use the following naming convention "Internship_Report_year_term_lastname.pdf."

Report deadlines: Reports are required for every semester that the student is enrolled in during their internship. The report due dates apply to each semester.

• Spring semester: Report by April 30th
• Fall semester: Report by November 30th
• Long summer semester: Report by July 30th

Submission instructions: Upload the document into your internship course in Canvas using the report format requirements above. Instructions on submitting assignments are available on Canvas.

International Students

International students must submit a completed IS-130, CPT Authorization Form, to the International Office. The IS-130 form can be submitted via e-mail to is@clemson.edu.

*Graduate Assistants: Students using an assistantship to meet their internship requirements must adhere to the rules for assistantships. Per the Graduate School, all students on assistantship must be enrolled full-time. A minimum enrollment of nine credit hours is required for an appointment as a graduate assistant during the academic year. The minimum enrollment in summer sessions is six credit hours for a long summer.

We encourage students to benefit from shorter summer internship opportunities, though these may not meet the criteria to count toward the position requirement.

International students, whether paid or unpaid, need CPT authorization, and the internship must be directly related to the student's field of study. The internship has to correlate with a class.

Short Internships

3-MONTH: If you have a three-month offer but have been told that this could be extended, you may want to take AuE 890 credit for the internship. You would follow the approval and registration directions outlined on the six-month internship accordion. The reporting requirements apply to all students in AuE 890. The benefit of signing up for AuE 890 credits during your first summer is that you could potentially graduate in May instead of August.

DOMESTIC: If you will NOT be using this internship to fulfill your graduation requirement, there is no paperwork to complete.

INTERNATIONAL: If you will NOT be using this internship to fulfill your graduation requirement, you can work through the co-op office to gain your authorization. You must complete the IS-130 CPT form and have both your academic advisor and the co-op office (864-656-3150) fill it out and sign off on it. When completing the IS-130, select the last choice (top of page two) under section III to explain why the CPT should be authorized. With this approach, you are only paying the co-op fee and will not be charged for tuition. This method is being used by some students who have an industrial internship for the summer but will later work on Deep Orange.

It is recommended that students complete a continuous six-month internship to maximize their experience; as long as six months are completed, it is acceptable to split up the internship. Deep Orange students are required to remain with Deep Orange for the entire six-month duration with no exceptions.

Students are encouraged to complete a continuous six-month internship to maximize their experience; however, it is acceptable to split the internship into parts as long as six months are completed at the same institution/company. The following steps are required to fully satisfy internship requirements.

1. SECURE INTERNSHIP The student will secure an internship with a company in the U.S. or abroad.
2. WRITTEN OFFER The internship offer must be in writing on the company’s letterhead. It must include the following components: job description, salary, duration of the internship, and direct supervisor contact information.
3. ADVISOR APPROVAL The student will present the offer to their advisor for approval. International students will need to complete the CPT Authorization form and submit this form with the offer to their advisor for approval. The student must get the appropriate signatures on this form.
4. GRC APPROVAL After advisor approval/disapproval, which must be indicated on the offer letter, the student’s advisor must forward the job offer to the Graduate Research Committee within the Department of Automotive Engineering for secondary approval/disapproval. The Graduate Research Committee will forward their decision regarding secondary approval to the staff member coordinating internships.
5. REGISTRATION Notification of the GRC's final decision will be e-mailed to both the student and advisor. The student will then register for AuE 8950. International students will register for INT 8010. Please work with the Student Services Coordinator if you have questions about which section(s) to register for.
6. STUDENT REPORTS Internship update reports are required for every semester that the student is enrolled during their internship.
7. EVALUATIONS The student will submit student and employer evaluations by the last day of class during the semester when the internship is completed. Students will use the online form to complete their evaluation of the experience. The student's supervisor must evaluate his/her performance using the online form.

Early termination (prior to completing six months) of the internship will result in a loss of credits that count towards the successful completion of the automotive engineering internship. Accumulated industrial internship credits cannot be used to supplement credits earned from a Deep Orange internship.

Internship Reports

Students working on internal internships must submit the same reports required of students working on industrial internships.

Report content requirements: Two pages describing the nature of the work being performed, what skills (engineering or other) the student has utilized to perform their tasks, and what skills they should acquire in the future to improve their performance.

Report format requirements: The two-page report should be submitted as a PDF and should use the following naming convention "Internship_Report_year_term_lastname.pdf."

Report deadlines: Reports are required for every semester that the student is enrolled in during their internship. The report due dates apply to each semester.

• Spring semester: Report by April 30th
• Fall semester: Report by November 30th
• Long summer semester: Report by July 30th

Submission instructions: Upload the document into your internship course in Canvas using the report format requirements above. Instructions on submitting assignments are available on Canvas.

International Internships

After the proper advisor approvals and signatures are secured, these forms must be filed with Clemson's international services office. For the most up-to-date and correct information regarding CPT and OPT, please contact International Services (is@clemson.edu or 864-656-3614).

International students must also apply for a social security number if they do not already have one. Social security numbers cannot be obtained more than 30 days before the start of your internship. Appointments are not necessary for the social security office, but students should remember that the offices (Greenville and Anderson) are open on weekdays from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. and should plan to arrive well before 3 p.m.

Students must reapply for CPT authorization and submit reduced course-load paperwork prior to the beginning of each semester. If you included the full date range for your internship on your IS-130 form, contact international services requesting that your CPT authorization be continued for the summer semester. If you have CPT authorization and only included the spring 2015 dates on your IS-130 form, you must submit a new IS-130 form and a copy of your offer letter to international services (is@clemson.edu).

It is NOT necessary for you to come back to campus to complete the paperwork. It is also not necessary for you to let the internship coordinator know that this has been done.

Additional Guidelines

• The students are expected to keep their faculty advisor informed of their progress during the internship period and of any issues that might arise. Timing of the internship: the internship is scheduled to begin in the fourth semester (their second spring in the program) of the M.S. students enrolled in the automotive engineering program. For students enrolled in the automotive engineering Ph.D. program, the internship can begin at any time after the student finishes his/her qualifying exam and is dependent on the student's progress in his/her research, which is evaluated through the student Ph.D. committee.
• The hosting company (internship provider) should be an automotive OEM, a supplier (tier1, 2, 3, etc), or a service provider to the automotive industry (IT support, simulation software, infrastructure, equipment supplier robotics, materials steel, paint), or a technical or research center/institute conducting research related to the automotive industry.
• Each internship provider and internship opportunity will be evaluated by the automotive engineering faculty; students should not attend any internship opportunity without the written approval of the automotive engineering program faculty.
• The students are expected to provide two documents upon finishing their internship, one is provided by the student to describe his/her specific tasks and job duties performed during their work, and the second is an evaluation of the internship provider. Additionally, the internship provider will be submitting a confidential report to describe the student's progress and performance during his/her internship. See appendix for sample reports, “Employer Evaluation Form”.
• The student internship will be considered successful (graded with an A or B grade) upon reviewing the two internship reports, “Employer Evaluation of Student”, and “Student Report”, by the faculty program coordinator.
• Students must not continue their internship search after signing an offer letter. The GRC and the department expect students to honor their commitments.
• The internships do not carry any commitment from the student, the sponsor, or the automotive engineering program of future employment, unless otherwise clearly indicated and a separate agreement was signed between the student and the internship provider.
• The financial compensation and other details are based on the internship provider's offer letter. Most employers will not provide for any provisional expenses (such as mortgages in the US) for students. Any specific details or student special requirements or needs are considered to be the student's responsibility to negotiate and include in the internship offer letter.
• The internships can be arranged through the automotive engineering program or independently by the student, as long as the internship provider meets and agrees to the automotive engineering and the Clemson University internship program regulations and procedures. Ultimately, it is the student's responsibility to secure an internship.
• During the internship duration, the student is still considered a Clemson University student abiding by the Clemson University rules and regulations. The student will be considered a part-time student in the automotive engineering program.