12 12 Interns: a key to the future In 2017, 344 students came to INL for internship positions in cybersecurity, rare-earth extraction, nuclear engineering, public outreach, geophysics, data visualization and more. One intern even traveled to and worked in France as part of her internship. In all, students from 84 universities and 10 high schools around the United States and overseas participated as interns. From the lab’s perspective, it isn’t just about attracting and developing future talent, but spreading awareness of what INL has to offer. This can result in more collaboration with industry, academia and other partners. From the point of view of the researcher, interns offer a number of advantages: fresh perspectives that allow them to think more openly about the research they’re doing, and assistance that allows them to engage in research they might not ordinarily have the time to pursue. INL internships have gained the reputation as being some of the best in the country, and demand for internships continued to grow in 2017. Applications for internships grew from 1,100 in 2015, to 1,600 in 2016, to 1,900 in 2017. Part of the appeal of an INL internship is the 80/20 philosophy: the goal is for interns to spend 80 percent of their time at INL with their mentor and apply their classroom knowledge to real-life work, and to spend 20 percent of their time in enrichment activities including workshops or skill- building activities. In 2017, INL offered more than 30 enrichment activities throughout the summer, including welcome breakfasts with senior leaders, a tour of INL (including a visit to the 890-square-mile Site where interns interfaced with researchers and walked through facilities), a science abstract writing class, a wilderness safety workshop, self- reflection workshops, a résumé and interviewing skills workshop, and the intern expo, where interns practiced presentation and communication skills. In 2017, University Partnerships staff attended over 30 targeted recruiting events with more than 60,000 students in attendance. At these events, staff not only looked for interns, they also represented INL as a whole and shared info about job opportunities, joint appointments, postdoctoral appointments and more. Where possible, technical personnel from INL also accompanied University Partnerships staff. Outreach efforts included participation in career fairs, meetings with professors, career center visits and student presentations. On top of that effort, INL representatives conducted outreach activities with 49 other universities.The end result was over 1,900 applicants from 261 universities. In summer 2017, $345,000 was awarded in support of INL’s Office of Science Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists Programs, which included the Visiting Faculty and Student Program, Student Undergraduate Laboratory Program, and Community College Internship Program. In all, this drew 32 program participants from across the nation. 2015 2016 2017 1,100 1,600 1,900 NUMBER OF INTERNSHIP APPLICATIONS