Minneapolis, Minnesota — The SciTech Internship Program is now accepting student and company applications for the 2016-2017 program year. SciTech connects college students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors to internships in small Minnesota companies. SciTech is administered by the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) through a grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
College students who become interns will receive a paid work experience at STEM-based businesses statewide with potential for full-time employment. Businesses that hire interns receive a dollar for dollar matching grant to cover 50 percent of wages paid. The grants are capped at $2,500. To be eligible, businesses located in the 7-county metro area must have fewer than 150 employees worldwide, and Greater Minnesota businesses must have fewer than 250 employees worldwide. Students and businesses can view requirements and apply to take part in the program at https://scitechmn.org/.
“By 2020, Minnesota will have to fill 155,000 STEM jobs, making SciTech critical to our state’s future success,” said Margaret Anderson Kelliher, president & CEO of MHTA. “SciTech gives students high-quality, high-impact experiences in their field while also giving companies access to top talent that could become future hires. It’s exciting to see this program continuing to grow and thrive.”
“Minnesota is fortunate to have incredibly talented students and great companies looking for future talent,” said Becky Siekmeier, SciTech Program Director. “SciTech is bringing these two groups together, offering students valuable hands-on experience and businesses a low-risk way to evaluate talent. SciTech is an absolute win-win for everyone involved.”
“What I appreciate most about the SciTech Internship Program is that it allowed us to add capacity to our software development teams in order to get products developed and to market quicker while being able to train and evaluate potential future employees,” said Todd Pieper, VP of Client Services for GeoComm. “The process is very efficient, the interns exceeded expectations and the financial benefit to GeoComm is also very helpful.”
“Because of SciTech I was able to confidently reach out to employers and obtain an internship at the company of my dreams,” added Elizabeth Readel, a Chemistry Major at Gustavus. “While working here I was exposed to real world problem solving and the business side of chemistry. Aspen Research completely focused on making sure that I was treated as much like an analyst like the rest of my coworkers. They made sure that I received adequate training and real analyst work – not just washing the dishes and filing papers. I now understand the implications of dealing with customers and have also refined my chemical laboratory skills and feel confident on multiple lab instruments.”
SciTech was established in January, 2012 to offer college students pursuing STEM degrees the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge in solving real-world challenges. The program is designed to expand a pool of talent to support Minnesota companies commercializing new technology, products and processes. MHTA, through the SciTech program, has placed 600 students in internships since 2012. More than 1,100 students applied for internships in the last program year.
In the 2015 Legislative Session, the Minnesota Legislature increased funding for SciTech to $2 million over the 2016-2017 biennium. The funding is being used to double the number of matching grants, which are available on a first-come, first-hired basis.
A short promotional video can be found at https://youtu.be/c7h9pBa_orw.