What Industries Should I Look Into for a Summer Physics Internship?

[longbusy]

Hi all, I migrated from PF2, though I didn't have many posts. I just basically read as much information as I could. Everyone here has decent opinions and ideas.

I have a question for all your physics buffs. I am a Freshman in college majoring in Physics and I would like to intern at a company this summer. I live near Daytona Beach, FL, so I assume there will be plenty of places to look. If not in Daytona, Orlando definitely (long drive ).

Anyway... I would just like to gain some experience, even crunching numbers on a computer would be worthwhile. Are there any specific industries that I could look into?

I would just like to say thanks for your help!

Oh, and if this deserves to be in General Discussion, sorry!

 

[Njorl]

You might want to talk to someone at U of Central Florida's CREOL program. The have extensive industrial connections that like to use students I believe.

Try this link
[Removed Broken Link]

Njorl

 

[Nebula]

Hey longbusy you live in Daytona? Do you go to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University? Well even if you don't you are in for a treat, which you may or may not already know. Saturday March 29th at Embry Riddle Alan Guth author of The Inflationary Universe will be giving a talk as part of the day long Elston Relativity and Gravitation Symposium (ERGS), named in honor of the late Fred Elston, a longtime Embry-Riddle professor. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 8 p.m. in the L. Gale Lemerand Auditorium of the Capt. Willie Miller Instructional Center. The title of the talk is "Cosmic Inflation and the Acceleration of the Universe." I live on the other coast of Florida and I'm not sure if I will be able to make it. You might want to check it out, if you're interested in Cosmology.

As far as interning is concerned what are your qualifications: any design or computer programming experience?

 

[longbusy]

Nebula~

I've made use of Autocad Lite and I know a decent amount of Visual Basic and C++. By the end of this semester, I should be able to program a bit better in C++.

I currently am attending Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, but I live in Daytona during the summer away from college. I'll have to check out ERAU's schedule for the 29th. Thanks for the heads up!

Njorl~

Thanks for the link, I'll look up some information right now.

 

[Nebula]

I've made use of Autocad Lite and I know a decent amount of Visual Basic and C++. By the end of this semester, I should be able to program a bit better in C++.

Skills like those could help you get an engineering internship. There aren't to many Physics Labs and research facilities as there are various engineering firms. If you have a bit of engineering skills i.e. programming and design you should try to go after some engineering internships as well, since they closely parallel some aspects of applied physics. NASA also does internships but they have already stopped accepting applications for this year’s summer internship program, nevertheless it is something to maybe consider in the future.

 

[longbusy]

I was just thinking along the lines of companies in Florida. Instead of applying to NASA or to the REU program, maybe I could just intern at an engineering firm or some such thing like that.

I'll see what I can dredge up when I get back home to Daytona this weekend.

 

[nbo10]

I'm sure you could find an internship. I graduated from physics department at FIT 2 years ago, and had plenty of oppurtunities for jobs/internships around that area. The Cape is a big spot, but it might be getting kinda late to apply. I would talk to the faculty in the Physics department I'm sure they could help you out.

JMD

 

[longbusy]

Thanks! How did you like the program here?

 

[nbo10]

Well for going into graduate school, taking only the undergrad course's, you aren't going to be very prepared. If I didn't take an graduate courses at FIT I would have been so far behind, that it would have been difficult to keep up with everyone else. Now it's not all that bad, the math classes were great, especially the numerical classes by Jackson, I used techniques from those classes weekly. And the computational class was a full of useful information that I use all the time too.


I don't have specific info on industry side after undergrad but from what I see and people I know, The physics department does a good job of giving students a broad background so that they can go out into a variety of fields and be successful. That's probably one of the reasons for the insufficiencies of the program for preparing students to go into grad school.

If you have any other questions I'll be gald answer them, If I can.

JDM

 

[longbusy]

Thanks again! Do you have AIM or MSN? My e-mail is JJanneySG@hotmail.com and AIM is JJanneySG

I'd appreciate it if we could talk every now and then. My lab instructor (a teacher from Daytona) is going to talk to some of this contacts in Daytona to see about an internship.

Thanks for everyone for their help.

 

[nbo10]

My email is densmore.3@nd.edu, I don't have AIM, but I do have ICQ. email me and I'll give you the number.

JMD