National Professional Science Master’s Association Conference November 14, 2013 By John Iacobucci j iacobuc@odu.edu

1. Commonwealth STEM Industry Internship Program National Professional Science Master’s Association Conference November 14, 2013 By John Iacobucci jiacobuc@odu.edu

2. Virginia Space Grant Consortium The Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) is a coalition of five Virginia colleges and universities, NASA, state educational agencies, Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, and other institutions representing diverse aerospace education and research. The VSGC offers scholarships, fellowships, internships, teacher/faculty professional development, student flight programs, pre-college student programs, and informal educational programs. Visitwww.vsgc.odu.edu

3. Virginia Space Grant Consortium NASA Langley Research Center NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility College of William and Mary Hampton University Old Dominion University University of Virginia Virginia Tech Virginia Community College System Virginia Department of Education State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Math Science Innovation Center Science Museum of Virginia Virginia Air and Space Center Center for Innovative Technology

4. An online brokering system matchingundergraduate STEM students to companies throughout Virginia that provide paid internship opportunities. Affords Virginia’s industries with unprecedented access to qualified internspursuing STEM-related careers. Aconduit between budding STEM talent and an industry workforce shortage. Seeks to keep STEM talent In Virginia! What is CSIIP? STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics 4

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6. How is it Funded? Funding in the Virginia biennium budget of $300K/year for the VSGC to implement, manage, and administer the program. The online CSIIP system is free to use for students, companies, and colleges and universities. 6

7. Student Eligibility Requirements • At least 18 years of age and attending a Virginia university, college, or community college. Virginia residents attending accredited out-of-state colleges may also apply. • A full-time undergraduate student, taking at least 12 credit hours per semester. • Must have completed at least 30 or more post-secondary education credits and are at least at rising sophomore status prior to the internship.  Seniors graduating at the end of the semester prior to an internship are also eligible to participate. • Majoring in a STEM related field. • U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident. • Must have a GPA of at least 2.7 on a 4.0 scale. 7

8. Benefits to Participation: • Students receive: • A convenient one-application process to reach many companies. • Their application rolled over for subsequent years. • Excellent hands-on experience related to their field of study. • A Certificate of Completion signed by Governor. • Companies receive: • Excellent free PR through the CSIIP: Website Link, Briefings/News Releases, Governor & Delegates, Plaque. • A large pool of quality students to meet their internship opportunities. • Opportunity to have VSGC find an intern for them saving Companies time and effort. • Opportunity for finding/evaluating potential future full-time employees. 8

9. Program Development • 1. Web Site Development: • Design/Implementation • Search Engine Optimization • 2. Reach Out To: • Students • Companies • Pilot Year Lessons Learned: • Reaching Out to Companies/ Students/Making Website Adjustments 9

10. Reaching out to Students/Companies – Pilot Year • Reaching out to students/Companies was done in parallel: • Companies and students started applying in September. However, companies were not allowed to begin their search until mid-February after students were vetted. Initially, students had to apply in “good faith”. • Reaching out to students was primarily done through collaboration with College/University Job Placement Offices. • Reaching out to companies was primarily done by partnering with Virginia Technology Councils. 10

11. CSIIP Partners… • All ten Virginia’s regional technology councils. • Virginia Manufacturers Association. • Virginia’s Society for Human Resource Managers. • sySTEMic Solutions. • Strong Support from the Governor’s office, including Virginia Secretaries of Commerce and Trade, Education, and Technology. 11

12. Web Site Development: • The VSGC Designed the website. We contracted with National Space Grant Foundation to develop the website. • Pluses: Able to use existing coding from other programs which led to a less expensive and faster implementation. • Minuses: Program was Implemented around a completely different existing application. • Search Engine Optimization • Not provided automatically. • Some features needs to be programmed/designed in (Web page tags, key words, etc.). • Need to setup outside links to your website! • Can pay some companies for this service. 12

13. Pilot Year Results: • First year results good for pilot year. • 95 companies, throughout Virginia registered with the CSIIP. • Over 187 internship positions were posted. • Over 500 students were prescreened and ready for internship placement. • During the pilot year, we placed 53 interns in paid positions with 29 companies. • Issues with companies concerned about sequestration and the economy. 13

14. Summer Forum Series 2013 • VSGC partnered with the IALR and NASA to produce 6 webcasts • Overall Theme: “Building Skills and Exploring Workforce Opportunities in STEM” • Webcasts are still available for viewing: CSIIP Home Page under “Events” icon. • Follow up forum and survey 14

15. Summer Forum Series 2013 Alice Scott, VP Virginia Manufacturers Association 15

16. Summer Forum Series 2013 Jim Cheng, Virginia Secretary of Trade and Commerce 16

17. Next Steps for 2013 – 2014 Year: • Student application process opened year-round. • Company registration process opened year-around. • Company search/placement process opened year-around. • Not just for Summer anymore. Now, CSIIP has options for spring, fall and summer placements. 17

18. Web Site Enhancements for 2014 • Students: • Ability to designate companies they are interested in and those companies are automatically sent their application. • Ability to not only search for internships by a specified region of Virginia, but from any specified address as well. • Ability to modify anything in their application, even after submittal. • Ability to easily roll over the data in their application from one year to the next. • Companies: • Ability to easily roll over the data in their registration/posted internships from one year to the next. • Ability to designate multiple company contacts. • In addition to other search criteria, the ability to search for students within a specified distance of their company’s location. • Enhance a Boolean search capability in conjunction with other search criteria. • Ability to specify & save multiple student search criteria, and if any students subsequently apply that meet these criteria, the company is automatically notified. 18

19. Reaching Out to Companies Lessons Learned: • More reliance on business association partners – particularly those that joined late in the program (VA SHRM, VMA, sySTEMic Solutions) • Email Blasts to their membership. • Posting a news release about the CSIIP with a link to our website from theirs. • Create additional Partners (VACE, Statewide chambers of commerce, workforce development centers, and others). • Reaching out directly to companies as well: • Obtain and work referrals from existing companies • Use of OneSource (looks promising for lead generation) • Attend more job fairs and professional meetings/conferences: Government Contractor Steering Committees, Titans breakfast, all partner conferences, chambers of commerce, etc. • Press releases (to more than 70 newspapers) • We need to develop and maintain a close personal relationship with participating companies. - Most Important! 19

20. Reaching Out to Students Lessons Learned: • We can continue rely on College/University Job placement Centers – but we need to market more directly as well: • Through College Career Counselors • Through College/University Professors • Through Student Unions • Through use of Press Releases whenever a student is placed • By attending university/college job fairs 20

21. Search Engine Optimization Lessons Learned: Put a news release and link to our website from any and all websites that will allow it. This includes all our partners, Virginia Schools, and we are even working with the Governors office. Website Demo 21