{"id":207967,"date":"2024-12-17T12:37:20","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T22:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=207967"},"modified":"2024-12-17T14:31:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T00:31:17","slug":"akamai-internship-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/12\/17\/akamai-internship-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawai\u02bbi students needed: Apply now for STEM<\/abbr> workforce internship"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"W.
W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Akamai Internship Program<\/a>, a cornerstone of the Akamai Workforce Initiative, is opening doors for college students from Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> to explore career opportunities in STEM<\/abbr> (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields while contributing to the state\u2019s growing high-tech industry.<\/p>\n

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Applications for the summer 2025 session are now open<\/a>, offering students a chance to earn course credits at University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo<\/a> while gaining hands-on experience at observatories, tech companies, and research facilities across Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island, Maui, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. The program is open to students enrolled in any Â鶹´«Ã½campus, as well as those that are from Hawai\u02bbi studying on the U.S. continent.<\/p>\n

“The Akamai Program focuses on getting local students into local high-tech jobs\u2014especially with astronomy and space employers. Many kamaʻāina<\/span> (native-born) students study out of state for their undergraduate programs. The program gives them a connection with employers and they gain the skills, experience, and network to land a rewarding job at home,” said Lisa Hunter, director of the Akamai Workforce Initiative. “With a 25-year history, we now have hundreds of alumni employed across the islands.”<\/p>\n

Stipends, mentor matching<\/h2>\n

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The program runs from June 1 to August 8, 2025, offering interns a $4,400 stipend, housing (if needed), and travel support. Participants are matched with mentors in their field and complete a one-week preparatory course at UH<\/abbr> Hilo before embarking on their projects. The summer culminates with a public symposium where interns present their work.<\/p>\n

Local students needed <\/h2>\n

Akamai\u2019s focus on local talent is clear: 80% of interns are either graduates of local high schools or are currently enrolled at a UH<\/abbr> campus, and the program actively seeks to increase participation among underrepresented and underserved groups in STEM<\/abbr>. To date, 37% of alumni are women, 23% are Native Hawaiian, and 47% are from underrepresented minority groups.<\/p>\n

Led by the Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators (ISEE<\/abbr>) at the University of California Observatories in partnership with UH<\/abbr> Hilo and the UH<\/abbr> Institute for Astronomy (IfA<\/abbr>), the program has supported more than 500 interns since its inception in 2003. Nearly 90% of alumni have continued their STEM<\/abbr> studies or successfully transitioned into STEM<\/abbr> careers, with many contributing directly to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n

STEM<\/abbr> opportunities<\/h2>\n

Interns in recent years have been placed at many Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island firms including Canada-France-Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Telescope, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Electric Light Company, Gemini North Observatory, Liquid Robotics, Smithsonian Submillimeter Array, Academia Sinica Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Subaru Telescope, IfA<\/abbr>, U.S. Department of Agriculture and W. M. Keck Observatory.<\/p>\n

Maui placements have included Air Force Research Laboratory, Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, KBR<\/abbr>, Maui High Performance Computing Center, Pacific Disaster Center and Privateer Space.<\/p>\n

Opportunities also extend to the University of California Observatories, where interns work on projects related to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> telescopes.<\/p>\n

Akamai funders<\/h2>\n

Funded by organizations such as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the National Science Foundation, the Akamai Internship Program continues to serve as a vital pipeline for Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s STEM<\/abbr> workforce. Applications are due by February 7, 2025.<\/p>\n

For more information visit the Akamai Workforce Initiative website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The program runs from June 1 to August 8, 2025, and offers interns a $4,400 stipend, housing and travel support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[34,35,313,1164,14],"class_list":["post-207967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-astronomy","tag-institute-for-astronomy","tag-stem","tag-telescope","tag-uh-hilo","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207967"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208023,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207967\/revisions\/208023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}