Program Categories: For Students & Educators

Program Overview

It is essential that our life sciences ecosystem values and embraces a diverse workforce. It is not only about equal representation, it is about the strong business case, the bottom line, and ensuring the next big breakthroughs to save lives and improve patient outcomes. That’s why here in Massachusetts, we know that the strongest life sciences sector is a diverse one.

The Massachusetts life Sciences Center (MLSC) has partnered with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) on the Ernest E. Just Life Sciences Initiative , which creates internship opportunities in the Boston-area for students enrolled in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The second round of the program will offer internships during the summer of 2023. Students will gain valuable experience and a network of professionals to pave a path for a fulfilling career in the life sciences.

UNCF will help provide transportation, housing, and other vital wrap around services to ensure students have a welcoming, memorable, and rewarding time in Boston this summer. Please note that the program is currently offering on-site for lab opportunities only.

Impact from HBCU Schools

Black professionals face underrepresentation in STEM fields, but HBCUs help close that gap. In 2019, 27 percent of all Black STEM graduates received HBCU degrees. Between 1995-2004, 46 percent of Black woman STEM degree-holders graduated from an HBCU. At the doctoral level, nearly 30 percent of Black graduates with a doctorate in science or engineering attended an HBCU.

HBCU students have an advantage long past graduation. A whopping 25 percent of African American graduates with STEM degrees come from HBCUs. Eight HBCUs were among the top 20 institutions to award the most science and engineering bachelor’s degrees to black graduates from 2008-2012.

Though HBCUs make up only three percent of the country’s colleges and universities, they enroll 10 percent of all African American students and produce almost 20 percent of all African American graduates.

Impact on the Ecosystem

In the inaugural year, the initiative created 23 meaningful internship opportunities in the Boston-area for students enrolled in MSI including HBCUs through the MLSC’s Internship Challenge program and the partnership of life sciences companies. The Initiative provided students an opportunity to spend 10 weeks interning at various participating host companies from small to large size life sciences companies.

In addition to internship funding, the MLSC is proud to support the Ernest E. Just Life Sciences Initiative with $100,000 in additional funding to create internship opportunities in the Boston-area for students enrolled in the program.

Connect with us to Learn More

If you have further questions regarding the application process, please email: internship@masslifesciences.com.

Program Overview

As part of an ongoing and strategic effort to support the development of a diverse workforce talent pipeline for the life sciences industry, the MLSC partnered with MassBio, MassBioEd, Life Science Cares, and Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI) to launch Project Onramp. The program creates paid summer internships for Massachusetts college students who are under-resourced and often first-generation, helping to bridge the opportunity gap for these promising young people. Project Onramp also provides wraparound training and support for interns and their supervisors.

A primary Project Onramp partner is Bottom Line, a nationally acclaimed nonprofit that helps students from low-income backgrounds get into college and successfully graduate. Bottom Line provides our Life Science Scholars with one-on-one support every step of the way. Project Onramp also partners with Thrive Scholars and Minds Matter Boston, which are non-profits giving high-achieving, low-income students the opportunities they need to thrive at top colleges, and in meaningful careers.

Eligibility & Evaluation

Participating companies with 100 employees or fewer are eligible to apply for reimbursement of up to $9,600 per intern (up to two) through the MLSC Internship Challenge.

Resources

Project Onramp Website

Sponsor an Intern

Impact on the Ecosystem

Diversity is key to our state’s competitiveness and the MLSC is proud to work alongside the industry to ensure the sciences become more inclusive. Project Onramp is breaking down barriers and facilitating students on a pathway to success—while helping life sciences companies build a more diverse talent pipeline for the growing needs of the industry. These internship opportunities serve as a stepping-stone to a rewarding career for a talent pool that has typically had difficulty gaining access to the life science industry. The program will give the students – many of them the first in their families to attend college – hands-on experience and a valuable start towards a career in biotechnology. It will also help growing Massachusetts life sciences companies fill the  positions anticipated across the industry. In its first four years, the program facilitated 390 internships with more than 100 different companies.

Connect with us to Learn More

If you have any questions, please email Ruby Kim, Project Onramp Manager with Life Sciences Cares, at Ruby@lifesciencecares.org.

Program Overview

Investing in the next generation of life science professionals is at the core of our mission. The Internship Challenge enhances the talent pipeline for the Massachusetts life sciences industry by creating hundreds of new internship opportunities each year for college students and recent graduates interested in life sciences careers. The workforce development program connects employers with prospective interns through an online platform and enables eligible companies to pay their interns for up to twelve weeks by subsidizing intern wages.

Internships can be part- or full-time and can take place throughout the 12-month Program Year, which runs from May 1 through April 30. Beginning May 1, 2023, the MLSC will reimburse eligible organizations at pay rates up to $20 per hour for a total reimbursement of up to $9,600 per intern. Also effective May 1, 2023, interns participating in this program must be paid at least $17 per hour.

As part of our commitment to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the life sciences workforce, the MLSC also partners with Project Onramp and the UNCF Ernest E. Just Initiative to support internship opportunities for underrepresented students.

Eligibility Requirements

Resources

Intern Applicant Account Registration

New Company Account Registration

Students and companies already registered can log in here to access the application.

FAQs for Interns

FAQs for Host Companies

Skills Handout

Program Handout

Impact on the Ecosystem

The Internship Challenge embodies our belief in the power of experiential learning to cultivate a workforce pipeline.  As the longest-running program at the MLSC, the Internship Challenge has expanded the pool of prospective employees who have practical experience, increased opportunities for mentoring, and enabled more students from across the Commonwealth to explore careers in the life sciences industry.  This initiative has reached every region of our state to the benefit of a diverse pool of talented young people. 

The program creates new internship opportunities for college students and recent graduates by enabling small companies, of 100 employees or less, to hire paid interns. Since the program’s inception in 2009, the MLSC has funded more than 5,500 internships with more than 950 companies for students from 250 different academic institutions. Nearly 40 percent of interns that completed college were offered employment directly following their internship.

Connect with us to Learn More

If you have further questions regarding the application process, please email: internship@masslifesciences.com.

Program Overview

The High School Apprenticeship Challenge facilitates and funds paid internships for underrepresented and low-income high school students throughout Massachusetts. The program creates more than 100 new internship opportunities each year by subsidizing intern wages for small life sciences companies and research institutions to enable them to hire paid interns. The program also offers a pre-internship lab training program for some school districts that provides rigorous biotechnology/biomedical and professional skills development.

The MLSC reimburses eligible host organizations up to $3,600 per intern, based on $15 per hour for six weeks of full-time work. Internships can be part-time or full-time and must take place between May 1, 2023 and April 30, 2024.

Eligibility Requirements

Resources

Intern Applicant Account Registration

New Company Account Registration

Students and companies already registered can log in here to access the application.

Program Handout

Impact on the Ecosystem

Since the program first launched in 2016, the MLSC has supported 615 internships at more than 110 life sciences companies and research institutions. Interns have represented 158 Massachusetts high schools and 392 students have participated in MLSC-sponsored lab training programs designed to better prepare them for internships. The program has been offered in Brockton, New Bedford, Worcester, and Cambridge (serving Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Revere, and Everett students) in partnership with the LEAH Knox Scholars Program.

The program seeks to create paid work-based learning opportunities for underrepresented youth, supplement life science education with rigorous out-of-school-time (OST) training, foster relationships between economically disadvantaged schools and life sciences employers, develop students’ professional workplace skills, increase awareness of life sciences careers, and build a diverse STEM workforce pipeline.

Connect with us to Learn More

If you have questions regarding the application process, please email: internship@masslifesciences.com.

Program Overview

The Data Science Internship program focuses on increasing the availability of data science talent in the life sciences. The program creates new internship opportunities for qualified candidates, including those at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate levels, by enabling research institutions and companies to hire paid interns for up to six months. The program connects employers with prospective interns through an online platform and reimburses eligible companies (100 or fewer employees in Massachusetts; no more than 250 globally) and research institutions for intern wages. Companies with greater than 100 FTEs in Massachusetts are also encouraged to use the portal to search for unsubsidized interns.

The program is intended to provide opportunities for intern exposure to advanced data analytics and data science applications to the life sciences. Prospective interns must demonstrate proficiency in advanced analytics skills and technologies based on their work experience and/or academic training. Internships can be part- or full-time and can take place for companies any time during the 12-month program year, which runs from May 1 through April 30. For research institutions, there is no specific program year. Data Science internship candidates submit an online application, including their resume and cover letter. There is no application deadline since internship placements are rolling. Approved employers will review applications and contact candidates directly if they are interested in hiring them for an internship.

Through this program, the MLSC also seeks to increase access to internships for those traditionally underrepresented in the data science field, particularly those identifying as women, Black, Indigenous, and/or Latinx.

Eligibility Requirements

Resources/Application

Companies and prospective interns must first create an account in our application portal in order to submit an application:
Intern Registration
Company Registration

If you already have an account, please log in here to access the application.

Research Institutions are asked to email DataScience@masslifesciences.com to register.

Program Handout

Impact on the Ecosystem

The Data Science Internship program is designed to address the rapidly increasing demand for data science talent by expanding the pool of qualified applicants by facilitating practical experience and eventual employment in life sciences careers in Massachusetts.

The program contributes to the development of a robust and diverse life sciences workforce by providing new opportunities for students pursuing data science and related majors, engaging research institutions and industry in recruiting from a global talent pool, and increasing awareness of career pathways in life sciences. Since the program launched in 2020, nearly 100 companies and research institutions hosted more than 150 interns from 48 colleges and universities.

Connect with us to Learn More

If you have questions regarding the application process, please email: internship@masslifesciences.com.