For the captain of MIT’s varsity baseball team, an internship testing advanced, engineered bats for sports equipment company Easton Sports was a dream job. Mike Vasquez had the batting experience. But for his first job in a professional setting, he knew other skills were equally as important.

“There’s such a difference between actually going to a job, and the school environment. You need an extra bit of know-how for dealing with situations, how to both fit in and enhance,” Vasquez says.

MIT’s Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program (UPOP) taught Vasquez, who is majoring in materials science, about interpersonal communication — how to phrase questions, how to be savvy and not overwhelm, while still showing genuine interest, he says. Vasquez also learned about how a company is run, about the different roles human resources, engineering, and marketing departments play, and about how research and development interact with sales and marketing.

“UPOP helped me gain business savvy and learn to think strategically, to know my role, and see how I can add value in other places,” Vasquez says.

UPOP, which was started in the 2001-2002 academic year, introduces engineering sophomores to the realities and demands of engineering practice in the real world.

“We expose students to the non-engineering side of engineering life and empower them with the interpersonal skills and perspective that will help them take leadership roles with enthusiasm and competence,” says Susann Luperfoy, executive director of UPOP.

UPOP provides MIT sophomores with:

• practical experience through summer internships
• networking skills and access to a community of mentors to accelerate their careers; and
• professional development skills involving leadership, teamwork, and communication.

“UPOP sensitizes students to become more aware of the realities of the business world and engineering practices,” says Dick Yue, the associate dean of engineering who founded the program. “We’re helping them to be proactive, to create an environment that will let them use their technical skills to advance and reach their own goals.”

Increasing demand

UPOP has quickly become popular among MIT students, and every year fills to capacity within 24 hours. In the 2005-2006 academic year, 330 students applied for the 250 spaces available. And because UPOP is a high-touch, labor-intensive program, it is open to only a limited number of sophomores — thus unable to meet increasing student demand.

Student enrollment in UPOP

UPOP students have interned with more than 100 companies in the United States, and have had opportunities well beyond what traditional classroom and internship experiences offer, including:

• helping to develop filters to control emissions and testing emissions-reducing performance for two-stroke engines;
• testing upgrades to a catheterization kit with which cardiovascular surgeons perform angioplasty; and
• working alongside a renowned cardiovascular surgeon, researching, testing, and developing a new suture.

Preparation for internship

The program starts with a pre-employment “boot camp” during the January Independent Activities Period (IAP). Then, a spring career seminar series teaches students professional etiquette, and offers them practice interviews with volunteers from industry and workshops on how to make the most of their internships. The actual internship consists of 10 to 12 weeks of summer employment, followed by reflective roundtable discussions in the fall.

UPOP introduces MIT students to a network of MIT alumni who facilitate workshops and discussions during the “boot camp” training and the seminar series. Astronauts, CEOs, investment bankers, and technology executives have all participated in UPOP seminars and shared their workplace experiences with MIT students.

At the end of their UPOP experience, the most common result for student participants is increased confidence. They are more professionally self-assured and aware of themselves — aware of both their strengths and their weaknesses, and willing to address those weaknesses. Students, especially engineers, are also more conscious of the many career paths open to them. Participants bring what they learned in their internships back to MIT with them for their remaining undergraduate years often serving as mentors to the next class of UPOP sophomores.

Mike Vasquez returned to campus from his internship at Easton Sports to help facilitate seminars and work with the Center for Sports Innovation on campus. By the following summer, he landed another internship with a sports innovation consulting company in England. In an effort to increase other students’ interest in sports engineering, Vasquez started a Sports Technology Club at MIT. He also plans a career in sports engineering.

“The sports industry is a tough industry to get into. But once you’re in there, it’s a small world,” Vasquez says. “Now, I have a good feel for what they’re looking for.”