Engineering, Robotics, Physical Sciences, Medical Devices

Concentrating in engineering or scientific disciplines at Harvard can lead to a diversity of career opportunities. You may choose to pursue graduate study to become more specialized in your chosen field, or to focus on teaching or research. From an industry perspective, both scientific and non-scientific organizations value the quantitative, analytical, and logical reasoning skills developed as an undergraduate in the College.

Finding Internships

Plan on completing both a research and internship experience during your undergraduate education. Along with your coursework, the best way to explore a career in science or engineering is by finding laboratory work in your field with a potential mentor during the school terms or over the summer. In addition, internships (ideally in your junior summer) provide real-world industry experience, which is directly applicable to future career paths. Consider organizations as varied as engineering firms, government agencies, biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, the energy industry, technology companies, or scientific consulting firms.

Finding Jobs

The junior internship is an ideal stepping stone to a full-time job in engineering or physical science. Employers also like to see hands-on or competition experiences (e.g. completing a design project, or participating in a robotics club). Plan to attend events in the fall, and look for a majority of job postings and interview opportunities in late fall and the spring of senior year.

Graduate and Professional Programs

Deciding whether to pursue a research-based Ph.D. program versus a professional master’s degree hinges on your ultimate goals. In addition to speaking with an adviser at our office, discuss this decision with trusted members of the faculty who have advised or taught you in a related discipline. Faculty are often in the best position to describe the academic and research components of graduate education and may even connect you to their colleagues in departments and schools across the country for further information.

Mentorship and Diversity Fellowships For Students Interested in MedTech and Biotech

If you are a student interested in biotech and medical technology, take note!  The International Center for Professional Development SMDP fellowship applications are open! The SMDP is a one year career mentoring program that pairs high potential students from disadvantaged …

By Meaghan Shea
Meaghan Shea Assistant Director, Technology, Data Analytics, Life & Physical Sciences & Entrepreneurship
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Harvard and Summer Internships Part 2: A PAF’s Guide from MCS PAF Alex Draghia ’28

In my first blog that can be found here, I reviewed where to look for summer internships here at Harvard. Now I want to talk about how to strategize, actively search for internships and hit the apply button.

So what’s …

By Zach Vigliani
Zach Vigliani Assistant Director, Harvard College Exploring & Self-Assessment
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Harvard and Summer Internships: A PAF’s Guide from MCS PAF Alex Draghia ’28

Dear Harvard College student looking for a summer internship,

When I arrived at Harvard, I was unable to keep all the opportunities that I could apply for on my radar, especially when it came to summer internships. There are so …

By Zach Vigliani
Zach Vigliani Assistant Director, Harvard College Exploring & Self-Assessment
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Featured Resources

Leadership Development and Rotational Programs

Below is a sample of the organizations that have structured leadership development programs. These entry-level programs often allow employees to …

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Firsthand Vault Guides

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GRADUATE SPOTLIGHTS

Ruizhe Kang PhD ’25

  • Fremont, CA
  • Product Engineer LAM Research
Meet Ruizhe

Connor McCann PhD ’25

  • Worcester, MA
  • Assistant Professor of Robotics Engineering Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Meet Connor

Ryan Garry PhD ’25

  • Boston, MA
  • Applications Engineer Axoft
Meet Ryan

Nicole Chen ’25

  • New York, NY
  • Software Engineer Stripe
Meet Nicole

Lucus Bendzsa ALM, Management ’25

  • Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Senior Software Engineer V2X
Meet Lucus

Javier D’Carlo Garcia ALM, Psychology ’25

  • Manhattan, KN
  • Lead Engineer Evergy
Meet Javier D'Carlo

Shawn Joseph ALM, Software Engineering ’25

  • Irvine, CA
  • Flight Software Engineer Terran Orbital
Meet Shawn

Genevieve McQuillan ’25

  • Cambridge
  • MPhil Student, Environmental Science and Engineering Cambridge University
Meet Genevieve

Kai Reed ’25

  • New York, NY
  • Software Engineer DataDog
Meet Kai

Alexander Young ’25

  • PhD Student, Quantum Science and Engineering Princeton University
Meet Alexander

Hamza Boutaleb Joutei ALM, Management ’24

  • Technical Director CEFIS Groupe

Ido Burstein ’24

  • Boston, MA
  • Software Engineer Microsoft
Meet Ido

Bella Nesti ’24

  • Herchel Smith Fellowship, Environmental Engineering Cambridge University
Meet Bella

Emily Launderville ’24

  • Austin, TX
  • PhD Candidate, Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin
Meet Emily

Harini Kannan ’24

  • Fulbright Research Fellowship in Neurscience/Biomedical Engineering, India; then Medical School
Meet Harini

Bryan Han ’24

  • Boston, MA
  • Software Engineer Zagaran
Meet Bryan

Evan Howard ’24

  • New York, NY
  • Software Engineer Jane Street
Meet Evan

Ben Freudenberg ’24

  • Cincinnati, OH
  • Physical Sciences Trainee Environmental Protection Agency
Meet Ben

Clayton Donhauser ’24

  • Princeton, NJ
  • Robotics Engineer Princeton Neuroscience Institute
Meet Clayton

Lawrence Akpore ALM, Industrial-Organizational Psychology ’24

  • PhD Candidate, Multidisciplinary Engineering Texas A&M
Meet Lawrence
View All People

Contact & Location

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The Mignone Center for Career Success (MCS) is committed to ensuring access to a broad range of information and opportunities across all sectors. Our website contains external content that may be useful to our learners. The inclusion of external content does not necessarily constitute endorsement, recommendation, or agreement with the information.

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