Internship and Work Experience Opportunities

Opportunities are available for internships. This provides an excellent mechanism to explore various career options. Advisers will work with students to place them in the food industry, in community-education settings and in research laboratories, for example. Summers between the second and third years of college provide good opportunities for these internships. One search approach is to enter "Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship" (SURF) into Google and you will find thousands of potential opportunities. Students MUST plan early to arrange an internship. It usually takes 3 to 6 months lead time to arrange off-campus activities. Students interested in university credit for an internship may enroll in HNF 494.

Off campus internships have included the following experiences:             

  • ThornApple Valley in Detroit - Quality control laboratory
  • ThornApple Valley in Grand Rapids - Nutrient labeling calculations
  • Amway in Grand Rapids - Food product research
  • Costa Rica - Interactions with researchers and bean research project
  • Wayne County Extension Service 
  • Michigan Department of Agriculture
  • Kelloggs Company, Battle Creek
  • Kraft Foods – Chicago

Work Experience

Faculty in human nutrition often hire undergraduate students to work in their laboratories.  Opportunities are available sporadically, so again students must plan early and be somewhat flexible.  Contact individual faculty members to express interest. The Career Services Network provides a listing of on campus part-time jobs.

Undergraduate Learning Assistant Program

This program in Food Science and Human Nutrition is available to provide opportunities for mature, accomplished undergraduate students to assist FSHN faculty in teaching a professional course.  Please contact your academic adviser for further details if you have interest in this experience.