A Master's
That Matters
Accelerate Your Career
The Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program equips master’s students with real-world skills for success in both the laboratory and the interview room.
Program Tracks
Explore our master’s program with five focus areas that combines lab and lecture content with a 9-month paid internship. We train students to be successful in the fast-paced, team-driven environment typical of the industrial or government lab setting.
Jump-start your career in a fast-growing, high-demand field by combining computer science and statistics to analyze genomic big data, driving advances in biology, biotechnology, and precision medicine to improve human health and accelerate discovery.
Solve biotechnology challenges with immersive coursework that brings together organic chemistry, chemical biology, analytical chemistry, molecular sensing and imaging.
The optics program at the Knight Campus focuses on integrating technology, optical elements, fiber optics, optoelectronics, electronics and software programming to build state-of-the-art instruments for science research and advanced manufacturing.
Polymer Science is chemistry applied toward designing and understanding materials. This interdisciplinary field encompasses organic chemistry, materials science, and engineering. It combines organic chemistry and engineering fundamentals to create and characterize materials with real-world applications.
The semiconductor industry sits at the intersection of chemistry, physics, and engineering, powering technologies from microprocessors and renewable energy to 5G, IoT, and smart devices. Its importance to innovation, sustainability, and U.S. competitiveness creates well-paid career opportunities.
Professional development is a core part of all our program tracks. While it’s often overlooked in science training, these skills are highly valued by employers. Alongside hands-on lab work, students build essential professional skills—such as teamwork, communication, leadership, networking, and an inclusive mindset—that support long-term career success.
What is the Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program?
It is a master's program with a built-in internship. This program is built to deliver a strong return on investment. Its accelerated structure minimizes time in school, reduces overall cost, and quickly transitions students into well-paid professional roles. Most students complete the degree in just 15–18 months and earn income during a 9-month paid internship, helping offset tuition and living expenses.
By combining practical coursework, hands-on lab experience, professional skill development, and strong employer partnerships, the program ensures students graduate with in-demand skills—and the earning power to match.
Experiential and Applied
Reality is messy, but you can prepare for it. With focused courses, labs and paid internships, learn how to apply what you know to real-world problems and fast-track your career.
Accelerated, Immersive and Collaborative
Solve problems in a fast-paced team environment while honing the communication and collaborative skills managers are looking for.
Cutting Edge
Collaboration with industry ensures our curriculum is relevant and current, preparing you for a career in today’s technical sectors.
Relationship Focused
People matter. Our relationships with students, alumni and company partners allow us to evolve, grow and have an impact on people’s lives - and their careers. When you build community, everything else follows.
Strong Return on Investment
Expanding Options and Career Opportunities
Graduates are well positioned for high-paying jobs: 90% secure employment within three months of completing their internship, and the 2024 cohort earned an average annualized internship salary of $72,500. With a 98% graduation rate and industry-aligned training, the program prioritizes financial sustainability, employability, and long-term career growth.
The People Behind the Program
Meet a few of the many students, alumni, and faculty of the Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program.
Alum, Semiconductors
Sean Morgan Jones
Current Job Title: Applications Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific
Optics Instructor
Eyrn Cook
Knight Campus Graduate Internship ProgramAtomic and Optical Physicist, PhD
Semiconductor Program Director
Tori Sorg
Tori is a semiconductor engineer with eight years of industry experience at Intel and Coherent and advanced training in chemical engineering, dedicated to mentoring the next generation of semiconductor professionals.
Hear from students, alumni, staff and corporate partners on why they value the program’s innovative training model and how the program has brought them individual and organizational success.
Kara McDonough, an alumna of the optics track, found applying theoretical concepts directly to projects in the lab helped keep her engaged. Now she’s applying what she learned to her job as a hardware engineer at Ouster, a start-up focused on LiDAR technology for self-driving cars.
Explore the Knight Campus
The Knight Campus is developing a hub where innovative research and discovery will thrive.