Greetings from The Data Mine team!

Are you looking for an academic year long internship opportunity with industry partners? 

Our Data Mine Corporate Partners program this year has 25 companies and over 400 students, and next year we expect to be even bigger!  We want to get you involved for the academic year fall 2021-spring 2022!  

All students of all majors regardless of background experience or housing arrangements are eligible to apply. This is a limited time offer, so make sure to apply by Sunday, January 31, 2021 at 11:59 PM Eastern time.  Students will begin ranking their choice of Corporate Partner project early in the spring 2021 semester.  If any spaces remain after that date, we may consider later applications, but those students would not be part of the initial ranking of companies.

The Data Mine Corporate Partners program connects students with a 9-month academic year internship working on projects in industry. Throughout Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, you would be working on a project with a team of students and a corporate partner mentor on a real-world data science problem. You will be making industry connections, learning about the corporate partner, gaining industry and project experience. We welcome students from all majors and all levels. Regardless of what you are studying, data science will be important to your career.

In April 2020, over 100 Corporate Partner students presented last year’s research posters and videos for an online symposium. You can view the posters and videos here to learn more about types of companies and projects that you may work on.  We will have another Symposium on Monday April 12, 2021, 3:00-5:00 PM Eastern, if you would like to learn about this year’s projects with our expanded project list.

Corporate Partners for the 2020-2021 academic year include:

84.51, Bayer Crop Sciences, Beck’s Hybrids, CAT Digital, Cummins, Delta Faucet, Elanco, Farfetch, Ford, Gro Master, John Deere, Kraft Heinz, Lawrence Livermore National Labs, Merck, Microsoft Minecraft, Predictive Partners / Jobvite, Rolls-Royce, Sandia National Labs, TMap, UPS, and Viasat.

Here is what some of our Data Mine students said about their experience in Corporate Partners last year:               

• “The Corporate Partners cohort provides you with the opportunity to work side-by-side with real-life companies... working closely with a company allows you to apply your analytical knowledge to legitimate issues that these entities are aiming to solve.…I also learned about different business concepts, communication skills, and how to work with others at a high level.”
• “It exceeded all my expectations. Coming into Purdue I had no background with coding, but The Data Mine immersed me in a bunch of different topics that has laid the groundwork for my success in data science.”
• “I really feel like this [The Data Mine Corporate Partners] was an experience that no other undergrads get.”
• “I have never had mentors/teachers/professors who have cared about me succeeding as much as they do. Dr. Ward, Ellen, and Maggie you all have been terrific and made my first year of Purdue such a positive experience.”

Frequently Asked Questions:

• What is The Data Mine?  The Data Mine is a learning community for students from any major who are interested in learning data science skills in a supportive environment.  There are over 600 students in The Data Mine, with 5 staff members, over 40 teaching assistants, and dozens of faculty members. 
• What do you do in The Data Mine?
  • Take a 1 credit hour (in fall and spring) data science training seminar to learn data science computational tools.
  • Conduct research in our Corporate Partners cohort for 3 additional credits (in fall and spring) of data science-related research in industry. 
  • Attend special events like dinners with or talks by alumni and guests, participate in hackathons, and receive career mentoring.

• Who can join The Data Mine?  Anybody!  No background in data science required, just interest.  Every major is welcome.
• Where would I live?  Most students live in Hillenbrand Hall, but it is possible for continuing students (not incoming first years) to live elsewhere. 

Please apply here. The official deadline is Sunday, January 31, 2021 at 11:59 PM ET.  

We’re looking forward to working with you!

Sincerely,

The Data Mine Staff – Dr. Ward, Ellen Gundlach, Maggie Betz, Kevin Amstutz, Justin Gould 

datamine@purdue.edu