2025 Student Internship Spotlight
By Evan Lybrand
Media InquiriesStudents from each of our five programs have the opportunity to take part in a summer internship with top companies, government agencies, research firms and startups. These internships give our students a chance to utilize the skills and lessons from their classes in real-world settings.
Some of our current students shared their internship experience with us:
Ananya Mallekatte Basavarajappa
MS in Information Networking (MSIN)
Company: Cisco
Team: Cisco Security SBG, Router Team
Projects: I worked on a project that involved developing a traffic path visualization tool for Cisco Secure Service Edge (SSE), which secures connections globally. The tool compares the expected path of network traffic against the actual path taken based on packet captures, helping engineers quickly pinpoint disruptions in traffic flow. This was particularly exciting because it gave me visibility into the entire Cisco SSE architecture and allowed me to contribute to infrastructure that impacts users worldwide. In addition to the visualization tool, I worked on integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into traffic data analysis. This integration enables engineers to ask specific questions about traffic flows in natural language, making troubleshooting more intuitive and efficient.
Most Exciting Aspect: Cisco’s commitment to innovation and knowledge sharing. We had weekly AI demo sessions where engineers across the organization showcased projects they were building with AI. Learning from these demos and incorporating those insights into my own work was invaluable. During AI Showcase Week, leading companies including OpenAI, Windsurf and Cursor visited our office to demonstrate their latest products.
The prompt jailbreaking challenge we participated in was particularly insightful, deepening my understanding of AI security considerations. Cisco also offered a mentorship program that connected interns with engineers across the company for coffee chats. This gave me the opportunity to build a broader professional network and learn from experienced professionals in various domains.
Lessons: One of the most valuable lessons I learned was the importance of understanding production-level considerations early in the development process. Security, scalability and user experience aren’t afterthoughts; they need to be baked into the design from day one. I also learned how collaborative software development truly is; the best solutions emerge from diverse perspectives and constant communication.
Working on a tool that would be used by Cisco engineers globally taught me the importance of clear documentation and intuitive design. If your users can’t easily understand and use your tool, it doesn’t matter how sophisticated the underlying technology is.
How INI Coursework helped: 14-736:Distributed Systems was particularly relevant when architecting the traffic visualization tool. Understanding concepts like data consistency, fault tolerance and distributed data processing helped me design a system that could handle the scale and complexity of Cisco’s global network infrastructure. 14-741:Introduction to Information Security was helpful when developing production software; considerations like input validation, authentication, authorization and data sanitization aren’t optional; they are essential. Having that foundation from coursework meant I proactively addressed security concerns rather than treating them as afterthoughts.
Advice for Students Seeking Internships: Network actively and consistently. The connections you make can open doors you didn’t even know existed. Attend career fairs, join professional organizations, connect with alumni and don't be afraid to reach out to people for informational interviews. Your network is one of your most valuable assets.
Don’t limit yourself to just a handful of “dream companies.” Cast a wide net and apply to many positions. Each application is practice, and you never know which opportunity will turn out to be the perfect fit.
Once you land an internship, take advantage of every learning opportunity. Attend optional sessions, ask questions, volunteer for stretch assignments and seek out mentors. The more you invest in the experience, the more you will get out of it.
Gavin Liao
MS in Mobile and IoT Engineering (MSMITE)
Company: Meta
Team: Business Messaging under Monetization Ads
Projects: I worked on enabling new entry points for advertisers around the world. Long story short, I made their life easier when it comes to posting ads.
Most Exciting Aspect: I got to experience what shipping products and working in the industry feels like. Everything is moving at a high pace while everyone is simultaneously working together, even in different teams.
Lessons: You have to be independent. No one cares more about your project than you do. Everyone’s willing to help, but you have to ask and know what kind of help you need.
How INI Coursework Helped: I think time management is the key. Courses are usually heavily loaded, and I think being able to distribute what and when to work on certain coursework enabled me to develop excellent time management skills.
Advice for Students Seeking Internships: Grab as many opportunities as you can. Always seek referrals if you can. Last but not least, mock technical interviews are extremely helpful!
Nicole Villavicencio Garduño
MS in Artificial Intelligence Engineerong – Information Security (MSAIE-IS)
Company: Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Cybersecurity Science Research Program
Team: A-4 Advanced Research in Cyber Systems team
Projects: I worked on acoustic perturbations to disrupt object detection models. I was basically breaking vision with sound.
Most Exciting Aspect: The most exciting part was realizing that research is something I want to continue working on. I had never been on a serious research project and being able to see what the day-to-day life of a researcher can look like helped me envision what I want my future to be.
Lessons: I really learned about strategic planning. Having only 12 weeks in an internship, I wanted to make the most of it. Creating a plan, milestones and an end goal helped me focus on what my vision for the project was.
How INI Coursework Helped: 14-763: Systems and Toolchains for AI Engineers with Assistant Teaching Professor Mohamed Farag really helped with understanding the AI pipelines that were necessary to run proper inference and data analysis during my project. I also think courses like 14-741: Intro to Information Security with Assistant Teaching Professor Hanan Hibshi and 14-795: AI Applications in Information Security with Associate Teaching Professor David Varodayan helped shift my perspective on how an adversary may think.
Advice for Students Seeking Inernships: I would just say to start early. The earlier you start, the bigger upper hand you will have in the process. I would suggest having a time blocked each week and really forcing yourself to sit down and apply to internships. It can be a daunting process, but applying, preparing and interviewing will always seem a bit intimidating.
Samuel Jonathan Dinesh
MS in Information Technology – Information Security (MSIT-IS)
Company: Palo Alto Networks
Team: Network Security - AI Operations (NetSec-AIOps)
Projects: I worked on multiple projects. One I can share is a voice library for a conversational agent that allows users to retrieve data through natural voice interactions. The library supported multiple languages and accents, was highly performative and most importantly, was designed as a flexible plugin that could be integrated into different projects across the company without being tied to a single use case.
Most Exciting Aspect: The most exciting part for me was tackling new challenges each day. I really like solving hard problems, so whenever I did not know the answer to something right away, I was excited to learn and work towards solving it. I had great mentors who supported me throughout my journey. Palo Alto Networks also had a very engaging intern program with events and opportunities for professional growth. Another highlight was being able to attend DEF CON, thanks to the company sponsoring my voucher. Overall, I developed myself both technically through taking on new roles and solving new problems each week and as a person, in being able to collaborate and improve soft skills.
Lessons: I gained a lot of insight into how AI and Large Language Model (LLM) applications are being used in industry. Each week, I worked on a new problem in a different domain, which helped me serve as a more well-rounded engineer. I learned new technologies while adapting quickly to challenges, and I gained a strong understanding of industry practices for developing code within a large organization. I also learned to view problems through a corporate lens, seeing how individual projects contribute to larger initiatives and how teams collaborate both independently and together to deliver stakeholder value.
Beyond technical growth, I also learned valuable soft skills — from presenting ideas clearly to tailoring my communication for different stakeholders. And on a lighter note, I even learned how to cook pasta with my fellow interns.
Perhaps most importantly, I came to appreciate the differences between academic and industry environments, and how the approaches, priorities and decision-making processes can differ when working on a project in the company.
How INI Coursework Helped: The coursework at INI prepared me a lot, both technically and mentally. I was never in a position where I felt unequipped to deal with a new problem. Courses like 14-513: Introduction to Computer Systems helped refine my coding practices, approach and methodology when solving a problem. 14-736: Distributed Systems and Infrastructures gave me the foundation to design and write code that can scale. 14-601: Applied Professional Development (APD) taught me how to tell a story when presenting and effectively communicate ideas in a clear and cohesive way, which helped me a lot with speaking to stakeholders. Overall, my time at CMU was well spent and I am very grateful to the INI for preparing me to tackle industry-level problems.
Advice for Students Seeking Internships: In addition to the standard advice — to start early, use campus resources to prepare for interviews, build and reach out to your professional network and so on — I’d like to highlight a few things that made a difference for me:
- CMU is a great place to challenge yourself technically. Exploring things outside your comfort zone will often reveal interests you didn’t know you had, add great value to your existing profile and will also help you stand out from your peers.
- Surround yourself with a group of highly motivated peers. Collaborating with others can be far more rewarding (and effective) than working in isolation. Build a vision for yourself and work towards it. Interacting with others who are motivated will inspire and drive you to work harder and align yourself with the vision that you set!
- Embrace disruption! Don’t be afraid to take risks and challenge convention; sometimes that’s how you carve a path that works best for you. Not everything is predictable, so take calculated risks whenever possible.
- Ask for help when you need it. Even if it feels late, seeking support is far more productive than staying stuck without direction. Good luck with your internship search!