MIT Externship Program Drives Microsoft Innovation

| MSNE Staff

This January, we were proud to host a group of MIT students as part of our yearly externship program that exposes students to real-world job applications in the technology sector. The group of 26 students paired with teams across the Microsoft New England R&D (NERD) Center to create new solutions and make what’s next.

Externs entering the program in January were invited to participate in a two-day hackathon at the Microsoft Garage at NERD this past November, where externs, MIT faculty, and Microsoft teammates alike joined The Metropolitan Museum of Art to imagine new ways in which their encyclopedic collection could be explored by global audiences.

The hackathon, focused on The Met’s Open Access Program, utilized Microsoft AI technology to help build prototypes that connect and inspire a global audience using art and AI. Learn more here.

MIT Externs at Microsoft NERD
MIT Externs at the NERD Center with the Microsoft Garage team

Throughout the externship, MIT students were able to secure first-hand experience in product development, data science, technical research, software engineering, and more. Externs joined teams like Microsoft Research, Docs, Intune, and Xamarin, where they provided valuable insights in taking our technologies into the future.

“We had two externs who worked together under the mentorship of Microsoft Research New England’s Computational Biology Group,” said Philip Rosenfeld, senior research program manager at Microsoft Research. “Together, we made major headways in one of our immunology research programs. The externs were self-driven, they completed the planned project, and they contributed to a serendipitous research breakthrough that will greatly benefit our work going forward. Both the externs and our team got a lot out of our short time together, and we’re looking forward to participating in the program next year.”

We’re thankful for our MIT externs and look forward to continuing this program next year.

Learn more about Microsoft’s university opportunities here.