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UC San Diego + California Institute for Telecommunications & Information Technology

QI Expands California Workforce Development Internship Programs

Mentor and two students
Principal Engineer Ganz Chockalingam (center) mentors UC San Diego students Benjamin Johnson and Emily Yurkevich as part of the mHealth internship, which provides an opportunity to gain experience on real-world applications in healthcare.
June 13, 2023
by Mika Elizabeth Ono

The Qualcomm Institute (QI) has recently expanded its workforce development offerings. Thanks to a five-year $5 million allocation from the State of California to QI’s parent organization California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), QI now offers six different types of workforce training opportunities in tech fields.

“I’m delighted we are able to offer these high-impact, hands-on programs,” said Ramesh Rao, director of the Qualcomm Institute. “Our workforce development initiatives leverage QI’s specialized infrastructure and expert mentors to provide valuable opportunities for participants to learn technical skills that are in high demand in industry.”

Components of workforce development at QI now include:

  • Nanotechnology. Two workforce programs focus on nanotechnology. In the first, under the guidance of QI Senior Staff Digital Design EngineerJeff Wu, UC San Diego interns work for a year at QI’s Nano3 cleanroom facility, learning and operating Nano3’s state-of-the-art scanning electron microscope. In the second, State funds support some of the participants in the Nanotechnology Summer Institute for Middle and High School Teachers, run by Program Manager for Education and Outreach Yves Theriault.
  • Neurodiversity in Tech. Directed by Professor Pamela Cosman, this paid eight-week summer internship helps prepare young adults with autism spectrum disorder for careers in technology. Working together as part of a team, interns create educational or research-based video games and present their work.
  • mHealth. Directed by QI Principal Engineer Ganz Chockalingam, this internship offers UC San Diego undergraduates the opportunity to focus on various aspects in the design, development and commercialization of applications in healthcare—including automating the interpretation of brain scans, predicting PTSD and traumatic brain injury from electrocardiograms, and wrangling data for the study of dementia.
  • Quantum. Under the mentorship of QI Research Scientist Nikola Alic, UC San Diego students collaborate in the research and development of innovative graduate programs in quantum computing. 
  • Sonic Arts. Guided by QI Associate Director and Professor of Music Shahrokh Yadegari, UC San Diego undergraduates explore the design and implementation of cutting-edge audio technologies.
  • Connecting Technology with Use Cases. Under the guidance of Professor Ramamohan Paturi, UC San Diego students explore a variety of practical applications of new technology.

In total, through summer 2023, more than 100 students have participated as QI workforce development interns.

Nanotechnology intern Laura Charria, a Cognitive Science major, said of her experience, “The friendships and mentors are inspiring; they motivate me to keep on learning every day. I found there is beauty in innovation and research, and it’s better when we collaborate.”

Yuru Zhou, an mHealth intern who was recently offered a position with Apple as an iOS engineer, added, “This [internship] has definitely opened the door for lots of opportunities.”

For more information, see QI’s Workforce Development web page.

Workforce Development/Education