COVID-19 shakes up summer internships
Wynne Parry
Abstract
When Sajan Bar learned he had received a paid summer internship with Trinseo through the ACS SCI Scholars program, he believed the position would introduce him to day-to-day work in the industry. “I am not 100 percent sure if I really want to do chemical engineering as a career or I just want to learn it in undergrad,” says Bar, a rising junior at Columbia University majoring in chemical engineering. “I wanted this experience to let me feel out the field.” Not too long afterward, however, Bar got a call from the global materials company saying they had canceled the internship. He wasn’t shocked. Some of his friends had already seen their summer plans upended. In March, as it became clear that COVID-19 was spreading in the United States, companies, universities, and other organizations began to reconsider their plans to offer students the sort of career-guiding experience Bar had sought.