The Intern Foundry (IF) program is an intentionally designed partnership between the Foundry and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Honors Program to address the “brain drain” in Nebraska by pairing the University's highest achieving students with meaningful work-based learning opportunities addressing critical areas of high community need. By building the critical bridge between high-achieving talent and local organizations in need of capacity, the IF program helps build a strong pipeline of future talent capacity, and quality work needed to complete essential projects in Lincoln and Nebraska.

Intern Foundry Health & Intern Foundry Green

Announcing Intern Foundry Green! Following the success of 2024's Health pilot, this new initiative for summer 2025 targets students interested in environmental careers that benefit Lincoln and Nebraska. It aims to provide young talent with diverse career exploration opportunities, enhancing workforce retention across the state.

The Foundry is now accepting waitlist applications from firms interested in hiring interns from either Intern Foundry Health or Intern Foundry Green.

Intern Foundry Health

Launched in Summer 2024
Intern Foundry Green

Coming Summer 2025

Connect high-achieving students with organizations to meet community need

BUILD CAPACITY

Address critical areas of high community need
BRAIN GAIN

Develop stronger future talent, leadership, and volunteers
MEANINGFUL WORK

Student-led, significant work-based learning

Summer Intern Foundry Themes

The Intern Foundry (IF) Summer program takes a thematic approach to selecting students and partner organizations. In 2024, the IF Summer cohort included five health-related projects. In 2025, the program will expand to include 10 interns, with five focusing on green projects and five on health. Students are matched with partner organizations based on their skills, interests, and the organization's needs. Before beginning their projects, students receive targeted training in purpose-driven project management. They then work on a project of their design for approximately 20 hours per week over nine weeks.

Summer IF

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Example Projects

For more examples of our work, please view our project description portfolio.

Celerion's intern highlighted the company's impact by reviewing two decades of pharmaceutical history, documenting how many and which drugs made it to market. The intern also streamlined project management for flow cytometry assays at all stages. Their work optimized resource allocation, timelines, and data delivery for the organization.
The Nebraska Department of Education's intern worked on two projects related to holistic well-being in Nebraska schools. The intern planned, recorded, and edited six podcast episodes highlighting NDE offices and exemplar school districts across the state to inform listeners on best practices related to students' cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development. Additionally, the intern created the "Teacher Wellness Hub," which provides easily digestible information and resources (ex: stress management) related to the challenges faced by educators. This resource has been distributed across Nebraska and select communities across the nation.
In preparation for a rapidly growing team, NAMI Nebraska's intern assisted the Executive Director in restructuring the organization. This included centralizing data for fundraising through key statistics Tip Sheets, hiring a new Program Manager, and enhancing the operations of the nonprofit. Executive Director James Michael Bowers remarked, "If [she] wasn't going to law school, I'd make her the Director of Operations!"

Quotes From Summer Supervisors

"The experience has been amazing. [Our intern] asks good questions and is integrating well with the team... We are throwing her into science she's unfamiliar with and she stays at a high level to accomplish the goal."

"If [she] wasn't going to law school, I'd make her the Director of Operations!"

“Overall, this has been a very rewarding experience, hopefully for all involved. We have enjoyed getting to work with our intern and the amazing work they have done with us. This is a great opportunity for them to learn real-life working dynamics and get experience in the fields they are interested in.”

Quotes From Summer Interns

"Through the work I've done so far, I've had my eyes opened to new opportunities in Nebraska, and I've gained new hard skills that are extremely valuable."

"The IF program has exposed me to new skills and community members that couldn’t have developed otherwise.”

Summer Intern Foundry Impact

Meaningful Experiences

Interns and their matched organizations, whether they are non-profits, public sector organizations, or purpose-driven businesses, report that the experience was beneficial for all.

"Like similar organizations, we are very busy multitasking and wearing many hats. The fact that our intern is able to work independently, and has from Day One, is so valuable. Our intern has exhibited superior skills in project management, setting her our timelines and goals. Her independence allows us more time to focus on providing feedback, guidance, and experience enhancing transferrable career skills." -Participating Intern Foundry Supervisor

Critical Talent and Capacity

95% of participating nonprofits in 2022-2024 report that the talent and capacity provided by their intern was critical to the completion of essential projects.

"As a small nonprofit organization, the IF students add critical capacity and provide valuable support on some of our most pressing projects." - Participating Nonprofit Executive Director

Quality Work

100% of participating nonprofits in 2022-2024 report that the quality of the intern’s work in the Intern Foundry program was quality.

"As a new nonprofit, our intern is making a huge impact already. Her dedication, enthusiasm, and professionalism is invaluable. The research she has already provided is setting us up for long-term success!” - Participating Nonprofit Co-Founder