Thread by @vj_chidambaram

So my students are off for summer research internships, and I gave them some advice. This is widely applicable, so sharing it here.

First off, the worst way you can spend your internship is to focus exclusively on the internship project and talk only with your mentor all summer.

Your co-interns are going to be an awesome set of students: take the time to get to know them! I've made lots of great friends through internships, and these folks get what you are going through, since they are in similar circumstances themselves.

I've learnt a lot talking to other interns during internships, especially from widely different fields like theory. Its hard to find experts who are so willing to educate an outsider about whatever they are working on :)

Go talk to folks at the research lab outside of your mentor. I know this seems intimidating, but most researchers love to talk about their work, and to learn what interns are working on. Just email them, setup a meeting, and talk to them about their and your work!

Give talks at the research lab you are interning in! If appropriate, give talks about work in progress, or work that you recently published. You will get excellent feedback!

Finally, explore the city the internship is hosted in. I had great fun exploring Seattle and the Bay Area during internships. I basically told my friends, "I'm here 12 weekends. Lets plan to go somewhere each weekend". It was awesome :)

One more, most labs have a series of talks by visitors over the summer. Go attend whatever seems interesting! If you are a junior student, go to lots of talks to find what all interests you. Don't miss out on talks because you are working on ur internship project: balance both!