Emily Griffith, a faculty member in the Department of Statistics, is used to answering student questions. When it comes to questions about finding internships, however, she figured there might be someone better equipped to answer them — other students. 

“Students have a lot of questions about how to get internships, and, honestly, it’s been 20 years since I’ve gotten an internship,” said Griffith, a professor of the practice and co-associate head of the department. “I have some ideas about how to go about it, but not as much as students who are actively applying to and securing internships. I thought if students could talk to each other, then they could share information about what worked.” 

The Department of Statistics hosted its inaugural Share Fair on Aug. 28. In concurrent graduate and undergraduate sessions, statistics students who participated in summer internships and research shared their experiences and advice with other students seeking such opportunities. 

Below, read about some of the tips students shared and received at the event.

Build Your Network

Doctoral candidate Henry Uddyback spoke at the Share Fair about his summer 2026 internship at Duke University’s Multiscale Immune Systems Modeling Center of Excellence. In the role, Uddyback created statistical methods to quantify communications between cell communities. He learned about the opportunity through mathematics professor Kevin Flores, whom he met through NC State’s Uncertainty Quantification for the Life Sciences. 

“My number one advice is to network. Get to know professors and read all the emails that your department sends out,” said Uddyback. “Without [Flores], I would not have known this opportunity existed. And I wouldn’t have known that I was a good fit for this amazing project with amazing people.”

In the undergraduate session, Share Fair attendees picked up similar tips.

“I learned that you’ve got to be actively seeking out opportunities,” said first-year James Holdaway. “You can’t sit there and expect something to fall into your hands.” 

“One of my takeaways was to look for opportunities on LinkedIn for about 20 minutes a day,” added sophomore Bennett Whitt.

Be Bold, Branch Out

Junior Amulya Bollapragada had several tips for fellow undergraduate students, including to make sure they’re not disqualifying themselves from opportunities.

“Don’t be the person who rejects yourself — go for it,” Bollapragada said. “I have been applying for so many things since I was a freshman, when I only had experience from high school on my resume. You might get a lot of rejections, but you’re not going to remember those when one person says yes. Put yourself out there from day one.”

Bollapragada’s determination has paid off. Over the summer, she interned at the Big Data Summer Immersion at Yale University, where she worked on a project focused on analyzing serum creatinine trajectories in the blood using an electronic health database with over 400 million records. Previously, she also completed an internship at Brown University Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics.

One of the main takeaways for Jonathan Ebel, a first-year who attended the Share Fair, was to extend his search beyond the College of Sciences. 

“A useful tip I learned is to go to events and career fairs at other colleges, like Engineering and Management, because everyone has data they need to analyze,” he said. 

Communication Is Key

Bollapragada picked up a few tips herself at the event. 

“Making sure you can communicate your ideas well is really important,” she said. “Another student mentioned that he got his English major friends to review his resume and cover letters and I thought that was a great idea. Find people who are good at writing and get their feedback on your applications.”

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