Summer Internships as Launchpads for Career Exploration

In 2025, four Tufts students spent their summers in strikingly different ways. One helped to modify wearable exoskeletons in a robotics lab; one joined a biomedical device startup; another immersed herself in a retail-tech company in New York City; and still another contributed to an arts nonprofit focused on underserved communities in Alabama. 

But despite their obvious differences, these endeavors had one thing in common.

All the experiences of these undergrads—along with those of 54 other Tufts students—were supported last summer by the Tufts Career Center’s Summer Internship Grant Program.

The program provides funding that enables undergraduates to accept unpaid or underfunded opportunities aligned with their academic interests and long-term goals. Each year, the Career Center awards around 50 competitive grants to students who commit to at least 300 hours of full-time summer work. In addition to funding, participants receive structured support, including orientation, career advising, reflection activities, and professional development resources provided by the Career Center.

For the four students featured below, the support translated into formative summer experiences. Across very different settings, they found themselves building confidence and gaining insight into the kinds of environments, challenges, and questions they might like their future work to include. 

Natalia Atabaki, A26

Retail-Tech Intern, Minoan Experience (New York, N.Y.)

Natalia Atabaki’s internship with Minoan, a retail-tech startup, afforded her a summer-long immersion in branding, operations, and product storytelling. Over ten weeks, she edited and standardized hundreds of product names and images, rewrote microsite copy, and created company-wide frameworks for product naming and description.

“At times, the work was overwhelming,” Atabaki said. “But leaning into moments of discomfort taught me how much growth hides in risk.”

Natalia Atabaki, A26

Equally formative, she added, was the company’s culture. She was struck by how discipline and creativity coexisted, and how feedback functioned not as criticism, but as collaboration.

“People took the quality of their work seriously, but they also valued keeping it light and creative,” she said. “That balance showed me that rigor and imagination can exist in the same space.”

The experience helped clarify both her professional direction and working style. “I learned that I thrive in fast-paced, collaborative environments,” she said. “Now I know I want to build on the skills I developed over the summer: communication, adaptability, and creative problem-solving.”

Receiving the Russo Azmy Family Internship, she said, made that growth possible. “Without the grant, I could not have dedicated myself fully to the role,” Atabaki said. “The support I received allowed me to immerse myself in the projects, the people, and the culture—and for that I am deeply grateful.”

Mason Coleman, E28

Data Analyst, The F.I.L.E.S. Arts Project (Birmingham, Ala.)

For Mason Coleman, one highlight of last summer came when The F.I.L.E.S. Arts Project—the Birmingham-based nonprofit where he was interning—was featured on the news show Good Day Alabama. Seeing the organization’s work recognized publicly underscored how the behind-the-scenes systems and support he had been building connected to a larger mission.

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Mason Coleman, E28, with a colleague, during his summer 2025 internship at The F.I.L.E.S. Arts Project in Birmingham, Ala.

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Mason Coleman, E28, with a colleague, during his summer 2025 internship at The F.I.L.E.S. Arts Project in Birmingham, Ala.

Coleman’s internship blended technical problem-solving with community impact. The computer science major from the School of Engineering helped strengthen the organization’s arts education programming by supporting workshop logistics and program documentation, researching data needs, and moving systems from paper to digital workflows.

Beyond day-to-day responsibilities, he also built relationships within the organization and the broader community, including a close mentorship with his supervisor.

“Through the internship, I was able to foster valuable new connections, both personally and professionally,” he said. “It was inspiring to see so many people come together to support a program dedicated to empowering underserved communities.” Coleman was the recipient of the 2025 Bruce-Griffey Internship.

Isabell (Izzy) Kossar, E27

Hardware Engineering Intern, BioSens8 (Cambridge, Mass.)

At the med-tech startup BioSens8, Izzy Kossar immersed herself in the fast-paced world of early-stage product development. She collaborated on a range of projects, from contributing to the design of mechanical and thermodynamic experiments to the building of custom components for prototype devices.

Isabell Kossar, E27

What surprised her most, she said, was how much autonomy the role offered and how quickly she was trusted to take initiative.

“I was in complete control of my experience,” said Kossar, a junior in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the School of Engineering. “My time and efforts came at little cost to BioSens8, so I had the freedom to pursue whatever interested me.”

That freedom pushed her to seek out high-impact projects and join conversations about manufacturing, design, and strategy. By the end of the summer, she was leading aspects of the manufacturing process and working closely with engineers and founders to move ideas toward implementation.

“I left the internship feeling overwhelmingly satisfied by the value I added, the connections I made, and the clarity in what I want my career to look like,” she said. Kossar was the recipient of the 2025 Wan-Quek Internship.

Korinna Spirko, E28

Research Intern, Human Robot Systems Lab and UMass Integrative Locomotion Lab (Amherst, Mass.)

For Korinna Spirko (pictured at top), last summer took shape in academic research labs focused on human-robot interaction and locomotion. Spirko worked on modifying hip exoskeleton prototypes designed to reduce the metabolic cost of running and improve gait for post-stroke patients. Using sewing, 3D printing, and Python scripting, she helped refine devices, adjust motor timing, and collect and analyze movement data.

The transition from classroom learning to open-ended research was challenging, she noted, but deeply rewarding. “Work outside the classroom without assignments and grades requires significant independence, persistence, and self-motivation,” Spirko, a mechanical engineering major, said. “This internship let me experience that firsthand.”

At the same time that the experience strengthened her confidence in both her academic path and her professional future, Spirko offered that it helped reframe what she sees as possible for the remainder of her time at Tufts. “I got an inside look into academic research, and that made me eager to explore more undergraduate research opportunities,” she said. Spirko’s experience was made possible by the Richard D. White, A76, and Family Endowed Internship.