On February 8, GECD’s Freshmen/Alumni Summer Internship Program (F/ASIP) marked its 20-year milestone with a gathering of alumni, current F/ASIP students, faculty, and staff to celebrate the impact of the program and hear from program alumni.

Founded in 1997, F/ASIP is a graded, credit-bearing seminar designed to provide career development and internship searching support, and to connect freshmen with MIT alumni who serve as mentors. The program is the inspiration of Joel Moses, past provost of MIT, who felt that a summer internship experience would be beneficial for students immediately following the rigorous first year at MIT. The idea was realized by Arthur Steinberg, a professor of anthropology (emeritus), and Sarah Wu ’01, who founded the program.

Since the program’s inception, there have been nearly 1400 participants, including 90 current first year students. Program alumni Raja Bobbili ’08, Isaac Silberberg ’16, and Jenny Xu ’19 shared their experiences of F/ASIP and how it prepared them for the summer experience after their first year at MIT.

As part of the event, a networking reception was held for recruiters, F/ASIP alumni, and all current first year undergraduates.

—Tamara Menghi, GECD