Being exposed to different styles of doing research, different organizations, and a wider network of collaborators, was incredibly instrumental in my progress as a graduate student.
One of the best ways of doing this is to go for internships in organizations outside the university.
Internships are also a way for securing additional (and significantly higher) funding.
PhD researchers in my lab will be encouraged to apply and compete for such internships and I will be extremely supportive of such endeavors.
My only expectation is that the internship would make a positive contribution towards completion of your PhD (usually through a collaborative publication with me and your internship mentors).
BS and MS researchers will be encouraged to apply for software engineering, data science, ML engineer, research engineer, or any other relevant internship opportunities that will help their career growth.
Note for Recruiters: If you are hiring interns into your organization, please reach out to me; we can schedule a time to talk and identify suitable students and synergistic research topics.
Letters of recommendation are important for students' progress in their careers, be it in academia or industry. I will be glad to write you a letter if you took my class and performed well, or if you are a researcher or collaborator with my lab. Letters will be confidential. I will never write negative, average, or weak letters -- if I do not have enough evidence to write a strong letter for you, I will ask you to request a letter from someone who knows you better and can make a stronger case for you.