Project Onramp matches undergraduates from low-income backgrounds with access to paid summer internships in the life sciences. Research shows that internships are critical to build awareness and interest in career pathways, to develop technical and real-world skills and to build professional networks that help students achieve their academic and career goals.
We are focused on addressing the needs of low-income students, who are often also first-generation or historically marginalized, by eliminating barriers to access and creating an “onramp” into companies committed to hiring from within this student population.
We know Project Onramp undergraduates will shape the workforce of the life science industry in years to come, and provide a diversity of talents and perspectives at companies creating new medicines and better health outcomes for us all.
Summer internships in the life science industry are an important source of early talent. Students completing these internships are introduced to the array of roles available for scientists and nonscientists, and leave internships connected to mentors and friends in the industry. These internships are often a deciding factor about whether or not to take a full time role in the life sciences after graduation from college. This internship pathway has been challenging for low-income students to navigate due to a lack of networks for referrals, lack of knowledge about roles available and lack of relevant experience gained through unpaid roles. Project Onramp helps students surmount these barriers and streamlines company access to this previously untapped pool of early talent.
Project Onramp believes that creating opportunities for talented students of all backgrounds to work in the life science industry inevitably creates a work culture that is open to early talent from a variety of backgrounds. We hope that by eliminating barriers to access we make the life science industry an attractive career path for low income students wanting to make an impact.
Project Onramp is:
There are three major obstacles to building diverse career pathways for under-resourced students. Project Onramp supports students to overcome all three:
Under-resourced students often lack the social capital to identify and compete for summer internships.
Project Onramp companies set aside internship opportunities specifically for Project Onramp students, ensuring that the biases that present themselves in traditional hiring processes are not repeated here.
A young person can’t be what they don’t see. Ensuring students have broad insight into the industry underlines the possibilities they might consider.
We work with companies to design internship opportunities that involve meaningful work and encourage companies to allow interns the opportunity to see roles across the organization. Additional professional development workshops, industry leadership panels and networking sessions scheduled throughout the summer ensure Project Onramp students receive a holistic picture of the industry and its opportunities.
Students must believe they belong in the life sciences.
By building a peer cohort model and connecting students in small groups with committed industry mentors, we build student confidence. Project Onramp also supports our alumni, with one-on-one career conversations and by sharing relevant job opportunities.
Since its founding in summer 2019, Project Onramp has matched 700+ students with meaningful, often transformative work experiences at hundreds of life science companies.