Prospecting for Gold -
The Sun Labs University Intern Program

"Our interns are treated like gold . . ."

Come work with us on leading edge technologies! Latest Job Postings/Submit a resume online at: http://research.sun.com/jobs/ Or email text file to: sunlabs-resumes@sun.com Or send hardcopy to: Sun Microsystems Laboratories Internships 16 Network Circle, UMPK16-162 JT, Menlo Park, CA 94025

Aug. 27, 2004 - Absolutely true. Sun Microsystems Laboratories loves interns and the stellar treatment of their interns underscores Sun Labs' commitment to the Sun Labs University Intern Program.

It's been that way since Sun Labs opened its doors in 1991. Founding director Bert Sutherland felt it was extremely important to establish close ties to the academic world, as well as to provide opportunities for undergraduate and post-graduate students to work with the best researchers in their chosen fields. In the first summer of operation, Sun Labs hired ten interns, and the Sun Labs intern program was off and running. During the past thirteen years, close to four hundred interns from all over the world have been part of the Sun Labs family, with over thirty becoming full-time Sun Labs and Sun employees.

The Sun Labs Intern program initially focused on summer hires, but it was so effective and the demand for available places so great that it was expanded and extended to other seasons. Sun Labs now hires interns year-round from a world-wide pool of top academic institutions. The interns from far-flung universities fit right into the diverse Sun Labs environment, where many countries and many languages are represented by Labs staff members as well as the incoming interns.

Getting Down to Work . . .

Intern benefits begin even before the interns arrive at Sun Labs, California, or Sun Labs, Massachusetts: round trip travel, furnished apartments, shipping, and local transportation. From the airport, they go directly to their new residence, meet their roommates, and begin to settle in. When they arrive at the Labs, interns are met by their managers and group members. After a brief orientation by Sun Corporate Human Resources, they begin delving into the world of "the next big thing," - absorbing information, acquiring skills from their team members and plunging headlong into their challenging projects.

Sun Labs' interns are hired by individual project groups and are chosen for skills that complement the team. These young men and women from all over the world do not come to work on or to complete a PhD degree, but rather to participate in ongoing research projects. They become part of the group and work to accomplish a designated goal for the period of time they are in the Labs. They are expected to write code, find solutions to problems, document the results of their work with technical reports, and to finish their tours of duty with presentations on what they have accomplished. And at a recent Sun Labs Open House, the interns contributed their considerable expertise, participating in all aspects of the event.

All work and no play? Not!!

But it's not all work. Every effort is made to provide a variety of activities, although interns on both coasts need no assistance with their weekend explorations. For that, they're on their own. However, a Welcome Breakfast in the Labs gives them the opportunity for "up close and personal" contact with Labs directors Glenn Edens on the west coast, and Steve Heller on the east coast. Intimate meetings also are arranged for interns to spend informal time with luminaries - Sun Fellows Ivan Sutherland (Breakfast and Technology and Courage), James Gosling (Java and Kentucky Fried lunch), Whit Diffie (Face-to-face with Cryptography), as well as other key staff members. Sun's Corporate Intern Department also sponsors events for interns, offering opportunities to meet top executives Jonathan Schwartz and Scott McNealy, as well as to visit the Sun Executive Briefing Center for an introduction to Sun's products.

At the California campus, two traditional events held since 1991 top the charts of the yearly intern exit evaluation: Intellectual Dessert and The Bash.

Every Tuesday at 3:00, the staff gathers in the Darwin Conference Room for the promise of dessert - real dessert - accompanied by the Intellectual Dessert: a savory lecture or presentation by a staff member or guest describing a current project, envisioning a new idea, or expounding on the merits, pros and cons of their research.

The Bash has been held every Friday at 5:00 pm since Sun Labs was founded in 1991. Beverages and a variety of foods are served reflecting the appetites and diverse cultures represented by the staff and interns. It's a place where "upstairs meets downstairs," hardware meets software, interns meet VPs, VPs meet interns, and where the interns are melded into the Sun Labs community and its culture.

The Sun Labs Burlington Campus has its own version of the California activities, including weekly Sun Labs Research Seminars and "brown bag" luncheon discussions. Held monthly, these "Half-Baked Lunches" provide an opportunity for Lab members to share works in progress and to get early feedback on their research.

Contact with the rest of the research world . . .

An event highly prized by the Sun Labs interns is the Summer Intern Research Series (SIRS). Initiated in 1994 by Xerox PARC and Sun, SIRS is an intra-lab summer program, usually held in July, where interns from the participating companies visit each other's research labs. This program is a valuable opportunity for Sun Labs interns to interact with interns and researchers from all the participating companies. In 2004, SIRS participants were IBM-Almaden, PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), Microsoft (Silicon Valley), and Sun Labs. Each event is comprised of an Overview, talks on current research by five or six staff members, and finally, a reception for interns and speakers. These exchange visits are always a highlight of the summer intern experience.

Last but not least, the results. . .

All interns are expected to formally present the results of their research in a 30-minute lecture at the end of their tours of duty. These presentations become part of the official intellectual property of the project on which the intern worked, and often result in patent filings. Sometimes the intern continues work on a particular aspect of the technology after they return to their universities, and sometimes they return the next year to continue their explorations.

Perhaps one of the reasons Sun Labs treats interns like gold is that so many of them become staff members and now work in Massachusetts and California - Alex Ausch, James "Bo" Begole, Ajanta Chakraborty, Grzegorz Czajkowski, Misha Dmitriev, Alex Garthwaite, Nils Gura, Tarik Ono, Tony Prentizis, Seth Proctor, Matthew L. Seidl, Doug Simon, Adam Spitz, and Michael Wessler .

So as the summer winds down and the interns of this season leave, the next set arrives, bringing new energy and anticipation, new excitement, and an infusion of youthful aspirations. In our search for more gold, we invite our readers and prospective interns to visit our Leading Edge Internships page, and, if you're interested, submit a resume!

Interns at the welcome breakfast with Glenn Edens	The Interns' Barbecue