Carnegie Mellon University offers a range of internship opportunities that allow students to apply their skills to real-world challenges in cybersecurity, privacy, and technology policy. Through hands-on projects with leading faculty, researchers, and industry partners, interns gain practical experience at the forefront of security and privacy innovation while contributing to research and initiatives with global impact. These opportunities are designed to support students at different stages of their academic journeys and to prepare them for careers in academia, industry, government, and the nonprofit sector.
Security and Privacy Undergraduate Research (SPUR) Scholars
Carnegie Mellon's Security and Privacy Undergraduate Research (SPUR) program is an opportunity for undergraduate students to spend a summer working with some of the world's leading Security and Privacy faculty researchers. A number of projects are available in diverse areas such as hardware security, usable privacy and security, software testing, program analysis, cryptography, and verification. Accepted students will work closely with CMU faculty and researchers on research problems with the potential for publication and significant impact on the future practice of software engineering and related areas.
Summer 2026 will be the first year of SPUR, but the program is modeled after our successful and long-running Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Software Engineering (REUSE). Past REUSE participants have joined top Ph.D. programs (including CMU, Berkeley, and UW), published in major conferences, and won prestigious honors like the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. We are excited to see what you will accomplish with SPUR!
IT Lab: A Summer Cybersecurity Fellowship
If you're interested in IT, data analytics, or cybersecurity, our IT Lab: Summer Security Intensive delivers an excellent summer experience. The IT Lab, housed in Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, is an all-expenses-paid, seven-week cybersecurity fellowship, offering all the experience of a cybersecurity internship, plus a $2,000 stipend and transferable course credits. Our cybersecurity curriculum is relevant not only for technologists, but also for students from all backgrounds with a sincere interest in IT security and policy.
The IT Lab is a program for rising college seniors. This program is designed for U.S. citizens and permanent residents interested in pursuing graduate degrees and careers in the information security sector.
CMU and Heinz College are home to the best master’s programs in IT Management and Information Security in the world. Students who complete IT Lab and are later admitted to a master’s program at Heinz College will be eligible to receive a scholarship of at least 50% of tuition.