Cooperative Education

An innovative approach to education that integrates professional industry experience into the academic curriculum

Experiential learning, anchored by our world-renowned cooperative education program, is the heart of a Northeastern education. Starting in 1909, the College of Engineering was the first school at Northeastern to offer the co-op program. Today the university is ranked No. 1 in internships/co-ops by U.S. News and World Report.

Co-op gives BS, MS, and PhD students an opportunity to work within their profession for four, six, or eight-month periods as part of their academic curriculum, giving them real-world experience and a competitive edge after graduation. Co-op positions are also available locally and globally and for industry and research positions.

Co-op is also of high value to employers, providing them access to talented and innovative students to meet their workforce needs and business objectives.


Co-op Quick Facts

2,937

Co-op Hires (AY2025)

3,147

Employer Partners (AY2023-26)

34

Countries with Co-op Hires (AY2023-2025)

48

States with Co-op Hires (AY2023-2025)


Received Full-Time Job Offer from a Co-op Employer After Graduation - Class of 2022

54%

Undergraduate Students

52%

Graduate Students


We Are No. 1 in Cooperative Education

Cooperative education provides students real-world experience employed in their field of interest for six months as part of the academic curriculum. See how these students are applying what they learn in the classroom while on the job and gaining a competitive edge upon graduation, including full time job offers.

Bioengineering at the Speed of Covid

Ella Strzegowski (Bioengineering E’23) embarked on a co-op at Moderna in the fall of 2021, just as the company was applying for its biologics license and COVID-19’s Omicron variant was tearing through the population. Her experience placed her at the epicenter of covid-related research even as the virus—and the world’s response to it—changed by the day.

Building Confidence through Experience

Archil Lelashvili (MS in Information Systems) came to Northeastern from the nation of Georgia. Pursuing a co-op experience as a software engineer at Boston-based Quickbase, he learned to “translate ideas into code,” gaining insights from the senior software engineers around him while working with the same suite of tools.

Out of This World Experiences

Mechanical Engineering student Paige Butler shares how her involvement in the student group Students for the Exploration and Development of Space landed her two co-ops at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and subsequently, a full-time position following graduation. Learn how Northeastern University’s cooperative education program helps undergraduate students explore their passions while providing unparalleled opportunities for career advancement.

Sample Co-op Employer Partners

Bioengineering
  • Abbott
  • Abiomed
  • Boston Scientific
  • Johnson and Johnson
  • Lyndra
  • MIT Lincoln Labs
  • Draper Labs
  • Medtronic
  • SeLux
  • Smith and Nephew
  • Sunovion
  • Traverso Labs
Chemical Engineering
  • A123 Systems
  • 1366 Technologies
  • 24M
  • Acorda Therapeutics
  • Ambri
  • Arsenal Medical
  • Ashland
  • Biogen Idec
  • Bristol-Meyers Squibb
  • CONTINUUS
  • Dow Chemical Company
  • DuPont
  • Eink
  • Entegris
  • GVD Corporation
  • Henkel Loctite
  • Infinium
  • Metalor Technologies
  • Morphic Therapeutics
  • Nano-C
  • Nuvera Fuel Cells
  • Pellion Technologies
  • Pfizer
  • Sanofi Genzyme
  • Selecta Biosciences
  • Shaw, Stone and Webster
  • Takeda
  • Technip
  • TEL
  • Waters Corporation
  • Xtalic Corporation
Civil & Environmental Engineering
  • Barletta Engineering Corp
  • CDM, Inc.
  • DN Tanks, Inc.
  • Environmental Partners Group, LLC
  • J.L. Marshall & Sons, Inc.
  • McKenzie Engineering Group, Inc.
  • Natgun Corporation
  • Parsons Brinkerhoff
  • PB Power
  • Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc.
  • Suffolk Construction
  • Tetra Tech Rizzo
  • Turner Construction Company
  • Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.
Electrical & Computer Engineering
  • Advanced Micro Devices
  • Amazon Robotics
  • Analog Devices
  • Apple
  • Bose
  • Boston Engineering
  • Boston Red Sox
  • Cisco
  • Draper
  • Hasbro
  • IBM
  • Intel
  • iRobot
  • Jacobs Engineering Group
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Medtronic
  • MIT Lincoln Lab
  • Motorola Solutions
  • Raytheon
  • SimpliSafe
  • SpaceX
  • Starry
  • Tesla
  • WHOOP
Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
  • Amazon Robotics
  • Analogic Corporation
  • Becton Dickinson
  • Bose Corporation
  • Boston Scientific Corporation
  • Foster-Miller
  • General Electric
  • The Gillette Company
  • Insulet
  • MIT Lincoln Laboratory
  • Pollak – A Stoneridge Company
  • Pratt & Whitney
  • Raytheon
  • SharkNinja
  • Tesla
  • United Parcel Service
Software Engineering and Information Systems
  • Amazon
  • Apple
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital
  • BMW
  • Boehringer Ingelheim
  • Dassault Systemes Americas Corporation
  • Dell EMC
  • Facebook
  • Fidelity
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Google
  • Mass General Hospital
  • MathWorks
  • Nokia
  • Peapod Digital Labs
  • Retail Business Services
  • Tesla

Co-op Team for Undergraduate and Graduate Departmental Degrees

Supporting programs in the following departments:

Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

View All Contacts

Co-op Team for Software Engineering and Information Systems Masters Degrees

Supporting the following programs:

Cyber-Physical Systems, Data Architecture and Management, Information Systems, Information Systems-Bridge, Software Engineering Systems, Telecommunication Networks

View All Contacts

Student Experiences

Image for Northeastern Co-Op Secures Cloud Infrastructure for United Nations
MS

Northeastern Co-Op Secures Cloud Infrastructure for United Nations

Northeastern software engineering and information systems graduate student Grace Awuma completed a global co-op with the United Nations Development Program in Copenhagen, Denmark, securing data and managing global access permissions for its cloud infrastructure services team.

Image for Environmental Engineering Student Uses Global Co-Op to Protect Coastal Groundwater in Australia
Students: Undergraduate

Environmental Engineering Student Uses Global Co-Op to Protect Coastal Groundwater in Australia

During her co-op at the University of Western Australia, Emma Collins, E, environmental engineering, analyzed decades of environmental data to help protect coastal groundwater systems from climate change.

Image for Data Analytics Engineering Student Develops AI Tools to Automate Hospital Workflows
PhD

Data Analytics Engineering Student Develops AI Tools to Automate Hospital Workflows

Sai Anish Sreeramagiri, MS, data analytics engineering, developed artificial intelligence tools during his co-op to automate administrative tasks like insurance authorizations, giving doctors and nurses more time to care for patients.

Image for Industrial Engineering Student Builds AI Agent to Repair Chemical Plant Blueprints
Students: Undergraduate

Industrial Engineering Student Builds AI Agent to Repair Chemical Plant Blueprints

Sierre Ternoey, E, industrial engineering, developed an agentic AI tool during a research co-op in Germany that reads error reports and automatically fixes chemical plant process flow sheets.