How It Works

Experiential
Industry-relevant coursework and experiential learning opportunities on industry projects will build your professional portfolio to show hiring managers what you can do.

Cohort-based
Build your network of peers and industry professionals who are collectively invested in your career journey and outcomes.

100% Free
Offered at no cost, this program is free to all accepted students. Those who successfully complete the program will receive a $2,000 award.
INSIDE THE PROGRAM

Are you interested in building machine learning workflows to solve real-world problems? In this 9-week, skills-based summer course, you’ll work with industry-relevant tools to analyze real-world data sets, identifying patterns and relationships as you create robust data science projects. Once you master the data science basics, you’ll move on to using several common machine learning tools to approach real-world business problems, build your own ML models, train, and implement these in the most effective way. Upon completion of the course, students in good academic standing will receive a certificate from eCornell.

During this part of the program (June-August 2023), you should expect to spend about 10 hours per week completing asynchronous, online modules and 3 hours per week participating in synchronous lab sessions with other students each week.

What you’ll do:

  • Articulate the complete data science life cycle end-to-end
  • Build a dataset that is suitable for ML applications and understanding your data through exploratory analysis
  • Learn how to use industry-relevant ML tools and libraries
  • Learn core ML algorithms and develop intuition on trade-offs between different algorithmic choices
  • Select ML model evaluation metrics, hyper-parameters for testing, and run model selection to choose the best model amongst candidates
  • Learn more advanced ML models and navigate design decisions and constraints to perform agile model development
  • Investigate how deep learning can be used in ML and train and adapt neural networks to take advantage of different types of data
  • Understand the responsibility of ML engineers to improve the fairness and accountability of ML models

Throughout the academic year, you’ll be invited to join the AI Studio where you’ll work in teams to tackle business challenges from leading companies. Our industry partners include a mix of leading companies and organizations working in different industries at the forefront of ML and AI, including Accenture, American Express, Google, JP Morgan Chase, Pfizer, and more.

Based on your unique skills and interests, we’ll match you with a relevant project where you will work with large-scale, real-world datasets to train, test, and evaluate machine learning models to make predictions. Guided by academic and industry advisors, you’ll present your solutions to people experts in the field. All projects will result in technical artifacts that you can add to your portfolio that will serve as a “credential” to show future employers what you can do.

During this part of the program (August 2023-April 2024), you can expect to spend about 5 hours per week developing your project. The majority of the work can be completed virtually, with the exception of Maker Days, which occur synchronously and on-campus at your Host University in some regions.

What you’ll do:

  • Apply the ML skills that you learned in your summer ML Engineering course
  • Identify and dissect real-world business problems with real-world data and evaluate the ways that they can be addressed using ML and AI
  • Collaborate in small teams to develop, test, and iterate on solutions to business problems using ML and AI
  • Synthesize and convincingly present your solutions to industry experts
  • Add artifacts to your portfolio demonstrating your capabilities and experience

Getting your first job in AI and machine learning takes more than raw technical capability. To support your professional goals, you will work closely with an industry mentor in a small-group to engage in real-world case studies, skill-building simulations, and receive personalized feedback. Your mentor, a data science, ML, or AI professional, will be by your side as you cultivate your authentic leadership and social capital and ensure that you are on track to land a summer internship and full-time employment.

Additionally, you will receive access to our career development resources and career coaching and placement support from Break Through Tech to prepare your portfolio, apply for internships, and practice for your interviews.

During this part of the program (August 2023-April 2024), you can expect to spend about 1 hour per week completing online skill-building workshops as well as one synchronous small-group meeting with your mentor each month.

What you’ll do:

  • Learn about technical roles within data science, ML, and AI domains and their requirements
  • Develop job search methodologies to identify, evaluate, and apply for summer internships or full-time roles
  • Create and revise your professional portfolio, including your resume, LinkedIn profile, GitHub profile, and more
  • Prepare and practice for coding and ML interviews
  • Grow your professional network within the AI/ML field
  • Prepare to get the most out of your internship experience
PROGRAM HOST SITES

The Break Through Tech New York AI Program is hosted by Cornell Tech (New York, NY). We also welcome participants from Long Island to participate with our satellite at Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY).
The 2023-2024 cohort will include 250 participants.
See below for more detailed information about the program key dates and logistics.

Schedule:

  • Summer 2023:
    • Course Dates: May 30 – August 8
    • Weekly Lab Days/Times: One weekly 3 hour lab session on Tuesdays or Wednesdays from 5:00-8:00pm
    • Location: Labs will take place at the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island or Hofstra University campus on Long Island, in person pending COVID-19 restrictions. (virtual option available upon request)
  • Fall 2023-Spring 2024
    • In-Person Events: All in-person events will take place on campus at the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island.
    • Bridge to Studio: August 14-17
    • Maker Days: one Saturday per month:
      • September 9, 2023
      • October 7, 2023
      • November 11, 2023
      • January 20, 2024
      • February 24, 2024
      • March 23, 2024
    • Program Celebration: April 20, 2024

The Break Through Tech AI Program will be hosted by MIT Schwarzman College of Computing (Cambridge, MA).
The 2023-2024 cohort will include 100 participants.
See below for more detailed information about the program key dates and logistics.

Schedule:

  • Summer 2023:
    • Course Dates: May 30 – August 8
    • Weekly Lab Days/Times: One weekly 3 hour lab session on Tuesdays or Wednesdays from 4:00-7:00pm
    • Location: Labs will take place at the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing campus. (virtual option available upon request)
  • Fall 2023-Spring 2024
    • In-Person Events: All in-person events will take place at the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing campus.
    • Bridge to Studio: August 14-17
    • Maker Days: one Saturday per month:
      • September 9, 2023
      • October 7, 2023
      • November 11, 2023
      • January 20, 2024
      • February 24, 2024
      • March 23, 2024
  • Program Celebration: April 20, 2024

The Break Through Tech Los Angeles AI Program is hosted by UCLA (Los Angeles, CA).
The 2023-2024 cohort will include 100 participants.
See below for more detailed information about the program key dates and logistics.

Schedule:

  • Summer 2023:
    • Course Dates: May 30 – August 8
    • Weekly Lab Days/Times: One weekly 3 hour lab session on Tuesdays or Wednesdays from 4:00-7:00pm
    • Location: Labs will take place at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering campus. (virtual option available upon request)
  • Fall 2023-Spring 2024
    • In-Person Events: All in-person events will take place at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering campus.
    • Bridge to Studio: August 14-17
    • Maker Days: one Saturday per month:
      • September 9, 2023
      • October 7, 2023
      • November 11, 2023
      • January 20, 2024
      • February 24, 2024
      • March 23, 2024
  • Program Celebration: April 20, 2024

Contact Nicole Feliciano at nfeliciano@g.ucla.edu with any questions about the Los Angeles program.

Break Through Tech will also pilot a virtual AI Program that will take place remotely for students who are outside of the Boston, Los Angeles, or New York metropolitan areas.

The 2023-2024 cohort will include 60 participants.
See below for more detailed information about the program key dates and logistics.

Schedule:

  • Summer 2023:
    • Course Dates: June 30 – August 8
    • Weekly Lab Days/Times: One weekly 3 hour lab session on Tuesdays or Wednesdays from 4:00-7:00pm
    • Location: Remote (Zoom)
  • Fall 2023-Spring 2024
    • All events will take place virtually over Zoom.
    • Bridge to Studio: August 14-17
    • Maker Days: one Saturday per month:
      • September 9, 2023
      • October 7, 2023
      • November 11, 2023
      • January 20, 2024
      • February 24, 2024
      • March 23, 2024
  • Program Celebration: April 20, 2024