Introduction: Undergraduate Psychology students learn professional workplace skills and gain valuable real-world experience by completing internships. Internship experience enhances graduate school applications as well as building employment networks.

Statement of the Problem: Traditional internship classes in which prearranged internship positions are offered to students are instructor intensive and are prohibitive to arrange for all students in large departments. Offering limited numbers of internships is not inclusive and results in unequal student career preparation.

Teaching Implications: When students arrange their own internships they gain valuable work search and interviewing experience, as well as decreasing the instructor load. Preparing the students before the semester and embracing a flexible internship model are key. Careful integration of online and in-person learning can combine economies of scale with strong interpersonal support.

Conclusion: It is possible to offer internship experiences on a large scale if the students are creatively engaged in developing their own internships while receiving substantive instructor and peer support throughout the process.

The NSF's "STEM Education for the Future: 2020 Visioning Report" highlights the importance of innovative instructional models in STEM education. These models focus on learner-centered, project-based environments where students engage in inquiry-based complex projects, emphasizing the relevancy of STEM learning from both personal and societal perspectives.

The Science Education for New Civic Engagement and Responsibilities (SENCER) organization embodies these principles by integrating STEM curriculum with real-world issues, enhancing personal, societal, and civic engagement. We propose to integrate SENCER concepts through team-based projects that explore the most diverse health data being collected through the NIH funded All of Us Program

In alignment with SENCER's objectives, which resonate with the CSU CUREs Network's goals, there will be a special session at the upcoming CSUBiotech symposium in January 2024. This session will introduce SENCER and discuss a collaborative CURE-based proposal utilizing the All of Us Research Hub. This collaboration invites participation from all CSU campuses and SENCER members.

The overarching goal is to enhance STEM teaching and learning by linking it to civic issues and fostering scientific literacy among faculty and students. This approach not only enriches educational experiences but also prepares students for real-world challenges, making STEM education more impactful and relevant.