Gain the Tools and Skills to Transform Your Career
Our world-leading faculty combine academic excellence — accumulated from working in some of the top universities and research institutes in the world — with distinguished professional careers in industry. Their knowledge and experience ensures that you’ll gain a broad understanding of leading edge theory as well as acquiring practical proficiency in the applied skills needed for a successful career in the field of your choice.
Ongoing input from industry experts
Our NLP Program is the product of close collaboration with a range of partners in Silicon Valley. Our Industry Advisory Board provides a diverse range of expertise with members drawn from a variety of organizations. This includes representatives from some of the world’s biggest companies – Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, LinkedIn – as well as individuals working in more entrepreneurial settings at start-up companies. This breadth of experience helps to shape the content and direction of the NLP Program ensuring that our graduates stay ahead of the curve and have both the versatility and understanding to respond to shifts in the industry.
Updates from the field
The program benefits from regular guest lectures from a range of industry experts. Their input ensures that students have authentic insight into new developments and critical issues in the industry. Perhaps even more importantly, guest lectures provide opportunities for networking with a wide range of scientists, practitioners and organizations. Students can benefit from talking to experts informally, gaining a better understanding of the industry’s current direction of travel and developing a strategy for how best to develop their future careers.
Authentic workplace experience through the NLP Capstone project
All students benefit from the practical experience of working on an industry-relevant Capstone project. Collaborating in teams of 3-5 students with guidance from a mentor from either the faculty or industry, students gain the practical and professional competencies essential for a successful career in NLP. This experience adds an important dimension to their resumes and often provides excellent content for a conversation with a future employer.
Perspectives from our Industry Advisors
“The MS in NLP Program at UCSC draws on rich experiences of faculty and advisory board members to provide intellectually challenging opportunities for students through courses and Capstone projects, preparing the students for a range of satisfying careers in human language processing.”
– Dr. Srinivas Bangalore
VP of AI Research, Interactions LLC
“I participated as a project mentor in the UCSC NLP Program’s Capstone project. It was a rewarding experience to work with the students for an extended period and watch them contribute to advances in areas of current interest in industry and academia.”
– Dr. Sarangarajan Parthasarathy
Principal Scientist, Microsoft
And from our students
“The [NLP Program’s] timeline, research opportunities with distinguished professors, Capstone project, and working with experienced professionals from industry was what convinced me to choose this program.”
– Archit Bose, NLP Alum
Software Engineer, Amazon
“If not for the NLP program, I wouldn’t have the skills I needed to fully develop Apollo.”
– Raghav Chaudhary, NLP Alum
Founder of Apollo Analytics LLC
Employer Hub
Interested in recruiting our students for internship and career opportunities with your company? We offer a variety of ways for you to get to know our students and locate the right candidates with the specialized skill sets that meet your organizational needs.
You can provide guest lectures on your research and organization, attend one of our networking events, join a career fair at our Santa Cruz or Silicon Valley campuses, or propose a Capstone project on an NLP topic of interest to your company. You can also promote open internship and career opportunities to our students through Handshake. If you’re interested in meeting with our students, please contact our Program Coordinator, Emelye Neff, at nlp@ucsc.edu.