School of Information Sciences

Internship Spotlight: Tesla

Shivani Dhavala

MS/IM student Shivani Dhavala discusses her internship with Tesla. According to Dhavala, her iSchool coursework and internship experience is preparing her for a career as a product manager, where she can "contribute to some really fascinating products that people would use."

Where are you interning, and what is your role?

I am interning at Tesla as a product manager. I work on enhancing and bringing to life their internal tools to enable suppliers and planners to maintain the supply chain.

How did you find out about the internship?

A dear friend referred me to this role. LinkedIn job postings have also been very useful in my internship search.

What new skills have you acquired during your time with the company?

I have been able to gather a lot of industry knowledge, expertise in creating user stories, and advanced SQL [structured query language] queries.

What do you like the best about working at the company?

I love to see how my work has an impact on the business. It's also the people that make me feel so motivated to work here.

What would you advise current students who are interested in an internship opportunity?

Apply, apply, and apply! Make sure to prepare your resume, and that’s half the battle won. Always be on the lookout for opportunities and reach out to people on LinkedIn to build your network.

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

Wang group to present at WSDM26

Professor and Associate Dean for Research Dong Wang and PhD student Ruohan Zong will present their research at the 19th ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining (WSDM 26), which will be held from February 22–26 in Boise, Idaho. WSDM is a premier international conference in web search, data mining, and AI, known for its highly selective acceptance rates. This year, the acceptance rate for the main track of the conference was only 16 percent. 

Dong Wang

Reynolds prepares for a career in global tech

Growing up on the south side of Chicago, BSIS student Devon Reynolds always saw his future in technology. He discovered the information sciences program during his senior year of high school and was drawn to its balance of challenging coursework. Choosing the iSchool at Illinois felt like a natural next step. 

Devon Reynolds

Spectrum Scholar Spotlight: Mariana Guerrero

Eight iSchool master's students have been named 2025–2026 Spectrum Scholars by the American Library Association. This "Spectrum Scholar Spotlight" series highlights the School's scholars. MSLIS student Mariana Guerrero earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish language and literature from Rockford University.

Mariana Guerrero

PhD student Fobazi Ettarh passes away

PhD student Fobazi Ettarh passed away on January 28, 2026. Ettarh entered the doctoral program at the University of Illinois in 2022. She held an MLIS from Rutgers University and bachelor's degree in English and sociology from the University of Delaware. Prior to joining the iSchool, Ettarh served as an academic librarian at Temple University Libraries; California State University, Dominguez Hills; and Rutgers University. She was also a school library media specialist at Hawthorne (NJ) Public Schools.

Fobazi Ettarh

iSchool International: Studying abroad in Japan

BSIS+DS student and undergraduate ambassador Alex Soja discusses his meaningful experience studying abroad in Japan, where he got the opportunity to live independently in Tokyo and gain a more global perspective.

Alex Soja 2026

School of Information Sciences

501 E. Daniel St.

MC-493

Champaign, IL

61820-6211

Voice: (217) 333-3280

Email: ischool@illinois.edu

Back to top