CATLab Center of Applied Technology

Center for Applied Technology logo

Make Space to Innovate

Westmont College's Center for Applied Technology Lab (CATLab) is a program designed give students the experience and connections they need to launch their post-grad careers. To accomplish this mission, CATLab focuses on placing students with compatible summer internships that cultivate professional development and vocational discernment. In addition, CATLab cohorts have historically given back to the college by completing projects designed to enhance Westmont's technological systems.

Employ a Summer Intern • Start Your Own Program • Give a Tech Talk

Get InvolvedWestmont Students Join Our TeamRead the Magazine
sailboat santa barbara
 

History

The Center for Applied Technology began CATLab in 2017 when Westmont decided to place its Salesforce platform in the hands of a small cohort of computer science and data analytics undergraduates who were ready to push the school forward. 

Learn More

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

CATLab's program is designed to transform students into extremely desirable assets within the professional community. Our staff members and program alumni mentor students and serve as enthusiastic professional advocates in the marketplace as they seek their first roles after graduation.

For maximum success in this program, students typically follow this path:

  • Rising junior summer — first summer with CATLab. 
    • Learn workplace basics, contribute, and connect.
  • Rising senior summer — second summer with CATLab. 
    • Lead the CATLab team, deepen internship connections, further hone job skills.
  • Summer after senior year. 
    • Start your career OR commit to a third summer with CATLab, preparing for launch.

For internship companies, by partnering with CATLab, you are:

  • Getting a first look at Santa Barbara’s best and brightest. These Westmont-educated, young professionals are eager to pour their energy into a worthy cause.
  • Completing projects from your backlog essential for your company's success.
  • Empowering young students with on-the-job training that will equip them for lives of purpose, meaning, and success.
  • Establishing a partnership with Westmont, allowing your success to enhance one of the premiere, nonprofit educational institutions in Santa Barbara.
 catlab model

"CATLab is a great example of a university taking seriously the fact that students need both experiences and networks to be competitive in the labor market. It's allowing students to get real-world experience on campus while also solving some of the most pressing challenges facing colleges and universities today."

- Julia Freeland Fisher

"It's a great privilege and an honor for me and my company, Salesforce, to collaborate and co-create value with CATLab students. I am so optimistic about the future because I get to work with these incredible young men and women who are practicing the art of the possible, and putting rigor and discipline to bring value to not just Westmont College, but all of the communities that the college serves. It reminds me that we're in good hands and the future is bright."

- Vala Afshar

"CATLab is a very effective program to help the Westmont students deliver from day 1 when they join tech teams in the industry. I am grateful to partner with CATLab and Zak Landrum."

- Rohit Malik, Software Engineering Manager at AppFolio

CATLab's Commitment

We invest in student skill development by familiarizing CATLab interns with various technological tools, including Salesforce products, and introducing typical workplace values and expectations through internship placement. We also connect students with experienced professionals in their academic area of specialty.

CATLab's summer session provides students with 35+ hours of work per week, with time split between external internships and internal CATLab professional development. This dual-focus allows students to refine job skills within CATLab's team, and simultaneously apply this training to internships settings.    

CATLab expects students to emerge from their summer cohort having been assigned (and completed) meaningful work that actively improves Westmont's institutional functioning. The goal of this program is to cultivate the next generation of young professionals that actively and meanginful contribute to both the college, and their internship companies. As a result, students receive incredible hands-on, practical business experience. 

CATLab is connected to many of the tech companies in Santa Barbara - especially their Salesforce teams. This list of connections deepens and grows each year, providing an excellent onramp for internships and work after Westmont. 

catlab presentation
 

CORE VALUES

As a group, we embrace the CATLab Core Values of: Authenticity, Curiosity, and Commitment.

Authenticity: We bring our authentic selves into our work. As people of faith, we long for greater meaning, for wider impact, and for deeper community. We are thrilled by success, refined by failure, challenged by conflict, and inspired by forgiveness. We will run into problems and encounter obstacles, but we will face our whole journey with honesty and fellowship.

Curiosity: We are fascinated by technology, hungry for knowledge, and humbly aware that we don’t have all the answers. We exercise wisdom in our own use of technology and create space for deep thought and reflection. We are not afraid to ask questions, seek solutions, and support each other as we pursue truth.

Commitment: We have taken on a duty to improve the technological systems undergirding Westmont College, and we will be faithful in fulfilling our promises. By finishing the tasks set before us, we will gain experience in our fields, as well as certifications and credentials, which we value as external markers of our internal drive. We are people of character—we will get the job done, and we will not give up.

Curious about CATLab? Check out our blog!