Employees and micro-interns gather in the lab around a robot.

MIT Micro-internship Employer Spotlight: Thespian Labs Inc.

This January, four MIT students — from undergraduates to PhD candidates — completed an immersive micro-internship supporting Thespian Labs Inc. The students quickly jumped into their project, working closely with the company’s CEO and CTO to tackle real challenges with real impact. 

Learn more about their experience and consider offering a similar opportunity in January.    

Company overview: Thespian Labs is an early-stage AI research team building foundation models that opens new possibilities for how humans and machines communicate. They are developing Large Behavior Models for human simulation, focused on expressive, embodied behavior that turns intent into natural, controllable performance.

The micro-internship was led by 

  • Norbert Chang, CEO, entrepreneur and Lecturer with MITdesignX  
  • Dr. Çağri Hakan Zaman, CTO, entrepreneur, researcher and MIT alum (PhD ‘20)

What made a micro-internship a good fit for your company?

“A micro-internship was an ideal fit because it allowed us to define a focused, short-term project around a real research problem we were actively working to solve. They produced actionable work that we were able to carry forward immediately.” – Dr. Çağri Hakan Zaman

What did you enjoy about working with the MIT students?

“The students brought a fresh perspective and energy to our team. They took initiative and worked through problems independently, often keeping things moving without guidance.” – Norbert Chang

The student perspective (from the team): 

“It was so much fun! Since day one, we were treated like part of the team and quickly got to work. The team was extremely knowledgeable, and we learned a lot from them. We’ll miss our metal friend (and the daily snacks) XD”

Photo (from left to right)

  • Norbert Chang (Lecturer)
  • Dr. Cagri Hakan Zaman (MS 14’ Computer Science, PhD 20’ Computational Design)
  • Dr. Adam Kraft (SB 05′, MEng 07′, PhD 18’ Computer Science)
  • Cheuk Hei Chu (Undergrad 6-4,18)
  • Emmanuela Ilok (Undergrad 6-3)
  • Mike Law (PhD Math)
  • Alice Cheng (Undergrad 6-3,18)

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