Name:Ankit Monga
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:1776
Position Title: Operations Intern
Major: Information Systems
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
On a daily basis i'm responsible for making sure the whole 1776 campus is clean and operating at its full potential. This responsibility ranges from making sure the kitchen is fully stocked with the right materials to working with the CEO, Evan Burfield, to make sure important documents are prepared the correct way to help companies advance into rounds of seed funds. I'm also responsible of projects that I'm given which can range from help desk tickets on some weeks to using excel to document sales for the DC region of the company.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
I obtained my internship through networking with a family friend who had previously interned with 1776.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?
I enjoy that i'm doing vastly different projects so that I can get a wide range of experience in different things.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Network with any family and friends to help get leads on jobs or internship. Also use the resources we are given at UMBC such as UMBCworks and the job fairs.
Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position.
My ability to get experience through this internship is very important to me since it is helping me decide what I want to do with my career after college.
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Name: Casey Gardner
Internship, Co-op or Research Site: National Aquarium
Position Title: Animal Care Center Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s): Biological Sciences B.S.
Describe your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.
I am responsible for monitoring, cleaning, and feeding all of the reptiles (sometimes fish). I ensure that all of the animals are healthy and when needed, I will observe any medical treatment.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
I filled out a somewhat extensive online application and completed a phone interview.
Which resources did you use to find your current experience?
I was a volunteer for almost two years.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?
I am very passionate about marine wildlife and I love being able to work hands on with the animals. It makes me feel great knowing that I am giving them the best care possible.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I have a positive, passionate attitude. I love the people that I work with because we are a team with the same goals and dedication towards these animals.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Definitely go for it. Follow your passion because that is when you will be the happiest.
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Name:Tanner Yatsko
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Baltimore, MD
Position Title: Technical Operations and Support Services Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s): Information Systems
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
I work as a Technical Operations and Support Services Intern in the Healthcare Analytics and Informatics department of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. I handle the manipulation of SQL programs to pull pieces of data relating to healthcare information that are then formatted into reports that are used by representatives of the different departments of the company.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
I acquired the position by having the desire to gain experience in the field I was studying. In today's world, it is known that higher education is a great way to obtain the bigger positions, but it is also key to have the right experience. Using this as inspiration to obtain that experience, I just took the time to visit the Career Center where I had my résumé critiqued multiple times, which I then took to a Career Fair that was hosted on UMBC's campus and handed that résumé out to potential employers. It was a fairly simple process. It just took knowing that there would be some work involved.
Which resources did you use to find your current experience?
UMBC Career Center, Career Fairs, UMBCworks
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?
I love my internship because it has allowed me to not only put prior knowledge to use, but it has also allowed me to learn a lot more than I would ever learn in a classroom. To see how skills and education are applied in the working world has been an eye opening experience and has certainly helped me prepare for my career after I graduate.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
The experience has made me feel more confident in the fact that my college education is going towards something that will only improve my life moving forward. When it comes to my coworkers, I feel that I have helped take work off of their shoulders. It has been wonderful to see myself as a part of a team that truly appreciates what you do for them. It certainly takes time to get the hang of things, but in time you see the progress you are making, and it only makes you a larger asset to those you work with.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
My best piece of advice for students seeking an internship would be to just go for it. A student needs to be willing to put in the work, use the resources that are available to them, and then put those to use when looking for an internship that is right for them. There is nothing more satisfying than being offered an opportunity after a student has done the work to obtain it. It is also good to keep in mind that there are employers that want and need interns that are educated and have the desire to put that education to use.
Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position.
An internship is the bridge between college experiences and real-world experiences. They help you get to where you want to go.
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Name: Ashley Espiritu
Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Mindgrub
Position Title: Associate Designer
Major: Graphic Design
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
As an Associate Design Intern, I assist in creation of visual and interactive designs for clients through creative problem solving and best practice production methods. My responsibilities include executing and delivering high quality design based on client goals and contemporary design concepts. I receive input, critique, and advice from the client and team to move a project forward. I collaborate with project team members and design leads to ensure the creative vision is fully realized. My internship involved contributing to a positive, creative, and supportive atmosphere.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
I had a referral and submitted my resume and link to my online portfolio.
Which resources did you use to find your current experience?
I went through a friend who is a UMBC alumni.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?
It is the best place to learn as an intern. Mindgrub has a very healthy work culture. The superiors are more like mentors that are approachable and guide the employees. The leaders teach the interns the right approach on how to solve a problem. Mindgrub promotes team building activities to bind the employees together. It conducts training programs, workshops, seminars and presentations to upgrade the existing skills of the employees. They also provide not only food and drinks but also fitness tools and games to keep their employees energize and happy.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
My supervisor told me that I have an "outstanding attitude and work ethic." Also, my co-workers praise my works. I strongly believe that I have helped the company deliver great visual designs to the clients.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
First, know the environment of the work place by either having a chat with a current employee or take a time to have a research about the company. Second, attend events that offers you a chance to meet the possible employers or at least the possible co-worker. Third, speak with any professionals within your rich like your professors, academic advisor, and the Career Center. They can help you find your skills, personality, and interests, which will help you get the best internship.
Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position.
An internship teaches you the right and most current tools for each project. Great supervisors ask you what you want to learn so that they can direct you to the right path of learning and save you time learning other things that you wouldn't need in the real world. My internship taught me how to be efficient and organized in a multitasking world. Earning internship credits saves you a lot of time and money which I highly recommend for students to do. The Career Center is the best way to look for an internship because they will make sure that you are learning and not just doing some tasks that your co-workers wouldn't want to do.
Ashley is pictured with her supervisor Rob Rhinehart, who is Mindgrub's Director of Creative Strategy.
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Name:Justin Joseph
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:2U in Lanham, MD
Position Title:HRIS Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s): Information Systems
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
As an HRIS intern, my day to day responsibilities include keeping track of various integrations within different systems, auditing multiple systems for data integrity, sending new hires their onboarding events, monitoring and responding to inquires, compiling standard reports, identifying and researching best practices in HRIS and Big Data Analytics.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
In order to get this position, I went to the Career Center to get my resume approved and once it was approved I applied for this position via Indeed.com.
Which resources did you use to find your current experience?
UMBC Career Center, LinkedIn or other social media and Indeed.com.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?
One thing I enjoyed the most about 2U is the people. All the employees at my company are super friendly and helpful. Also, we have the startup culture mentality at 2U where we help each other out to accomplish our goals.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I believe I made an impact through my work by being a team player and making sure all the assignments are completed on time. Also, I like to keep myself accountable and do my best by contributing to the team.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
One piece of advice I would give to a student who is seeking an internship would be to apply everywhere and don't give up! It's rare to find an internship of your choice on the first try and it’s important to be persistent when looking for any internship.
Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position.
An amazing thing about this internship is that not only did I get experience related to my field, but I also got three academic credits by enrolling in PRAC.
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Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Friday! ]]>Name: Noor Amin
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:Maryland House of Delegates
Position Title: Constituent Services Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
I work for the office of Brooke Lierman, delegate of district 46. My primary job is to communicate with constituents and inform them about the current bills that are being proposed. My job also includes substantial research on the pros and cons of specific policy measures. I then present these to the delegate when requested.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
I applied via UMBCworks. I had my resume approved from Career Center. After applying, I had an interview over the phone.
Which of the following resources did you use to find your current experience?
UMBC Career Center and UMBCworks.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?
I get to be part of this year's legislative session. I have met some very important people while working at the House of Delegates. I love hearing from constituents and seeing how past bills have impacted them.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
On a few occasions, I helped solve the problems of constituents. For example, a month ago, a constituent called about not receiving "homeowner's credit." I then called the agency directly responsible for giving out the money. The issue was soon resolved. As a result, I felt empowered. I was able to use my position to help someone in need. It was spectacular.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Work hard. Know your priorities. Work always comes first.
Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position.
I was able to make a positive contribution in the lives of Maryland residents.
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Name:Prachi Kochar
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:Madison House Autism Foundation
Position Title: Research and Writing Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s): Psychology and Gender & Women’s Studies
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
As a Research and Writing Intern at Madison House Autism Foundation, my daily work primarily consists of doing research on various issues affecting adults on the autism spectrum. Using this research, I write articles for the MHAF blog that describe a specific issue concerning adults on the autism spectrum and explain possible solutions.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
I applied for the job using UMBCWorks and then went in for an interview at MHAF with Stephen Robinson.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
By raising awareness about the issues that adults on the autism spectrum face, I hope that we are bringing more attention to an underserved population and increasing the amount of information available for them, because there is very little information or research out there.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Apply for everything that interests you; do not let your self-doubt stop you. Also, your previous work experiences can be very helpful - I also work at the Women's Center at UMBC, which involves writing blog posts, and when I went in for the interview, we discussed one of my blog posts.
Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position.
As a senior, it is a great way to end my undergraduate experience by taking what I have learned as a Psychology major and writer and using it to make a positive impact in the real world with MHAF.
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Name:Mary Aronne
Internship, Co-op or Research Site: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Position Title: Space Weather Forecasting Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s): Environmental Science and Geography, B.S.
Describe your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.
I analyze space weather, which means I look at satellite data of the sun and watch for solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and other events that could lead to a geomagnetic storm at Earth or impact NASA robotic missions throughout the solar system. My day to day responsibilities include maintaining a log of events, communicating with other space weather analysts, analyzing data, and running simulations if needed. I also have a research project that I work on with my mentor relating to space weather, which I do in conjunction with my regular space weather analysis.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
I found this position through the NASA One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI). In addition, I completed an internship with the same group I am with now as a high school in the summer of 2012.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?
I enjoy being able to look at the Sun and observe what is happening on it in almost real time. It is exciting to be one of the first observers of an event, such as a big eruption on the Sun or the start of a geomagnetic storm at Earth.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
My work has an impact on NASA robotic missions throughout the solar system and at Earth, because we alert them to space weather activity.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
My advice is to apply early for an internship and get strong letters of recommendation that are relevant to the field you want to go into. Internships are competitive and there are often several rounds of the selection process.
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]]>Name: Megan Mellon
Internship, Co-op or Research Site: UMBC Dance Department and URA Scholars Program in Baltimore, MD
Position Title: Scientific Choreographer
Major(s)/Minor(s): Dance and Biological Sciences
Expected Graduation: May 2017
Briefly describe your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.
My research project analyzes the physiological and anatomical principles of dance movement. I attended the Bates Summer Dance Festival in Maine this summer to gain more dance education about the human body. From my experience, I did scientific research to better understand the muscular and skeletal design of our body that enables us to move in various ways. I translated my findings into dance choreography which was presented at the Senior Dance Concert, and it will be presented at URCAD 2017.
During the process I was responsible for generating movement and constructing choreography to create a ten minute long dance. I spent individual time experimenting with movement ideas, and then I held rehearsals to set choreography on my five, fantastic dancers. I spent several hours a week crafting and refining my choreographic work. Additionally for this project I needed to decide on music, costumes, hair, and makeup for the dance, while continuing to research the scientific principles underlying the human body.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
I was interested in combining my passions of art and science together and wanted to participate in an independent research project. The URA Scholars Program provided me the platform to be able to do just that. I applied to the program and was fortunate enough to be given a scholarship to help fund my project.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?
I have loved being able to bring my passion for science into the dance department here at UMBC, and the support that they have given me throughout this process.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I believe I was able to provide an alternative to educate people about science through movement, instead of a traditional written or oral form. I believe integrating other concepts into dance is a way to have others experience a fun, creative journey, while still learning. I hope to continue to share scientific concepts through movement.
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]]>Name: Awa Bakayoko
Internship, Co-op or Research Site: University of Georgia, College of Engineering
Position Title: Independent Biomedical Researcher
Major(s)/Minor(s): Biology
Expected Graduation: May 2017
Briefly describe your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.
During my research experience, I had the opportunity to conduct groundbreaking biomedical research on breast cancer metastasis at the University of Georgia. I was fortunate to work in two labs, with two different mentors. In Dr. Davis' Genetics lab, I learned about racial disparities within different breast cancer sub-types. African American women affected with Triple Negative Breast Cancer have a higher mortality rate than Caucasian women affected with the same type of breast cancer. We hypothesized that this racial disparity could be due to altered expression of a receptor called Atypical Chemokine Receptor 1 (ACKR1). The ACKR1 receptor normally binds to inflammatory chemokines in the blood stream and sequesters these chemokines. Populations in sub-Saharan Africa have high amounts of a Duffy-null mutation, which means that they do not express the ACKR1 gene on their red blood cells. This means that they have high amounts of inflammatory chemokines within the blood stream which could explain why African American women with triple-negative breast cancer are harder to treat.
I was tasked with researching the effects of pro-inflammatory chemokines on breast cancer metastasis. In this lab, I cultured cells, performed wound healing assay's, and used software to measure breast carcinoma cell invasiveness with and without the pro-inflammatory chemokine CCL2. In Dr. Gomillion's tissue engineering lab, I developed a three-dimensional bio-material scaffold in order to simulate breast cancer metastasis. In this lab, I engineered the scaffold using bio-materials, observed cell motility through the engineered scaffold, and I fixed and stained the cells with a nuclear stain (DAPI). The results from the research I conducted could shed some light on the process of breast cancer metastasis and help us to better understand and characterize the disease.
Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.
I found out about the research program through Undergraduate Research group at UMBC. I obtained help from Mrs. Janet McGlynn, who gave me tips on how to make my resume stronger and helped me through the process of applying to research programs overall.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?
What I enjoyed most about my summer research experience was working independently on my research project, and working full time. I also learned a great deal of lab techniques during my time in the lab. In my classes at UMBC, I learned many techniques that scientists used to learn more about how our body works, and being able to actually do these tests and techniques myself was very enjoyable.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I believe I have aided in helping to understand breast cancer.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Some advice would be to start your applications early, to get help especially on personal statements and resumes, and to search the UMBC Undergraduate Research group in order to find great opportunities and sites to conduct research.
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