When did you do your Research Experience?
Hennigan’s Lab: May 2021-May 2022
Where was your Research Experience?
I worked in Dr. Hennigan’s Lab in the Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering at UMBC.
What is the focus of your Research Experience?
I focused on two different projects. The first project focused on characterizing the solubility of environmentally relevant gasses into salt solutions with varying conditions. The second project focused on characterizing the effect of pH on the presence of brown carbon with cloud water samples.
What was the best part of your Research Experience?
Our periodical meetings with Dr. Henningan where we learned about new ideas and projects, presented and discussed ongoing results, and recalibrated and refreshed our efforts.
When did you do your Internship?
May 2022-May 2023. I went for a summer in-person, and continued remotely during the 2022-2023 school year.
Where was your Internship?
I went to Santa Fe Springs, CA, for an summer in-person and continued remotely during the school year.
What is the focus of your Internship?
Process/Manufacturing Engineering of Carbon-Carbon Composite Plane Brakes
What was the best part of your OR What was the biggest learning moment of your Internship?
The unexpected test failures of parts that required fast, on your feet thinking, and lots of extra long hours of work and thinking.
What advice do you have for students who are interested in getting involved in research or an internship?
Start with on campus research: show interest in a professor’s research and try to get involved. Then, utilize that relevant experience to build your knowledge and interests. Finally, work to attend as many career fairs as possible to speak with people and try to show interest in their work and be likable, and the opportunities will come flowing in. Become more than just another name on the page.
Are you a member of any clubs/campus organizations?
I am a member of Tau Beta Pi, The Engineering Honor Society. I was the treasurer for the 21-22 academic year and the president for the 22-23 academic year. I have also been a teaching fellow for the CBEE department every regular semester since I was eligible.
What are your goals after graduation?
I have a position at Northrop Grumman as a Systems Engineer in the pathways program. Perhaps, I will move into a more managerial position, and then farther down the line I will run various business ventures.
Learn more about Shawn Serafin:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-serafin
]]>Dr. Alexis McKittrick, a UMBC Chemical Engineering and Meyerhoff Scholars Program alumna, who also holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech.
CWIT Scholar Graduate Class of 2021 (page 14)
Jameka Wiggins Major: Chemical Engineering Minor: Entrepreneurship and Innovation CWIT Scholar Graduate school pursuing a PhD in Engineering Education
by Asmaa Hasan, chemical engineering '22
Last week, I completed my second summer internship as a STEM Student Employment Program (SSEP) intern at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). Over the past 13 weeks, I had the opportunity to be involved with various unique experiences in the Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (CBR) Defense Division.
I helped plan and execute a week-long test event that analyzed new chemical and radiological detection equipment. The event tested the new equipment capabilities against current equipment. Marines were outfitted with the developmental equipment provided by various government agencies to perform test scenarios. I co-lead the training of the marines on the new gear. I also wrote a safety brief for the event that was presented to over 75+ military and civilian personnel on a daily basis for the duration of the event. I was the Data Collection Lead during the test event and managed a small team of 4. I worked directly alongside the Test Director and marine officers to coordinate and run the trials of the test scenarios.
Additionally, I worked on a project in relation to CBR defense efforts at the Pentagon for a couple days. I obtained my 1st challenge coin from this project!
Opportunities like this are few and far between. I am grateful I was able to have this experience where I grew both personally and professionally. Not only was this a great learning experience, but also a fun one! I was able to ride and drive around on a Polaris vehicle with some marines (we got it to its top speed!) and had a tour of the Pentagon.
I may have had the job title of an intern, but I was treated as a fellow engineer. Towards the end of the summer, I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was promoted within the year since I started in this role in 2020. Now, I am looking forward to starting my senior year at UMBC this week and hope to apply the new skills and knowledge I learned to my coursework and future opportunities!
[Originally posted on LinkedIn, reposted with permission]
]]>We are excited to support undergraduate research opportunities across our department.
The following are among the talented undergraduate researchers working in CBEE faculty labs during the summer of 2021:
Marwan Attia, Biological Sciences, rising junior
Advisor: Dr. Govind Rao
Topic: Rapid microbial test for contamination
Bryanna Boegner, Chemical Engineering, rising junior
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Hennigan
Topic: Characterizing light-absorbing organic compounds in cloud water.
Carlos Castillo, Chemical Engineering, rising senior
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Hennigan
Topic: Measuring the toxicity of transition metals in urban particulate matter.
Justin Damon, Chemical Engineering, rising senior
Advisor: Dr. Erin Lavik
Topic: Developing a fully synthetic non-degradable hydrogel with tunable mechanical properties to guide neural stem cell migration and differentiation (available via SURF)
Lucia Garcia, Chemical Engineering, rising junior
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Hennigan
Topic: Measuring the toxicity of transition metals in urban particulate matter.
Chris Hamer, Computer Science, rising senior
Advisor: Dr. Tyler Josephson
Topic: Differential dynamic logic for reaction kinetics
Sahaadat Hammed-Owens, Chemical Engineering, rising junior
Advisor: Dr. Jennie Leach
Topic: Toxicity and immune response to metal air pollutants in collaboration with Dr. Hennigan and Dr. Reed.
Garrett Hill, Chemical Engineering, rising junior
Advisor: Dr. Mark Marten
Topic: Developing an understanding of the role PrkA kinase plays in microbial development.
Jinyu Huang, Chemical Engineering, rising senior
Advisor: Dr. Tyler Josephson
Topic: Differential dynamic logic for reaction kinetics
Joy Kiguru, Chemical Engineering, rising junior
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Hennigan
Topic: Characterizing the effects of inorganic salts on the partitioning of organic gases to the aqueous phase.
Sharon Liu, Computer Science, rising senior
Advisor: Dr. Tyler Josephson
Topic: Building knowledge graphs for equations
Nikki Nacion, Chemical Engineering, rising senior
Advisor: Dr. Tyler Josephson
Topic: Discovering equations for adsorption isotherms using symbolic regression
Shawn Serafin, Chemical Engineering, rising junior
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Hennigan
Topic: Characterizing the effects of inorganic salts on the partitioning of organic gases to the aqueous phase.
Neil Tran, Chemical Engineering, Senior (post-graduation)
Advisor: Dr. Tyler Josephson
Topic: Introducing thermodynamic constraints into Bayesian symbolic regression
Grace Tugado, Chemical Engineering, rising junior
Advisor: Dr. Jennie Leach
Topic: Toxicity and immune response to metal air pollutants in collaboration with Dr. Hennigan and Dr. Reed.
Diego Iglesias Vega, Chemical Engineering (Environmental Engineering and Sustainability track), rising junior
Advisors: Dr. Lee Blaney and Mr. Jahir Antonio Batista Andrade
Topic: Spatiotemporal analysis of dissolved organic carbon and total nitrogen in the Jones Falls and Gwynns Falls watersheds
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