Purva is one of the runner-ups of Summer 2016’s #UMBCintern contest! To see Purva’s entries and all of the other wonderful submissions, checkout the hashtag on Twitter. 

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Name: Purva Kulkarni

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: NASA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Position Title: Operations System Analyst Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s): Computer Science Master’s 

Expected Graduation Year: May 2017

Briefly describe your internship, co-op,  or research opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.

I worked on a project called 'Evaluating Documentation Needs for DevOps / Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Projects at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. My day to day work included interviewing people from Software Development, Operations and Project Management teams. Understanding their requirements, pain points and expectations from documents and documentation process, researching which other organizations have successful SRE teams and how they handle their documents, reading and learning from the book “Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems.” I also participated in Software Development Boot-camp, Mini-Hackathon (coding for Amazon Alexa/Echo), talks/presentations on various topics, and various events arranged for Summer Interns at JPL and at California Institute of Technology (CalTech).

Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.

I applied for this internship via Indeed.com. There were two interviews via telephone (first interview by hiring manager and second by HR). 

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?

For me, interning at Jet Propulsion Laboratory was like a dream come true. I enjoyed each and every day of work. JPL is a wonderful workplace to build collaboration with brilliant researchers through a lot of seminars in different fields and resources for training.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Office of Chief Information Officer (JPL OCIO) is starting Site Reliability Engineering projects and they wanted to evaluate each and every aspect of SRE before kick-starting the projects. My project was focused on documentation part of SRE projects. I completed my project within given deadline. As per my mentor, findings, analysis and recommendations mentioned in my paper will definitely guide SRE project management team while designing, creating, sharing and curating the documents. It will also help in streamlining the documentation process.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

NASA - JPL have year-round internship opportunities available. They are keen on hiring the curious minds. If you are really interested in working at NASA - JPL, keep visiting their websites and applying for the internship positions you are interested in. 

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Hello Prospective Mentor!

I am contacting you on behalf of the Elizabeth Seton High School Learning Engineering and Design (LEAD) Program's E-Mentor initiative. Seton is an all-female high school that has implemented an optional engineering curriculum into the course-work. The LEAD Program promotes increased achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math in a problem solving environment. Seton offers four years of LEAD classes including Foundations of Engineering, Robotics Engineering, Advanced Design Application, and Engineering Design. The LEAD Program also exposes students to STEM competitions, service opportunities, and internship and workplace shadow opportunities.    

In order to bridge the gap between the high school classroom environment and college or the workplace, we have established an E-Mentoring Program for the students. This is where we need your help! We are looking for female college students, recent graduates, and professionals to become E-Mentors. An E-Mentor serves as a mentor to a student through offering guidance on STEM classes, projects, college decisions, 
and professionalism via e-mail.

What to expect: We would love for our mentors to commit to one e-mail communication per week for 8 to 10 weeks between September and November. That's it! Any additional communication is up to you, but we understand how busy college students and industry professionals are! We will also have a E-Mentor "Kick-off" Event, in which you will have an opportunity to meet the students and help them interact professionally! Mark your calendar's now, the Kick-Off will be Tuesday, September 20thfrom 7:00pm to 8:30pm at  Seton. We would like to see all of our E-Mentors there, but if you will not be able to attend, please do not let it discourage you from applying.

How to apply: Please fill out the (new and shorter) online application. The link to the application is below. In addition to the application, please send a pdf of your resume to: leadmentors@setonhs.org.

E-mentor application: https://goo.gl/forms/o3NPTuzaOVukjLW72

Who can apply: Females studying/working in Engineering, Architecture, or Computer Science fields. Please specify your major/work field in the application. If you do not see your field in this list, please feel free to still apply! Any undergraduate student, recent graduate, or professional  is encouraged to apply.

Why should you apply? A mentorship program is beneficial to both the mentor and mentee! Having an impact on younger students and being active in the community provides personal satisfaction to the mentor. Additionally, it is a great program to participate in for professional development. Being a mentor demonstrates leadership and knowledge in the STEM fields, your community involvement, and that you are proactive about helping others. 

Our statistics show that the program and mentors are making a difference! Of the students who graduated in the program, 81% have entered into college with a declared major in the STEM or design fields. Advice and engagement from mentors like you are making a difference!

For more information about Elizabeth Seton High School and the LEAD program, please visit our website www.setonhs.org. There is a "LEAD Learning Engineering and Design" section under the "Academics" tab.

In addition to applying, please encourage your peers/co-workers/classmates to also apply! There are 92students in the program, and we are aiming for 100 E-Mentors to pair with them! Please forward this e-mail to ASME, Tau Beta Pi, SWE, NSBE, ALCHE, ASCE, SHPE, CSEE, and other STEM related chapters of your school.

Thank you, 

Annette

STEM Mentoring

Living Classrooms Foundation is looking for STEM mentors to work with our students (ages 6-9) during after-school programming.

There are two locations that will be running this programming, our POWER House Community Center (316 S. Caroline St. Baltimore, MD 21231) as well as our Youth Development Center (802 S. Caroline St. Baltimore, MD 21231).

• At the POWER House, volunteers choose from Tuesdays OR Thursdays (4:45 5:45pm) starting September 12th. These sessions will run for about 10 weeks, and should end the week of November 14th.
• At the Youth Development Center, sessions will be a mix of Tuesdays AND Thursdays (4:30-5:30pm). Sessions will be twice a week in October and then just on Tuesdays in November.