Jonathan Sikora is a Biology major with a Psychology minor who will graduate in 2021.  He is a URA Scholar and a member of the Honors College.

Title of your research project: Comparing song repertoire size in male and female Eastern Bluebirds

Describe your project: 

I am investigating whether male and female Eastern Bluebirds can sing the same number of songs. This will help further our understanding of female song in songbirds; an emerging field in ornithology. 

Who is your mentor(s) for your project? Dr. Kevin Omland

How did you find your mentor? Dr. Omland taught my BIOL 142 class. He made a posting on blackboard looking for field assistants for an undergraduate researcher's independent project. I applied, and was eventually accepted into the lab. 

Why did you choose them? I thought Dr. Omland's work was incredibly interesting, and I loved what the Omland lab was doing. I thought that having the opportunity to work in this field would would be a great way to expand my interests and find something I'm really passionate about.

How did you become interested in this project? I had already assisted with a previous project on female song in Eastern Bluebirds, and I really enjoyed the experience. Doing research out in the field was unlike any other experience I had before. When Dr. Omland offered me the opportunity to lead a similar project of my own, I knew right away that it was something I wanted to do.

What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher? Recording birdsong out in the field can be quite a challenge. It took me a while to understand how much goes into making a quality recording. Finding the correct distance, positioning, and recording settings all proved to be difficult tasks.

What has been the most rewarding part? Having the opportunity to explain my work is definitely the most rewarding part about research for me. I love being able to explain my findings to others and how they apply to the world around us, and I'm so grateful that this experience has afforded me that opportunity. 

How will you disseminate your research? I will be presenting at URCAD and possibly publishing my results in a peer reviewed journal. 

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research? Talk to your professors in your favorite classes and see if you can get involved with their work. Try to find something you're really passionate about. And don't think that research has to be strictly within the sciences, as there are many different types of research you can get involved with (social sciences, art, history, etc.).

What are your career goals? After graduation, I plan on attending medical school and becoming a physician. 

Check out all of our URA Scholars: 

https://ur.umbc.edu/ura/current-scholars/

Name: Agatha Turyahikayo

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Apple

Position Title: Software Engineering Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s): Computer Science Major, Music Minor

Current Class Level: Junior

Work Term: Summer 2019 

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

I was an intern on the Mail Team, which develops the Mail app for macOS and iOS. All of my work was under a non-disclosure agreement, but I was working on the Mail Frameworks team, which does all the backend engineering. I was working with the programming languages Swift and Objective-C. I also used Github to do source control related things, like pull requests and code review.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I went to the Grace Hopper Celebration, the world’s largest conference for women in tech, in September 2018 with a sponsorship from the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT). The conference has a big career fair, so I went to a ton of company booths and gave them my resume and elevator pitch. One of the engineers at the Apple booth gave my resume to her manager and by the end of the 3-day conference I had 2 technical interviews and was extended an internship offer. To prepare for the technical interviews, I did mock whiteboard interviews, practice problems on websites like Hackerrank and Leetcode, and read through a lot of a book called Cracking the Coding Interview. 

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

Learning about macOS and iOS development for the first time at Apple was a really unique opportunity, because I sat and worked alongside engineers who have worked at Apple for many years. These engineers have developed fundamental software features, frameworks, and paradigms that currently exist in Apple devices. I also enjoyed seeing the scale of the software development process at Apple, since it affects billions of active devices and millions of customers worldwide.

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

I had all of the weight for making critical decisions for my intern project, so it allowed me to have a lot of freedom in how I chose to implement it.

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

Apply to every internship you can. Bring a ton of resumes to career fairs and have an elevator pitch prepared. Talk to companies you don't think you have a chance with.

Connect with Agatha: agatha3@umbc.edu

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• A definition of Sexual Coercion added as a prohibited act of sexual violence;
• Student’s rights to retain an attorney, paid for by the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC); and
• Identification of the nearest hospital(s) to campus to obtain a Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (SAFE).