Name:Andre Lemard
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:Paradigm Testing, LLC
Position Title:IT Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s):Information Systems
Current Class Level:Senior
Work Term:Spring 2021
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
I work as an Information technology intern at Paradigm testing, where we provide high-stake examinations to a wide range of law and medical organizations and boards. My day-to-day responsibilities include creating and scheduling exams for many clients, providing live troubling for proctors during exams. I also assist in other functional business/technology processes as needed.
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
My internship position was listed on the UMBCworks page, and I decided to apply because the job description matched my skill set. I used the Career Center's handbook resume tips and examples to format my resume according to my field of study.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
I enjoy that this internship position is entirely remote, so I get to work in the comfort of my home. I also enjoy the daily meeting with team members and the different tasks and projects we get to work on each day. The organization is pretty small, so everyone is kept in the loop.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I believe I make an impact through my work by creating exam formats that will yield the best exam-taking experience for candidates. I also believe that working closely with stakeholders and developing methods to streamline their exams significantly impacts their business processes.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
I would say keep applying to as many internships as you can. Invest in resources that will keep your skill set current. Also, make an appointment at the Career Center if you need help.
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Name:Jessica Kweon
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:Esperanza Center, Catholic Charities in Action
Position Title:Legal Services and Educational Services Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s):Psychology B.A.
Current Class Level:Senior
Work Term: Spring 2021
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
I'm currently interning virtually for this position. Because I intern for two different branches, I have two different supervisors that I meet on different days. The majority of my work pertains to my legal role. I work closely with my supervisor to gain legal knowledge and practice skills lawyers use for cases, including preparing documents, briefs, and legal research. With supervision, I can also contact clients with regards to cases. In addition, I meet weekly with the other lawyers in the branch to learn about their cases in the past week. This experience has been super insightful in better understanding the work that lawyers do, especially in immigration law.
As an Educational Services intern, I work with my supervisor on projects pertaining to the adult ESOL tutoring program. As a volunteer, it's provided me a lot of perspective on how to better evaluate and improve the program for both students and volunteers!
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
In December, I applied for the Shattuck Family Internship Program for Entrepreneurship Innovation and Social Change. Having been to the Career Center multiple times in my college career, I already had everything I needed, such as my resume, to apply for the program. In January, I was accepted into the program, which graciously provided funding for any nonprofit internship of my choice for the semester. I worked with Christine Routzahn from the Career Center to find and contact local nonprofit organizations that aligned with the kind of professional experience I was seeking for in my senior year. I've volunteered through the Shriver Center as an ESOL teacher for the Esperanza Center since the summer, and I was aware that they offered a number of other services to immigrant populations in the Baltimore area. After contacting and interviewing with the staff, I was able to land an intern position in two different branches, Legal Services and Educational Services, both of which I am very passionate about.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
I love the values, mission, and vision that our organization has in truly serving and supporting the immigrant community. As someone whose parents are immigrants, I know that having access to safe and compassionate services is really important when coming to the United States. I've also loved working with my supervisors. They've both been super fun, encouraging, and helpful throughout this experience!
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
Through my work, I am helping to improve teaching procedures that will enhance learning for children with developmental disabilities, like Autism-spectrum disorder (ASD). Although there are procedures currently in place to treat children with ASD in Applied Behavior Analysis, much research needs to be done to continue to strengthen ways to teach children using empirical data. Some areas of research are the number of stimuli and order of stimuli concurrently taught within a session.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
In any aspect of my work, I am directly and indirectly impacting an immigrant in need of services, whether legal or educational. This purpose makes the work I do so worthwhile and personal knowing that I am helping someone adjust to and build their life here in the United States.
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Name: José Alarcon Jr.
Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Position Title: Student Trainee
Major(s)/Minor(s): Information Systems
Current Class Level: Senior
Work Term: Summer 2020 - Spring 2021
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
CMS is a federal agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that works in partnership with states to provide health coverage for more than 70 million beneficiaries through programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Throughout the course of the pandemic, I have been providing support to the Data & Systems Group in the AWS team in maintaining and operating with on-demand cloud computing to allow high-powered analytic capabilities for structured and unstructured data sets. I also assisted in the proper governance for multimillion-dollar AWS purchases to ensure costs and resources are managed within budget while meeting the needs of the database infrastructure teams.
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I heard about the position at the Career Fair provided by the UMBC Career Center in January of 2020 and submitted my application the same month.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
I have really enjoyed learning about cloud computing, since it reflects how powerful resources can be used remotely and the impact it has behind-the-scenes.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
Some of my contributions in the Data & Systems Group include enhancing and advancing the capabilities in DevSecOps (Development, Security & Operations) that are crucial as the team develops and implements software and data products to support Medicaid and CHIP, which is very important for more than 70 million beneficiaries, especially in the middle of a pandemic.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
My advice would be that in order to qualify for an internship, you don't need to be the smartest student in your class. You don't need to know everything. I have learned that most employers look for personality, work ethic, and the eagerness to learn. And lastly, to go outside often and ground yourself.
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Name:Michael Abrahams
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:LSAMP
Position Title:Research Fellow
Major(s)/Minor(s):Biological Sciences
Current Class Level:Junior
Work Term:Spring 2021
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
I work in the Green lab under the supervision of Dr. Erin Green. Because school is currently inaccessible, my day-to-day job is reading and analyzing research papers, and I also get to use some databases such as Blast.
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I am a member of LSAMP, so I get their weekly meeting updates. That was how I saw the opportunity, then I applied and got accepted.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
I have enjoyed meeting and working with really great people. I get to learn a lot from them and vice versa.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I hope the little things I do toward the bigger picture puts a smile on someone's face.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Always try to reach out; it only costs an email.
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Name: Kathryn Crummitt
Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Maryland General Assembly
Position Title: Legislative Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s): Global Studies and Media and Communication Studies
Current Class Level: Sophomore
Work Term: Spring 2021
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
Due to COVID-19 I am teleworking. I work twice a week as a legislative intern for Delegate Mike Griffith in the Maryland General Assembly during its annual January-April session. A few of my day to day responsibilities are working as a constituent responder, tracking bills, checking the Delegate's voice messages, uploading constituent contacts to a database, and any other side projects that might pop up.
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I used networking to obtain this position. A friend of mine from UMBC worked with Delegate Mike Griffith last session and enjoyed her experience. I had met his Chief of Staff before and emailed her inquiring about the position. In addition, I researched that with this internship I would not only gain experience in state policy and legislation but also earn academic credit by enrolling in the UMBC intern success practicum with Dr. Laura Hussey.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
I love my work, I have a great degree of autonomy and independence. I can manage my work with my Full-time Study enrollment.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
By being a great listener and sharing what I believe ("as it's an important form of Honesty").
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Be confident, no one learns by birth, you will get a great chance to learn if you experience it.
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Name:McKenna Austin-Ward
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:Museum of the Bible
Position Title:Museum Education Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s):Art History/Museum Studies
Current Class Level:Senior
Work Term:Spring 2021
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
The Museum of the Bible has granted me the responsibility of the development of educational programing for K-12 visitors. My duties include scholarly research, the design of activities, the writing of budgets, the obtainment of materials, the creation of prototypes, and the interaction with visitors on the floor of the museum.
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I heard of this position in early October of 2020 and subsequently submitted my application on October 12th.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
Amongst my peers, I often find myself alone in my interest in religious art. It is a great joy to work amongst colleagues who share my profound interest in biblical history and theology.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
The education carts which I am in the process of developing will serve as the face of the museum. Engaging the museum guests by means of this programming will allow families, particularly students, to better immerse themselves with the knowledge our museum holds
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Due to the fierce competition often involved in obtaining an internship or similar experience, it is vital to devote oneself to research and to learn to write excellent, creative cover letters.
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Name:Shouray Kumra
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:NewWave Telecom and Technologies Inc.
Position Title:Technical Intern II
Major(s)/Minor(s):Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Data Science
Current Class Level:Master's Student
Work Term: Summer 2020 to Spring 2021
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
My day-to-day responsibilities are based on Azure World, our company works closely with Microsoft, therefore, we make full use of Azure and other cloud services. My role is to be a specialist in Data Engineering Artificial Intelligence using Azure services so that we could offer services to our clients who are looking to switch to cloud based services. I work in a team of 5 where we each have designated responsibilities. Me and one of my team members built an automated Email system using cloud services like AI, Language Understanding, etc. It is published in Microsoft apps which goes by the name 'SmartMailAI'. Currently, our team is working on building a Search Service and will be out soon after the final phase completion.
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I started my job hunt journey in early December 2019 and it was late June 2020 until I had any luck. I applied for the position through Indeed. My application was promising and demanded flexibility. I heard back from the company after 20-25 days and was invited to have a virtual interview. The interview was for one hour in which I was interviewed by the VP of Engineering and Microsoft Solutions and the Data Science Head of the company. They were impressed by my resume as I had a publication which helped me to land a job there. I got help to polish my resume in a Resume Review through the Career Center, they corrected my resume and made minor changes. Finally, I used coding practice from 'Hacker Rank' and interview preparation from top 100 questions found on Google.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
The most intriguing thing was that the company was patient with me as I did not have a background in Cloud. I was given time to learn about it as soon as I was handed over a project which required good knowledge about AI services in Azure. I was really excited to get my first project within the first month of my time there. My supervisor is very helpful and supportive which makes me comfortable and this pushes me to be more hardworking.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I successfully finished a project there and it was published as one of the Microsoft's Apps named 'SmartMailAI' which automates the Email process for an organization and helps them to answer thousands of mails within no time. Further, I have made some ads with the help of the creative team of an organization that will be soon published in Microsoft offerings which displays what our company is capable of in terms of AI and cognitive services. I designed the modules and services that will be provided to the customers who decide to take our services. Lastly, I am currently working in a team of 5 to build a search service like google but it offers more in terms of personal data and security.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
I would advise students to not lose hope and continue their job hunt. I had to try for 8 months before I landed my first job. First thing they should do is book an appointment with the Career Center for a Resume Review, which, in my opinion, is the most critical step as your resume should be flawless. Secondly, never skip a day practicing what you are studying or have on the resume because an organization can ask you unexpected questions from your resume; be thorough with the projects and publications you have on your resume.
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Name:Dakota Pereira
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:National Gallery of Art
Position Title:Librarian Technician (Student Assistant)
Major(s)/Minor(s):Ancient Studies & History
Current Class Level:Sophomore
Work Term:Spring 2021
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
As a librarian technician intern at the National Gallery of Art's Vertical Files, I am tasked with working with the collection's ephemera–which are materials that were produced with the intent of being disposed of or only had short-term usefulness. These artist materials, such as exhibition notices, pamphlets, among other written works, are valuable to researchers, scholars and the curious public alike.
I largely do telework linking Library of Congress name headers to the artists in the Vertical Files, but I also do work for other departments of the library such as book items for the Circulation Dept. Recently, I had the chance to identify artists' digitized materials for a collection based on David Driskell's 1976 exhibition “Two Centuries of Black American Art”! The projects you're assigned always changes, but it is at a steady pace.
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I heard of this position through an email I received from UMBC's History Humanities email listing, I believe during Fall 2020. I made use of a Resume Review to refine my resume before submission and an Interview Practice site recommended.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
This position has been very exciting because not only does it allow me to exercise my thinking during my work, it lets me see how closely tied museum and library settings are linked together.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I believe I've made impact through my work by making these difficult-to-view materials more accessible for researchers–be it new or experienced ones. Having this access allows for new insights from written culture that would otherwise be obscured. This would not only bring about new potential research and ideas for people to engage, but for everyone to take a close look to appreciate the attention given to these artists' work.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Be confident in what expertise you have, even if it was an unpaid opportunity. Having worked in a highschool library before, the experience I had with that position still exists even if it wasn't a paid position–don't be afraid of including valid experience that applies to an internship you're applying for. Adding references for such experiences helps verify that you do have such a background too!
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Name:Swetha Sridhar
Internship, Co-op or Research Site:Broadcast Sports International
Position Title:Technical Writer Intern
Major(s)/Minor(s):Engineering Management
Current Class Level:Master's Student
Work Term:Spring 2021
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
My day-to-day responsibilities include,
- Working with government and private licensing and sanctioning bodies to obtain the
necessary licensing and product certifications.
- Work with engineers, manufacturing department and field support staff to manage the flow of information among project workgroups during development and testing.
- Study existing product and product prototypes and talk with product designers and developers.
- Responsible for managing the consistency of technical content and its use across departments including
product development, manufacturing, marketing, and customer relations.
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I submitted my application in November, 2020 and heard back from the employer in the last week of December, 2020. The career center's manual guide helped me update my resume, and gave good insights in answering the interview questions.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
My position involves working with the entire engineering department to study and document the designs and prototypes which I enjoy the most.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
This work is a learning environment for me as the manager, and the engineers are very encouraging and supportive. This in-turn is helping make a great impact through my work.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
I suggest all the students to not just apply for the roles but also build connections with the members in various fields.
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Name:Samson Oni
Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Avalara Inc.
Position Title:Security Engineer
Major(s)/Minor(s):Information Systems
Current Class Level:Doctoral Student
Work Term:Spring 2021
Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.
I work in the Application Security team. My responsibilities includes the following:
* Rolling out of Dynamic Application Scanning Tool for scanning of applications for vulnerabilities across the company globally.
• Penetration testing of applications
• DAST scanning of web application
• SAST Scanning of application
• CI/CD pipeline integration
• Threat Modeling / Threat Profiling of applications
• Writing of Security standards
• Integrating security tools in CI/CD pipeline
• Secure Architecture review of applications
Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I was encouraged to apply for the internship by my Advisor Dr. Zhiyuan Chen. He kept asking me of my process in the internship search. Because of his follow-up, I took the internship search seriously and applied on Indeed and LinkedIn. I saw this opening on LinkedIn last year for a summer internship and part of the requirements were having AWS certification and Security plus certification, which I already have. I applied and was called for an interview. I had three rounds of interviews and was given the internship position last summer. After the summer internship, my manager was pleased with my work and wanted me to stay back. I also wanted to continue my work with them, so I was given a part-time CO-OP opportunity for Fall 2020. At the end of Fall 2020, they tried to have me as a full-time staff, so I was given a full-time offer which I am doing right now with a Co-op for Spring 2021. I will be transiting into OPT this summer while the company will get me an H1b Work Visa.
What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?
I have learned so much working in this organization. My research area is in Cyber Security, and I have taken a couple of security courses here at UMBC. I have also had the opportunity to work with the UMBC Cyberdefense club. My research, classes, club meetings came with so much theoretical knowledge, but working in this role allowed me to apply classroom and research knowledge on real-world problems. It has been fun, and I am glad I am doing this. I am working remotely and yet still able to connect fully with my team. I am learning a lot from other members of the group as well. I am passionate about cybersecurity, and I think working here is a dream come through.
How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I have made a significant impact on the organization through my work. I rolled out a DAST tool across the company globally, and many engineers are using these tools. I have written security standards that their engineers are currently using to develop secure software. My manager personally attested that I have made a significant impact in the organization and mentioned he would like to get more students from UMBC in the future. And finally, I believe bringing me in as a full-time staff shows how impactful my work has been.
What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
My advice for other students seeking similar experiences will be don’t give up. I almost gave up because of all the numerous rejections I got while applying for an internship. At some point, I thought maybe I wasn’t good enough. I was at the moment thinking of changing my interest from cybersecurity to data science. But I am glad I didn’t give up then. Now, I have an opportunity with an organization that appreciates my work, and I am happy with the impact I am making here. Finally, when you get that internship opportunity, give your all to it. Do it as if you are full-time staff. Ensure you are not just there for the paycheck, make sure you leave your signature behind with your work. These will accelerate your learnings and skills and eventually make room for you in that organization or somewhere else.
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