Name: Lilly Vartain

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: BGE

Position Title: Gas Business Support Engineering Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s): Mechanical Engineering

Expected Graduation Year: May 2018

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

This summer I worked as a full-time intern on the Gas Business Support team at BGE's Spring Gardens campus where their liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant is located. My main task this past summer was to develop a report that analyzes gas outages by looking at the different characteristics of the pipe that failed, the weather at the time of the outage, and the type of outage. I also researched developing technologies that could be implemented to reduce the outages. Creating this report involved learning new excel techniques to handle the large amount of data that I was dealing with; also I had to learn how to navigate several of the company's databases in order to extract the necessary information.

The intern program offered several opportunities to meet other interns in the company as well as network with company professionals. BGE's interns were divided into six team composed of five or six members, and we were assigned a project to present our idea of what BGE will look like in the future. The project was left very open-ended so each of the teams had to be creative in strategizing how to present their projects. On the last day of the internship, the presentations will be shown to many of the different managers who had an intern in their group.

Finally, I had the opportunity to go out in the field on several occasions. I went on a gas leak survey; I got to see where a new gas main is being installed; I visited Old Ellicott City after the flood left the area devastated; and most excitingly, I was able to climb all 162 stairs to the top of one of the LNG tanks! 

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

First, I had the Career Center look over and help me edit my resume before attending the Fall Career Fair. I handed out my resume to multiple companies at the fair; then, once I was offered an interview for a position at BGE, I scheduled a mock interview in which I got to practice interviewing skills and received feedback on my performance. Then I had two interviews; one was on UMBC’s campus and the second one took place at one of BGE’s office locations.

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

What I enjoyed the most was being able to get out in the field to see first-hand the work that BGE is doing to ensure the reliability of gas supply to the Baltimore area. 

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

I think that my report will help the company to begin to look more closely at what can be done to prevent gas outages as the customer base for LNG grows. I also have helped other company employees work more efficiently by doing some of their assignments with which they had need for assistance. 

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

I would advise other students to take advantage of the services that the Career Center offers. While it might be a little bit of a hassle to set up and go to appointments, it is certainly worth the effort. I especially would recommend doing a mock interview; I am a more introverted person who is not the most comfortable in interviews, but after doing a practice run, I was much more confident and relaxed for my actual interview than I would have been.

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