A Postcard From: Christianna Kutz ’18

Posted on by

Name: Christianna Kutz
Class Year: 2018
Major: Biochemistry
Hometown: Frederick, Md.

Internship Placement: Malachowski Research Lab
Job Title: Intern
Location: Bryn Mawr College

What’s happening at your internship?

I am currently working on the IDO project, which focuses on synthesizing indoleamine 2,3-deoxygenase-1 (IDO-1) inhibitors. More specially, I am focusing on the synthesis of a 4-phenyl-imidazole molecule that contains an electrophilic group located in the meta position of the phenyl ring. This will allow it to bind to IDO-1 as well as hopefully form a covalent linkage with IDO’s Cys-129 group. In order to achieve this, I begin with synthesizing the imidazole ring and then I manipulate the phenyl ring to install an electrophilic group. The finished product will then be sent for initial testing at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (isolated enzyme) and then further testing at the Lankenau Institute of Medical Research (cellular system).

Why did you apply for this internship?

I applied for this internship because I am very interested in this type of research work and wish to eventually have a career in a very similar field. Also, I plan to do a thesis with Dr. Malachowski using the work I’ve done in his lab.

Living in a new city? What has that experience been like for you?

It’s my first time living away from home in an apartment. I don’t have a car so I use SEPTA a lot. However, it’s frustrating when the train or bus ends up being delayed by half an hour and my entire schedule gets affected.

What is most rewarding about your internship?

The most rewarding thing about my internship is when after a lot of hard work and some failures, I am able to get a reaction to succeed. Sometimes even the smallest detail (e.g. increasing reaction time slightly) can make the biggest difference. It’s always great when the product I’ve synthesized turns out to be the one I was hoping for. Reactions don’t always work out and sometimes a different path needs to be chosen. However, when they do work after failing a few times, it’s the best.

A Postcard From: Chris Pathmanabhan ’20

Posted on by

Name: Chris Pathmanabhan
Class Year: 2020
Major: Undeclared
Hometown: Fremont, Calif.

Internship Placement: Bryn Mawr College Biology Department
Job Title: Research Student
Location: Bryn Mawr College

What’s happening at your internship?

I am working in Professor Tamara Davis’s lab on an individual project looking at epigenetic factors and their effects on imprinted genes.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I am interested in possibly pursuing a career in research after graduating.

What has been your favorite part of this internship?

Working with Professor Davis is great because although she is there to help in any way possible, she leaves us to work on our independent projects. This really allows us to think for ourselves as scientists and learn to problem solve.

Was this internship what you expected it to be?

Coming in to this internship, I had already been working with Professor Davis in her lab for a semester, so I had a general idea of what was expected of me. However, due to other commitments during the school year, progress was much slower then. I never expected to be progressing as fast as I am.

A Postcard From: Farida Ilboudo ’18

Posted on by

Name: Farida Ilboudo
Class Year: 2018
Major: Anthropology
Hometown: New York

Internship Placement: Alma Mater Education
Job Title: Development Assistant

What’s happening at your internship?

A lot of things are happening at my internship. Because the organization is new, it has been a bit difficult to fully develop a consistent work schedule and task. With the heads of the organization, many located in the UK and Ghana, and one located in Washington, it has a been a bit difficult to completely grasp my role and task. I have been assigned the duty of development assistant and I was not sure what exactly is expected of me and from me. I do really have great interest in independent organizations that are building schools with the input of Africans in Africa, particularly Ghana. I really look forward to learning how to start my own organization that does not invade and performs the role of westerner coming to save Africa and how to provide adequate education to many in Africa and hopefully in the country that I was born and raised in. Despite the challenges presented by the new role … I am still very thrilled and dedicated to learning more and raising funds for the organization.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I applied for this internship because it provided me with a way to consider my future. I am very interested in education and educational development in Africa. As someone who briefly experience the educational system in an African country, I am invested and dedicated to learning about post-colonial education and how a combination of the Western education system and the post-colonial education system present in many African countries can provide a new and improved satisfactory system. Alma Mater Education is a Western-based education organization that has built schools in Ghana, providing students the education I envision for the future of schools.

Was there anything special about how you found this internship?

I found this internship after being a Lagim Tehi Tuma: Thinking Together Fellow. Alice Lesnick, who is the professor and program director, introduced me to Jason Tsichlis, the now Agriculture Director. Jason was a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso, which is where I was born and raised. He found this documentary that focused on Musicians in Mali, who rebelled against a Jihadist ban on music. As a member of Bryn Mawr’s African and Caribbean Student Organization Executive Board, I met Jason and we began speaking about BACaSO renting the documentary, our mutual love for Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and our interest in education. From these conversations came the conversation about Alma Mater and how I could join the team.

What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship?

The biggest challenge I have faced at my internship is the great independence and new role. When I first began working for Alma Mater, I was assigned the role of program assistant, which was never really clear what was expected and required. I have been assigned the great task of raising revenue for the organization through fund raising and grant writing and I have zero experience with the two. I have been given the liberty of coming up with creative ways to raise the funds but so far all of my efforts have not lead to any donations. Given that there is only one person working from the U.S., besides myself, I find it a little difficult not having a directly given assignment that I can work on that I feel like I can confidently do. I am looking forward to the skills I will acquire fund raising, but most importantly, I am looking forward to learning what goes into grant writing so that I may begin writing them and also learn the ins and outs of developing an organization like Alma Mater.

A Postcard From: Hannah Griggs ’18

Posted on by

Name: Hannah Griggs
Class Year: 2018
Major: Physics, Math
Hometown: Vienna, Va.

On a weekend trip to Barcelona, Spain.

Leibniz Universität

Internship Placement: Max Planck Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert Einstein Institute)
Job Title: Observation-based Relativity and Cosmology Group Intern
Location: Hanover, Germany

What’s happening at your internship?

My team and I work with developing programs for estimating the parameters of black hole systems that collide and produce gravitational waves large enough for LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) to detect on Earth. That includes estimating things like the masses of the coalescing and final black holes, their spins, their distance from us, and much more. The specific project we have for this summer is to work on developing a method of determining whether or not those black holes (and potentially neutron stars!) exist in triple systems. A third massive object in the coalescing black holes’ system would result in an acceleration of the black holes which would produce a phase shift in the gravitational waves that we detect on Earth. We would be able to see such a shift by computationally predicting potential Doppler effects, as an example of physical effects we should be able to detect. Our predictions will be combined into existing LIGO data analysis code to make overall analysis more robust.

Why did you apply for this internship?

Fall semester of last year, I went to a physics colloquium at Haverford given by Rashid Sunyaev, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. The talk was not only very fun, but it also gave me the idea to look abroad for internship opportunities. As a double STEM major, going abroad is difficult, so I loved the idea of not only doing great research through the Max Planck society, but also being able to do it while in Germany. Combined with my love for astrophysics and my interest in cutting-edge research, the gravitational physics branch of the MPS was the perfect fit. Gravitational astrophysics is an exciting field and I am so excited to have a chance to learn more about it here at the AEI and improve my computational skills.

Living in a new city? What has that experience been like for you?

Living in Hanover is exciting for me because not only is it a fascinating city, but it’s central location makes traveling very easy. I have the opportunity to see so much of Europe that I never thought I would. Especially interesting has been several of the smaller towns in Germany like Goslar, which I would have had to overlook if I didn’t have a full summer to work with.  On the other hand, I came here with pretty much zero knowledge of German, which has presented some challenges. I have found the people in Germany to be very accommodating, however, and willing to help me learn. Overall, I am already very glad that I decided to take this risk and it has been paying off since the moment I got here.

What is most rewarding about your internship?

I am learning much more about computer science than I ever thought I would. The new computational and gravitational physics skills that I am developing along with starting to understand some German have been some of the most satisfying aspects of my internship experience. I think the most rewarding thing is the feeling of being able to understand something that was completely foreign to me just a few weeks ago. Not to mention, the community of the institute is very tight-knit, making my transition to working here very smooth and the overall social environment super rewarding. It’s given me so many great new friends and travel buddies that will make the rest of my experience here increasingly fulfilling.

A Postcard From: Natalie Kawam ’19

Posted on by

Name: Natalie Kawam
Class Year: 2019
Hometown: Bernardsville, N.J.
Internship Placement: Cleaver Magazine
Job Title: Editorial Intern
Location: Philadelphia

What’s happening at your internship?

This summer, I am working as an editorial intern at Cleaver Magazine, a growing international literary magazine that celebrates both emerging and established artists of poetry, prose, short fiction, visual art, essays and nonfiction. My responsibilities entail selecting poetry for publication, writing book reviews to be published in Cleaver’s “Book Review” section, and developing the “Life As Activism” blog, which serves as a literary platform to promote social justice.  Additionally, I am responsible for posting on Cleaver’s Instagram account for the summer, where I promote artists featured in the magazine.

Why did you apply for this internship?

Bryn Mawr’s Creative Writing department instigated my desire to pursue a career in editing and publishing. I believe this internship, one where I perform the tasks necessary for the production of a magazine, is laying the foundation for my career path. In the near future, my experience has helped me choose which courses I need to select for upcoming semesters in order to further my capabilities as a critical reader and writer. Overall, I have begun to understand the type of environment where I can imagine myself being successful, one with people who are as passionate about cutting-edge literature as I am.

Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?

Much of this internship involves honing my ability to select strong pieces of literature for the upcoming magazine issue. In other words, I’m learning how to identify which submissions do and do not identify with the publication’s mission. As there are dozens of submissions daily, this is a succinct process. It’s been a rewarding experience learning how to read people’s work carefully and in a timely fashion.

Additionally, I’m also learning how to write formal book reviews, which will be edited by my superiors and published on Cleaver’s website. This process is surprisingly familiar; last semester, one of my classes required that I read a book per week and write an in-depth analysis about the work. Book reviews are of the same breed. I’m learning how to write at length about a book’s prevalent themes, nuances, style of craft, and so on.

What is most rewarding about your internship?

This internship offers an excellent opportunity to network, and I am gradually starting to recognize how many people of the writing sphere know each other. A number of my superiors not only provide me with guidance on how to best perform in my role as an intern, but also offer advice on choosing a career path. One of the editors even sparked my interest in pursuing a master of fine arts degree, a notion I now consider seriously.

A Postcard From: Amala Someshwar ’18

Posted on by

Name: Amala Someshwar
Class Year: 2018
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Montclair, N.J./Bangalore, India

Internship Placement: The Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education at UCLA; Professor Carola Suárez-Orozco
Job Title: Research Assistant
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.

What’s happening at your internship?

I spend most of my day in the lab either on my own or with some of Professor Suárez-Orozco’s grad students. The past few weeks have been spent creating and refining a code book (basically a book with definitions that allow us to transform observations from a video to numbers that a software can understand). It’s a lot of intense focusing on the videos we’re watching and understanding the interactions as well as following the definitions closely because at the end of it all, each video should be able to be coded the same way by different people.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I applied because I think her work is incredibly important and the current study she’s working on is so pertinent to today. I also was really intrigued by the methods she uses for data collection and analysis and wanted to be more directly involved in that form of study.

Was there anything special about how you found this internship?

I was able to get in touch with Professor Suárez-Orozco thanks to a professor at Bryn Mawr who knew one of her grad students and also knew I was really interested in this area of study. From there, I emailed her a lot and was interviewed by her. When I found out I got it, I was really excited because I honestly hadn’t expected to because she had said she doesn’t normally take undergrads (since her lab is mostly made up of grad students who will continue to work with her through their dissertations).

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect?

I hadn’t expected to be doing similar work in the lab as her grad students so I was surprised at how hands-on my role in the lab has been. I think I had expected that I would be playing a more do-as-I’m-told role as opposed to being an active participant in the creation and modification of the coding system and analysis of data. It took some adjustment to recognize that in lab meetings, she wanted me to provide my opinion on each adjustment we were making in the same way she wanted to hear from her grad students. It’s been a really good opportunity to learn not only more about the work she specifically does but also the dynamics of grad school in general.

A Postcard From: Emily Barry ’19

Posted on by

Name: Emily Barry
Class Year: 2019
Major: Mathematics
Hometown: Madison, Wis.

Internship Placement: Education for Sustainability – Philly Project
Job Title: Education for Sustainability – Philly Intern
Location: Bryn Mawr College

What’s happening at your internship?

This summer, I’m interning on campus with Professor Victor Donnay from the mathematics and environmental studies departments. He recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation to work alongside the School District of Philadelphia’s GreenFutures sustainability plan. The goal of this project is to focus on the topic of Education for Sustainability (EfS) by integrating relatable, applicable, and actionable environmental-related curricula into classrooms. To achieve this goal, we are running a pilot program with 14 teachers to implement EfS learning in hopes of inspiring students.

My role in this program is to investigate pre-existing EfS lesson plans and curricula from throughout the country to use as a resource for teachers. These lesson plans need to address certain EfS standards as well as have a certain degree of applicability to students’ lives. The hope is that students will be able to learn about current issues that affect their lives and be provided with a way to solve them. Additionally, I am helping create an environmental sustainability ecosystem – or network – of businesses, organization, informal education groups, etc., that are willing to partner and serve as advisers and supporters to teachers and this program.

Why did you apply for this internship?

Throughout the spring semester, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do this summer. One day, in my Real Analysis math class, my professor, Victor Donnay, told the class about a really cool grant and that he wanted to hire an intern for the summer, and I knew immediately that I was going to apply.

I wanted to be involved in this project because I hope to share my passion for protecting this planet with other young individuals. I feel that if we don’t teach environmental sustainability to children, we run the risk of further damaging our planet. I want to be able to help current generations so that they can help future generations appreciate and enjoy all that this planet has to offer. I hoped that by applying to this internship, I could be involved in doing just that.

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect?

My internship has shown me a different side of education. Having always been on the receiving end, I never realized how much work teachers and administration put in. I’ve especially been surprised by how many aspects there are to the administration of education. Going into this internship, I didn’t realize how necessary it is for people to constantly be working to improve, support, and maintain the education system.

Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?

The biggest skill I’ve learned from this internship has been how to work independently. With previous jobs and education, I’ve always had frequent interaction with professors, bosses, and peers. With this internship, I’ve had to learn how to work without them. My internship has really helped push me to make on-the-spot decisions on my own, and create a strong work ethic to maintain a consistent schedule.

This internship has also helped me develop the skills of networking and making connections. As part of my project, I have to help develop an ecosystem of supporters. This task has really helped me improve my interpersonal skills as well as learn how to maintain connections.

A Postcard From: Emily Hsu ’19

Posted on by

Name: Emily Hsu
Class Year: 2019
Major: English
Hometown: San Carlos, Calif.

Internship Placement: Canaday Library, Bryn Mawr College
Job Title: Digital Curriculum Intern
Location: Bryn Mawr, Pa.

What’s happening at your internship?

I’m working this summer as a Digital Curriculum Intern with LITS (Library Information & Technology Services) at Bryn Mawr College, where I’m working with my fellow interns to enhance our digital skills and learn how to implement technology so that its beneficial in education. In some of the projects that we’ve worked on thus far, I’ve gained more experience editing audiovisual media and I’ve learned about the Digital Competencies initiative, which is working to give students the opportunity to reflect upon and improve their digital skills. My fellow interns and I have been giving LITS feedback and researching ways for students and teachers to develop their digital competencies.

As part of my internship, I was recently able to attend and briefly present at a Digital Scholarship meetup, where I learned about many of the exciting ways that scholars are using technology to boost their research projects. In future projects, I anticipate that I’ll be performing research and creating documentation for the Domain of One’s Own initiative, learning more about the new Moodle features, and improving my own Digital Competencies along the way.

Why did you apply for this internship?

As an English major who is also very interested in tech, I wanted to do something that involved both of my passions. Learning how people integrate digital tools with the humanities in order to enhance education and research seemed like a great way to do that and has proven to be really fascinating. I also hoped to further develop my digital skills, like my audiovisual editing and my digital writing and publishing.

What has been your favorite part of this internship?

My favorite part has been working with and learning from all my fellow interns and from the LITS staff. Everyone is incredibly kind and smart, and they all make me want to be better and work harder.

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect?

I wasn’t really expecting to gain so much useful advice on how to be more professional. Since my internship started, I’ve learned more about the importance of networking properly, how to be a better project manager, and even how to improve my LinkedIn.

A Postcard From: Leah Baer ’19

Posted on by

Name: Leah Baer
Class Year: 2019
Major: History
Hometown: Millburn

Internship Placement: Gettysburg
Job Title: Interpretive Intern
Location: Gettysburg National Military Park

What’s happening at your internship?

Gettysburg is currently preparing for the much anticipated battle anniversary. Thousands of people come to Gettysburg National Military Park on the first three days of July in order to partake in programs that delve into the most complex parts of the campaign and battle. For the anniversary, I am depicting Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Füger of Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery, so I have to write an outline about his accomplishments during the battle to tell visitors throughout the day. I am also developing my Third Day Program, which discusses Pickett’s Charge and its role in the battle and overall war. For the program, I am focusing on the role of immigrant soldiers in the Union Army, specifically on the third day of the battle, and their pivotal role in helping General George Meade achieve this necessary victory.

Why did you apply for this internship?

This internship requires me to apply all the skills I acquired as a history major on a grand scale. Gettysburg National Military Park receives thousands of visitors per day, and I wanted to play a role in helping people comprehend the complex and tumultuous events that occurred here and how the universal themes embedded in the battle still resonate today.

What has been your favorite part of this internship?

My favorite part of the internship is helping with the children’s program conducted at the park. The program, called Join the Army, teaches children what the typical soldier experienced during the army as well as allow them to learn some commands and march around the battlefield. The children that participate are always really excited to be at the park, and they are so inquisitive about Gettysburg and the soldiers that fought in this major battle. I also learned from conducting this program that children will absorb the information we tell them if they are allowed to participate and mimic everything we previously told them.

What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship?

The most substantial challenge I faced during my internship was garnering public speaking skills. The amount of people that attend the program changes every time, so I could be speaking to four people one day and 35 the next. The first time I presented my Third Day Program to the public I stumbled a lot and constantly looked down at my notes to remind myself what I had to say next. I practiced several times, and finally reached the point where I was confident with what I was telling the audience. I had to remind myself that the audience wants me to succeed and their goal is not to make me stumble with random innocuous questions.

A Postcard From: Xuan Huang ’18

Posted on by

Name: Xuan Huang
Class Year: 2018
Major: Computer Science
Hometown: China

Internship Placement: Computer Graphics Summer Research
Job Title: Researcher
Location: UPenn

What’s happening at your internship?

There are about 20 students and three professors here at lab, and we are divided into groups of different research projects. The main focus is VR technology, as we are in the computer animation field and that’s the ongoing hot topic.
Currently, I stay in a group of three on eye simulation. The goal is to provide realistic 3D eye region construction. The tool we are using is Autodesk Maya, and I have to learn it myself really quickly, as all other people have learned that from their major required course. Then we will do some research on how the eyes are moving statistically, and hopefully reconstruct a “typical eye” under specified situations, for example: tired, disgusted or annoyed.

Why did you apply for this internship?

It very much fits my interest in computer graphics, and animation is a subfield that I never tried and probably wouldn’t have chance to learn at Bryn Mawr (there is a huge amount of labor and data required). So I applied to see if that’s what I wish to do in graduate school.

Was there anything special about how you found this internship?

Yes, that’s quite an interesting story, just a bit long.

In the spring of my junior year, I was looking for any research opportunity in summer but only spotted few. I’m pretty much sure that I will apply for graduate school in computer graphics. While that sounds fancy as those are used in games and films, there just not that much an undergrad could do. Plus being an international student limits my choices furthermore.

So by the end of March, which is the typical deadline for REUs, I applied to three computer science research projects that do not reject international students explicitly, and none of them has anything to do with graphics.

That didn’t feel good. So I went for other ways to look for opportunities. There are two professors at Swarthmore that are teaching graphics and animation course, so I went to ask if they would took any student in summer, and soon learned that the first professor  himself is not in graphics but a computer system professor, and the latter is a new professor who did not have the chance to conduct any research there yet. After our meeting, however, she mentioned that she knew there is a summer research project happening every summer at Penn and she could ask about it for me.

Then everything works out magically — the lab needs people; the subjects are ones I’m interested in; LILAC funding ensures that my identity as international students doesn’t become a problem.

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect?

There is this other part of computer graphics that is very different from what I learned at Bryn Mawr. I have taken the graphics class here in fall, and conduct research on that since last summer. What I’d been doing is completely manageable just by myself. The programs we wrote are small (within a month) and the papers I’d been looking at are direct and specific, mostly theoretical based with a lot of math and geometry involved.
Here at Penn I realized they are doing something really different. All students here from Penn are digital media (a major under computer graphics) majors and they are dealing with much more industrial-level tasks — we are here expected to use professional modeling tools and the most up-to-date game engine. Many projects involve more than 10 people. Even in my group where there are only three, there is still a big amount of labor required in moving on — something has to be handcrafted to start with or in order for it to look good without huge computational cost. The papers we’ve been reading are more experimental based and some mainly provides statistical results. And a single (not too sophisticated in terms of ideas) project could last for years.

The field has its side (or even main stream) as heavily implementation based, and that is something I never get to know so much by myself. That will be something to think of when making later academic choices.