Name: Allie Mann

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Minority Health Disparities REU

Position Title: UNL SRP Scholar

Major(s)/Minor(s): Psychology, Gender and Women's Studies

Expected Graduation Year: May 2017

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

The Summer Research Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has given me the opportunity to work on my own independent research project for the summer with my mentor, Dr. David DiLillo. At the start of the summer I took a seminar-style class on Exploratory Social Network Analysis for two weeks, and for the remaining eight weeks I worked with my mentor to apply this methodology to my field of psychology. My final project used this new methodology to explore relationships between clusters of risk factors for sexual victimization. At the end of my experience I will have presented my research at the UNL research symposium. Aside from my own research, I had the opportunity to work closely with several graduate students on their own ongoing studies, some of my tasks included data coding, data cleaning, and attending lab meetings.

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

I started my search for a summer research experience on the research page on myUMBC. From there I started an extensive internet search and compiled a list of about 20 programs that I could apply to. The materials I needed in my application included a resume, personal statement, and unofficial transcript. I used the career services center to help me review my resume, and I recruited a professor in my field to help me draft a personal statement. There was no interview required for the program at UNL, but several other programs on my list did require a phone interview.

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

I have really enjoyed the opportunity to work independently and really get involved in the research process. I want to pursue a career in research, so this was really a good taste of what that is really all about. Also, the program did a lot of preparation for graduate school, which makes the daunting process of applying seem more attainable! 

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

Sexual assault is an epidemic in the United States. My research was about understanding the relationships between symptoms of sexual victimization. Understanding these relationship can have serious impacts on treatment and intervention for survivors. The relationship that I found has stirred discussion about more thorough research in the lab in the future, which will help women and men who have survived various forms of sexual assault get the help that they need.

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

Start early! Don't be intimidated, all types of students can get these experiences.

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Name: Olivia Bollack

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: First Floor Graphics

Position Title: Design Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s): Graphic Design

Expected Graduation Year: 2015

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

Most of my tasks were getting design pieces ready for installation, such as cropping images in Photoshop or adding a border in Illustrator. I sometimes helped my coworker manually get things ready, like vinyl pieces that needed to be set up properly. I also would help will actually installing pieces, whether this was hanging up signs or placing vinyl.

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

The process I went through was simply sending a group email blast email asking about internship opportunities through a design group called B'more Creatives. I was lucky enough to get several responses to my email. My boss happened to email me and we had a phone interview, and then a real interview. I had my resume looked over not only by Kacie at the Career Center, but one of my design professors as well.

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

It's been a really great experience actually learning the process of client and designer relationships. It's not something that could really be taught in a classroom setting, so being able to observe and actually get a little bit of hands on training with my coworkers was invaluable. It's also been crazy getting to see the work you have put so much time into actually hanging on a wall that's not at school.  

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

Since the company I'm working for mostly makes large signs and does wayfinding (such a restroom signs, directions, donor walls), it's really been interesting to see how clients react to your designs. I like knowing that my work has been helping people, like not too long ago we got an elementary school ready for Braille signs to help them comply with the ADA regulations. We actually have been giving back to the community.  

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

Just go for it—the absolute worst answer you could receive would be a no. Always take a chance when you see an email or advertisement. You never know who might be willing to take you on and give you a shot. And even if your internship doesn't turn into a full-time job, it's still amazing experience for you to put down on your next resume.

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UMBC is excited to host this unique Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site in scientific, parallel, and statistical computing, all extremely hot areas of current research. Participants will work in teams on projects brought in by high caliber researchers from academia and industry, closely supported by experienced graduate students and faculty members in collaboration with the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Consulting. The participants will acquire the skills necessary to perform hands-on high performance computing on a state-of-the-art distributed-memory cluster in the UMBC High Performance Computing Facility.

For the Summer 2016 program, see the Program Details and Detailed Schedule for more information, and apply using the Online Application. The deadline is March 1, 2016, but screening of applications will start in early February. This description tries to give the most realistic and concrete impression of the activities throughout the program from a student perspective. We even have our own YouTube Movie with opening remarks by our university president and testimonials from two 2010 participants that the UMBC New Media studio graciously produced for us.

See our Partners page for acknowledgments to our collaborators and funding sources, in particular the NSF, the NSA, and the DOD. For general information, please check back regularly at this webpage to see updates and news items posted. For specific questions, do not hesitate to send e-mail to hpcreu@umbc.edu.

Eating a ton of food. Binge-watching every single Netflix show. Not changing out of pajamas. Not knowing what day of the week it is.

I’m realizing that for at least the first week of break this will be all of us. We deserve it! Finals and deadlines put our nervous systems to the ultimate test, so afterwards it’s so nice to decompress! But I also know that we’ll probably all start getting antsy when January rolls around. This extra time is actually the perfect opportunity to reflect and work on things you have no time to during the semester. Whether you’re a freshman, senior, or alumni, there are options for you to jump-start your professional life! It can actually feel really good to evaluate yourself and decide if your major is right for you, or what kind of experience you want to gain in the future. I want to help you find some of the right options for you this break, so here are some tips (and a lot of these you can still do while watching Netflix):

1.       Work on your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn Profile

Now that you’ve completed more courses and perhaps completed an internship, it’s the perfect time to look back and evaluate how your experiences can be put on your resume as experience in your major. For example, can you list some of your courses from this fall as a “Relevant Courses” section on your resume? Did you join a new club or gain volunteer experience that you can list? Do you have new job or internship experience that need more details? Also, if you’re a freshman, you’ll have a GPA from your first semester grades to list on your resume! If you’re having trouble formatting these kinds of details, I highly recommend checking out our website here, and our career guide, where you can find a lot of helpful tips and examples to help you. If you’re on or near campus this winter break, come by the Career Center for drop-in hours! We’ll still be here from 2-4pm Monday-Friday all of January.

LinkedIn is a great way of establishing connections from your previous or recent employers, classmates, advisors, faculty, and family/family friends. You can even look at all of the alumni from UMBC and see what people from your program have found a career in! Even if you don’t feel like you have a lot to put on LinkedIn right now, I think it’s a great idea to create a profile and fill it in the best you can. As you gain more experiences and connections, you’ll be able to keep filling in your profile more and more. If you check the Career Center’s website, we have a very helpful page for creating a profile, connecting, and internship/job searching. You can find that page here.  LinkedIn also has a lot of helpful videos and tip sheets on how to build your profile as well. You can check out their resources here. 

2.       Sign up for the Dependable Strengths Workshop

On January 8th there is a workshop completely dedicated to YOU finding your strengths (um, best workshop ever?). Whether you’re a freshman, alumni, or graduate student, this all-day workshop is an awesome opportunity for you to identify what you’re good at and love to do, learn how to articulate with an employer, and learn how to make contacts in a field whenever you’re ready to make them! Doing this during winter break can make you feel so prepared and confident as you enter the spring semester. This could help you decide on classes, internships, attending career fairs, and making connections. Come on, take a break from relaxing and do something nice for yourself! If you’re a current UMBC student, it’s completely free to go. You can register online here.

3.       Find out more about your major

Use the Career Insider Portal on the database Vault, LinkedIn, and the website for your academic department to check out some of the fields of work you might be interested in going into for your major. Vault has a lot of contact information for organizations in various different fields of work, so it might also be nice to research those organizations too.

Like I said, we all deserve a break! But it’s important to remember that you’re going to school so you can land your dream job and succeed in your field, so all of this other stuff is important too. Believe me, I’ll still have Gilmore Girls and/or House of Cards on my TV in the background, but I’ll also feel a lot better going into the Spring semester knowing that I’ve caught up on some of my professional documents. I just want you to feel the same relief!