Name: Veronica Schilling

Internship, Co-op or Research Site:Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory 

Position Title: AOS/QPA College Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s): Bachelor of Science in Biology, Pre-Veterinary

Current Class Level: Senior

Work Term:Summer 2019, Winter 2020, & Summer 2020

*Don’t miss UMBC CONNECTS: JHU Applied Physics Laboratory , a virtual recruitment event on Wednesday, November 4, to learn how you could land an amazing, career-relevant opportunity like Veronica’s!

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

For the past 3 semesters (Summer and Winter) that I have interned at APL, I have been doing bioinformatics work on Dr. Chris Bradburne’s Canine Genome Project. This project aims to discover patterns on the canine genome, associations between gene sequences/structures and phenotypes, and quantifiable phenotypes in order to develop a breeding program that is designed to select for better explosive detection dogs. Moreover, this past summer I worked with another researcher at APL who is a licensed veterinarian. Her project focused on how the COVID-19 Pandemic affects LEA and TSA canines, and so we worked to establish a field-able, gross decontamination protocol for canines potentially exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in the field.

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

I obtained this internship through a visit to the Career Fair in the spring of my Sophomore year. There, I handed my resume in to one of APL’s representatives after getting to know him and a bit about APL. He described how they mostly offered work on engineering projects, but it was possible that they might have biology work. Later that spring I got a call from Dr. Bradburne, visited APL for a tour and interview, and began interning that summer.

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

While this internship has been challenging, the work is incredibly rewarding and has shaped my new view of biological research and the different avenues of veterinary medicine. The people at APL are extremely supportive and are confident in their interns. There have been many occasions where I was placed on different projects simply because my PI was confident that I would be helpful and do a good job. The possibilities of work seem to be endless here, and the researchers are eager to expand the network of their interns!

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

This past summer when I worked on the project focusing on SARS-CoV-2 and a decontamination protocol for canines, I did a lot of quirky lab work. We had to test the removal of a pseudo-contaminant on dog toys, which required a lot of time and creativity. Since I have grown used to managing a demanding and complex daily schedule, I have become a student that always looks for ways to be more efficient. I did this when working in the lab with a senior researcher, humbly offering suggestions on how we could alter our procedure to be more time effective, and this entirely transformed the flow of our work. What once took us a week would take us less than two days. We were able to do more repeats, which made the results more robust and conclusive.

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

Try everything, look everywhere, because the results may surprise you. I never expected to work at APL, let alone do research that related to my plans to become a veterinarian. However, I took the chance and put my name out there anyway, and it was perhaps one of the most rewarding and gratifying decisions I have ever made.

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