Experience Spotlight: Shaswati Saha

Name: Shaswati Saha

 

Pronouns: She/her

 

Semester of Work Experience: Summer 2026

 

UMBC Major or Program: Computer Science

 

Current Class Level: Doctoral Student

 

I recently obtained experience in a(n)... Internship

 

Work Experience Site (Company/Organization Name): Hewlett Packard Enterprise (AI Research Lab)

 

Location of the Organization (City, State): Fort Collins, CO

 

Title of position: Research Intern

 

Tell us about your experience, including your day-to-day responsibilities:

I was a Research Intern at the HPE AI Research Lab in Fort Collins, working on how large AI systems keep their knowledge graphs updated as new concepts arrive, especially when one concept carries distinct meanings. My method decides where a new concept belongs, whether it should be split into separate meanings, or whether the system should hold off. Day-to-day, this involved designing and running experiments, building an evaluation benchmark to measure how well systems handle ambiguous concepts, benchmarking against large language model baselines, and working closely with my manager to sharpen the method and set the direction of the work.

 

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

 

My advisor told me about the opening at the HPE AI Research Lab in April 2026, and I submitted my application that same month through HPE's online job portal. Shortly after, HPE's university recruiting team reached out and scheduled an interview. I received the offer in May 2026 and joined the lab for the summer.

 

What resources did you use to find your current experience?

Faculty Connections

 

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

What I have enjoyed most is the freedom to own a research problem end to end. I was given a real open question, and I got to shape the problem, build the method. My manager gave me room to pursue my own direction while pushing me on the parts that mattered.

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

The impact is that the project moved from an open question to a concrete result during the internship. I identified the research gap in existing methods, where a concept with several meanings gets collapsed into a single entry and corrupts the knowledge structure downstream. I also proposed a new benchmark that measures this, a method that addresses it, and a comparison against strong language model baselines.

 

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

Learn to talk about your research in a way that someone outside your subfield can follow. And stay visible to the people who already know your work, since a single conversation with your advisor or a former collaborator can open a door that no application would have.