The Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship (MLEF), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy, is a 10-week summer internship program that provides opportunities to students who are pursuing degrees in science, technology (IT), engineering, or mathematics (STEM majors). The goal of the program is to improve opportunities for minority and female students in these fields, but all eligible candidates are encouraged to apply. Candidates who are selected will have the opportunity to work on focused research projects consistent with the mission of the Office of Fossil Energy.

During the 10 weeks, students will work at one of several locations. At the conclusion of the internship, students will attend a "Technical Forum" where they will present their research project and tour several technical sites located nearby (the location of the technical forum changes every year). 

Candidates will receive a paid stipend during the program, in addition to approved transportation expenses to and from the internship site and technical forum location. The MLEF program allows students to gain valuable experience in DOE/FE mission-related research programs, and offers an "inside view" of federal employment which encourages students to consider future opportunities within the Department of Energy.  

Eligibility Requirements
To qualify for the program, students must:

• Be 18 years of age;
• Be a citizen of the United States;
• Be currently enrolled full-time in an accredited college or university (sophomore year or higher); and
• Have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.

MLEF: A Paid Internship Opportunity
Students will be paid:

• A weekly stipend of $600 for undergraduate students;
• A weekly stipend of $750 for Master's students;
• A weekly stipend of $850 for Doctoral and Post-Doctoral students;
• Approved travel costs to and from the host site; and
• Approved travel costs to the Technical Forum for presentations and awards.        

Todd Eberly ’06, Ph.D. public policy, is living his dream, teaching political science to the students of St. Mary’s College — and acting as a “go-to-guy” for those seeking political analysis, MarylandReporter.com reports.

“Other kids liked sports or what have you. I just never did,” Eberly said. “I cared about politics. I followed that the way other folks would follow a football season or a baseball season.  … I am curious to see who’s winning, who’s losing and what strategy they are employing.”

Read the full story at MarylandReporter.com.

In addition to being quoted regularly in various local media, in 2011 Eberly was named one of the top influencers of Maryland politics by Campaigns and Elections Magazine.

Eberly got an early taste for politics while helping his uncle Robert Eberly during his campaign for court clerk in Pennsylvania, the story says. After earning his undergraduate degree from Clarion University, Eberly started working in analysis for healthcare companies in the Washington, D.C., area and wound up earning his Ph.D. at UMBC’s Hilltop Institute. He began teaching at St. Mary’s in 2007.

Isaac Kinde ’05, biological sciences, has been named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30: The Rising Stars Transforming Science And Health” list, a group of young scientists who “reflect the way that the health care landscape is transforming for the better, opening up to revolutionary new ideas and new approaches.” Kinde is currently an M.D./Ph.D. candidate at the Johns Hopkins University.

Forbes reports that: “Kinde is developing techniques to improve the accuracy of DNA sequencing technology and demonstrating that it might be used to detect cancers arising from the colon, pancreas, and ovaries in a simple, noninvasive manner. Already, several patents have been applied for and he’s been published in Science Translational Medicine, Nature and other journals.”

See the Forbes listing here.

A member of the 13th cohort of Meyerhoff Scholars and a member of the Honors College, Kinde helped conduct significant research as a student. During his time as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholar, he helped conduct HIV research, which he presented at UMBC’s 2005 Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day. He contributed to two articles on his research published in the Journal of Molecular Biology and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Kinde was also a researcher in one of the University of California, San Francisco’s medical laboratories. He was awarded a Pfizer Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship and received the Faculty Award of Excellence in the Biological Sciences. He was also a Minority Access to Research Careers Scholar, a member of UMBC’s Institutional Review Board and president of the Golden Key International Honor Society, as well as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Kinde received two first place awards for presentations at biomedical and chemical and biological sciences conferences. His community service activities included St. Vincent’s Children Center Reading Days and the Kaplan Test Drive.

Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunities at Virginia Tech