Students Shine at the SDRD Intern Presentations
Each summer since 2019, the NNSS has welcomed groups of student interns to the company. These interns work closely with NNSS employees and gain relevant work experience in their desired fields. For some interns, this means working on Site-Directed Research and Development (SDRD) projects with principal investigators (PI) and their teams.
This year, SDRD supported 19 of the NNSS’ 110 summer interns in keeping with its objective of Workforce Development. This group of high-achieving students worked on projects across the Science and Technology Thrust Areas, dealing with topics including the Site’s geology, computational fluid dynamics, additive manufacturing, and even the SDRD internal website. As the culminating act of their summer work, the interns presented about their projects on Wednesday, July 31 in the Great Basin conference room to an audience of their peers, their mentors and managers, and other SDRD staff.
One such intern was Cherilyn Toro-Acosta, a graduate student studying geophysics at the University of Puerto Rico. Cherilyn worked with her mentor Cleat Zeiler on his project “Developing Geologic Framework Modeling for Rapid Integration” and was selected as the top intern from the Science and Technology Directorate. Receiving this honor meant that Cherilyn was able to present her work to the NNSS Executive Board along with the top interns from other directorates. During her presentation, Cherilyn spoke about how her experience with SDRD has shaped her academic and professional future: “Being actively involved in the research and project development helped me trace a much clearer career path and reassured me that I am making the right decisions, as I have really enjoyed all the work I have been assigned.” Madeline Gorman, an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University student who worked with Dan Champion on her project “Algorithms for Sub-Nanosecond Accuracy Diagnostic Cross Timing,” had a similar experience: “Working on an SDRD allowed me to improve my problem solving and communication skills. These will benefit me not only for my classes, but also my future career goals.”
In addition to helping students explore their career options, many of the interns credited the SDRD program with teaching them new skills they can use in the classroom—and in future STEM careers. Francis Palustre, an intern who worked with mentor Martin Arguelles-Perez on his project “Enabling Comparisons of Spatial Sensor Configurations Via Additive Manufacturing and the Development of Transforms for Sensor Fusion in SLAM Algorithms,” spoke about the professional skills SDRD instilled in him over the summer: “As someone who strongly prefers to do things alone, working with SDRD allowed me to have an appreciation for working in a team that I would have never expected. Working with SDRD showed me what is needed to become a contributing coworker to my team.” SDRD also helped the interns practice tangible skills that will benefit their future scientific work. “I had the opportunity to learn extensively while enhancing my skills in research and programming, which encompassed my favorite part of the internship,” Cherilyn said of her project.
The ultimate goal of SDRD, and the NNSS more broadly, is to convert student interns to full-time employees. The new knowledge and fresh ideas that early career employees possess is instrumental in
keeping SDRD project work on the cutting edge of technology. Kaleab Ayalew, a former intern turned full-time employee, is proof of this. Kaleab started as an intern with the NNSS two years ago while studying for a PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Throughout his time as an intern, he learned that he wanted to continue his career doing research within SDRD and gained the necessary skills to make that goal a reality. Now a full-time employee, Kaleab has just been awarded funds for two different SDRD proposals he submitted. “My time as an intern helped prepare me to take on this new role of PI,” he said of his experiences as a student.
Kaleab is not alone in feeling that his internship experiences laid the foundation for a career in SDRD. When asked if she would consider leading her own SDRD project one day, Madeline was very enthusiastic. “Yes, I would. I think that SDRDs are a creative way to find solutions to existing problems of the company. The PI on my project was very helpful and I feel like working under him was great preparation if I was to eventually lead my own SDRD.” Cherilyn also expressed her willingness to continue researching under the program: “I would definitely consider taking part in or leading a project of my own one day if given the opportunity.” By establishing a pipeline for student interns to become full-time employees, SDRD ensures future innovative work that will benefit the NNSS’ national security mission. Thank you to SDRD’s interns for all your hard work this summer, and best of luck with your future endeavors!
