Students Share Summer Break Experiences

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Leslie VanderkolkSummer isn’t all sun and relaxation for engineering and architecture students. Instead, many spend their break gaining awesome experience for their career or in service to others. Here, a few tell us how they spent their days without classes.

Dan Brown, Agricultural Engineering
“This past summer, I interned with the Mercer County Soil and Water District. I worked on problems facing my neighborhood: water quality issues in Grand Lake Saint Mary’s watershed. Much attention has been surrounding the lake after an algae-produced toxin was discovered. I was working side by side with engineers, lawmakers, farmers and activist groups to develop economical solutions on how to effectively clean up the 13,500-acre lake. I also transferred hand-drawn watershed maps into AutoCAD onto the auditor’s tax maps as well as installed waterways in the county using the Total Station and laser level.”

Elizabeth Burdick, Architecture
“I traveled to Mongolia this summer to observe and work on issues of urban development in the capital, Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia has suffered a sort of ’shock therapy,’ to quote a resident, of capitalism in recent times which has caused a huge rural-to-urban migration. This has put great strain on the environment and the resources of the city. I was privileged to join up with a group of students from the University of Seoul as well as the Mongolian University of Science and Technology to participate in a charette, which brainstormed ideas to resolve these issues.”

Lisa Johnson, Architecture
“This summer, I had the opportunity, with thanks of the ARTA (Architectural Research Travel Award) to spend time in Toulouse, France. I worked with the City Planning Department and a professor at a local university studying accessibility for people with disabilities and all people in the city. I learned about the new laws (of 2005) and the new updates that are becoming required. I was able to understand the importance of this topic to the society and the way they design to make accessing the public spaces easier for everyone, emphasizing the use of public transportation and pedestrian traffic but completing their new designs within the culture of the city. I had the chance to live with a French family and take French class with other students from all over the world.”

Erin Reilly-Sanders, Architecture (graduate student)
“Aside from a study abroad tour of Europe, finishing up my year-long goal of reading 100 books, and earning my keep at the Office of Financial Services, work this summer steadily accelerated on the group project that I've been involved with for almost two years — the OSU Solar Decathlon Team. We built an 800-square-foot, solar-powered house that we moved to Washington, D.C., in October for the competition. As the Fabrications Project Manager, I did paperwork and general coordination as well as picked up other tasks like some of the graphics and our dining contest.”

Amira Senouci-Bereksi, Industrial and Systems Engineering and Spanish
“I had an amazing summer! I spent three months in Milwaukee doing an engineering internship for General Electric. I worked for GE’s Healthcare Division at the Magnetic Resonance Center, where MRI machines are manufactured. During my internship, I was in the Materials Department where I managed suppliers as well as worked on other engineering projects. I even had the opportunity to test out the finished MRI product and have a scan performed on my brain! I also participated in GE Community Service Day and the GE Healthcare volleyball tournament. These activities allowed me to get to know my co-workers outside of a working environment. When I was not working in the manufacturing plant, I was off exploring Milwaukee. From the Irish Festival, to Milwaukee Brewers Games, to the beautiful beach on Lake Michigan, I found countless things to do in this great city! It was a wonderful summer experience!”

Leslie Vanderkolk, Chemical Engineering
"This past summer, I was incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to work in a research laboratory in the Kansas Life Sciences Innovation Center at the Kansas University Medical Center. I spent a little over two months working in the lab, and learned more than I could imagine through hands-on experience. The lab focuses mostly on diabetic neuropathy, which can appear as either a numbing of or a painful feeling in a diabetic's feet. I worked with the five graduate/medical students in the lab, as well as the lab manager, on their research projects on different strains of mice. My responsibilities included helping with behavioral testing and analysis, tissue extraction, immunochemistry analysis, and western blot analysis. I gained a lot of knowledge and experience in an academic research setting, and I met a lot of great people along the way.”

 

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