August 20, 2015
by Diana Campeggio
Comments Off on A Postcard From: Shakhari Badgett ’17

A Postcard From: Shakhari Badgett ’17

Name: Shakhari Badgett

Class Year: 2017

Research Placement: Working with Aradhna Tripati in the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences at the University of California Los Angeles.

What’s happening! We’d love to hear about how your internship is going.

My internship is going great, I’m so lucky that I’ve had this opportunity to work in the Clumped Isotope lab at UCLA!

How I heard about my internship:

A guest lecturer came and spoke in my Geochemistry class about her work in the Clumped Isotope Lab.

Why I applied for my internship:

I applied because I like seeing a female geologist who was passionate and very educated about the topics that she was speaking on. It inspired me to work harder and so I reached out to her and asked to intern under her and she agreed.

August 20, 2015
by Diana Campeggio
Comments Off on A Postcard From: Ann Tran ’18

A Postcard From: Ann Tran ’18

Name: Ann Tran

Class Year: 2018

Research Placement: Working with Laura Howes at the New England Aquarium.

What’s happening! We’d love to hear about how your internship is going.

The internship has been going swimmingly! I have learned so much, and I continue to learn more. I hang out mostly on the waters by Cape Cod in Massachusetts at an area called Stellwagen Bank, which is an underwater plateau only about 100 feet deep. Here, humpback whales, as well as minke and fin whales, congregate to feed. Through the New England Aquarium and Boston Harbor Cruises, I assist with data collection and education on whale watch boats!

The title of my internship is a Marine Mammal Education and Research Intern at the New England Aquarium, so it is twofold. The first is the education aspect. Every trip, I come around and answer questions, bring around whale artifacts such as vertebrae and baleen (a filter device for whales), and simply educate passengers. This education can be on how whales sleep, to what research is being done on the whales, to what measures they can take to be more environmentally aware for marine life and beyond.

The second aspect is about the research. On the vessels I do an array of data collection projects. One is collecting marine debris coordinates, observations, and more. Another is studying if there is a correlation between windy weather and greater humpback whale surface activity. Another catalogues all of the identification photographs the naturalist is taking when the boat is ‘on’ (approaches and stays with) the whales. Finally, I record all of the whale sightings, the names of the whales, their behaviors, the weather conditions, and the GPS coordinates. It’s a lot, but after a while, there is a certain rhythm that you ease into with data collection.

As you can see from the photos, it’s really awesome! I’ve learned so much about a really special niche in environmental studies. I’ve also gotten to meet many awesome folks, such as the other interns for the whale watches and the vast network of New England Aquarium Alumnae.

Why I applied for my internship:

I thought, why not. Though I intend to be a computer science major, I have always wanted to practice researching. With internships, I have always gotten the encouragement to try something outside of the box.

Through the New England Aquarium, I had the opportunity to do so. I’ve never been out on the water for more than an hour, and I had no knowledge of whales going in. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I will always look back to with joy.

Although I do not expect to be a whale watch naturalist any time soon, I learned through the internship that I deeply enjoy educating and talking to patrons on the boat. In the future, this could very easily translate to a job that involves communicating with clients or with philanthropic causes for communities. I also realized that I was less interested in the research though I enjoyed it.

This unique experience provided me a better ability to hone in on what I want to do and what I love in the future.

August 14, 2015
by Diana Campeggio
Comments Off on A Postcard From: Fransheska Clara ’17

A Postcard From: Fransheska Clara ’17

Name: Fransheska Clara

Class Year: 2017

Research Placement: Haverford’s Biology Department

What’s happening! We’d love to hear about how your internship is going!

I have concluded my internship in Haverford’s biology department and am glad I was able to experience the other biology department in the Bi-Co. I worked with Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli and studied their interactions with other non-pathogenic bacteria.

How I heard about my internship:

I wanted to see what the other biology department in the Bi-Co had to offer and looked up the lab I worked in through Haverford’s website.

Why I applied for my internship:

I was interested in experiencing the biology labs and all they had to offer over at Haverford College. Since I’m majoring in Bio at Bryn Mawr, I am limited to the classes I can take over in Bio department at Haverford and sought to explore their department, even if it only was for the summer.

August 14, 2015
by Diana Campeggio
Comments Off on A Postcard From: Jane Liu ’17

A Postcard From: Jane Liu ’17

Name: Jane Liu

Class Year: 2017

Internship Placement: This summer I will be doing research at the Winston Lab of Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School in Boston. I will be working on mutations that could suppress the defects of the protein SPN1 in yeasts during transcription.

What’s happening ? We’d love to hear how your internship is going!

This summer I’m at the Winston Lab of Harvard Medical School. My project mainly focuses on a protein SPN1, aka IWS1 in humans, that works with RNA polymerase II during elongation. This protein is essential for viability in yeasts S. cerevisiae and might be a tumor suppressor gene in human. Over the past two months, I have been working with mutations that could rescue yeast cells from SPN1 deletion, which were called suppressors of SPN1 deletion. So far in lab, I have screened for new suppressors from two SPN1 deleted strains, performed experiments to study how a previously identified suppressor changed the cells so that they could survive SPN1 deletion, and I have confirmed the ability of another protein on suppressing the SPN1 defect.

Why I applied for my internship:

I have been doing research in a yeast lab at Bryn Mawr for a year but our yeast lab is relatively small. Therefore, this summer’s opportunity at a much bigger lab could help me learn more about yeast research and also give me a lot of experience on experiments that we could not do at Bryn Mawr. Also, I am aiming for graduate school after college. So this summer internship also gives me a chance to actually experience the life of a graduate student or Ph.D. in research, and so far I loved my job ! Working at Harvard also allows me to row this summer out of the Weld Boathouse of Radcliffe on the Charles River. I started in the most basic training boat and within a month I was able to carry the boat by myself and go out in a racing shell. The perfect combination of rowing and biology has made my summer fun and enriching.

August 12, 2015
by Diana Campeggio
Comments Off on A Postcard From: Yilun Tang ’17

A Postcard From: Yilun Tang ’17

Name: Yilun Tang

Class Year: 2017

Internship Placement: Mid-Atlantic – Eurasia Business Council. I will be working on the Annual Eurasian/Russian-American Innovation Technology Weeks (RANIT) in June.

What’s happening? We’d love to hear how your internship is going!

This summer I am interning with Mid-Atlantic Eurasian Business Council located in Philadelphia, PA. MARBC is a nonprofit organization in the Mid-Atlantic region that works to foster business relations between Eurasia/Russia and the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region. This organization brings Russian technology companies to partner with investing agencies and business development from the USA.

As an intern, I worked on Annual Eurasian/Russian-American Innovation Technology Weeks (RANIT) in June and Days of Eurasian-American Innovation Entrepreneurship Cooperation (RAVC 2015) in October. My work involves a lot of event planning and project-specific outreach to external partners, technology companies, and venture capitalists.

I think this internship is a good combination of technology and international business. I had a lot of fun with other interns and the opportunity to get involved in International BIO Convention was simply amazing! There were companies from different parts of the world, such as pharmacy research companies from Japan, Germany, and Hong Kong.

I live on campus so I take Septa to commute between Philly and Bryn Mawr. I have irregular working hours because my supervisor always talks to Russian delegations during the night with the time difference. So sometimes we will have meetings over weekend and evenings. I am super familiar with public transportation now and I enjoy what the city can offer.

August 12, 2015
by Diana Campeggio
Comments Off on A Postcard From: Xiaoqi Geng ’16

A Postcard From: Xiaoqi Geng ’16

Name: Xiaoqi Geng

Class Year: 2016

Internship Placement: I am researching in the statistics department in UPenn this summer. I will be working on adapting a newly developed statistical method called CODEX for a large alzheimer’s disease sequencing project.

What’s happening? We’d love to hear how your internship is going!

I spent my summer with Professor Nancy Zhang in statistics department in UPenn. Before my research experience started, one of her Ph.D. students already developed a statistical method called CODEX, which is a normalization and copy number variation detection method for whole Exome Sequencing. Whole Exome Sequencing has been a trend of research area in recent years in the field of bioinformatics. The goal of this sequencing method is to identify genetic variation that is responsible for both mendelian and common diseases, such as Miller syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, with lower cost than Whole Genome Sequencing. Along with my partner, we examined CODEX model during this summer by using data of blood samples of the same 110 individuals collected and processed from three medical centers. By doing this, we hoped to perfect CODEX so that it could serve as a better tool for Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP).

When approaching CODEX for the first time, my partner and I had no idea what the results really meant. However, after consulting with Professor Zhang, we gradually understood how to visualize data. If we realized any signal missed from the final result, we looked into the model and detected which step the signal was lost and its reason. Though we still have not finish the project, we completed running the model on 22 chromosomes of all three centers and made comparison between the results of three centers on each chromosome. We have already figured out our next goal after examining the results; we hoped to lower the threshold of the normalization and segmentation process so that the model would not be too stringent on the detected signals.

I have never thought I could do academic research before this summer. This summer’s experience provided me confidence to go into academia. Besides, I got more information of what I can do and contribute for the area of bio-statistics and bio-informatics. I really look forward to seeing this research project being applied in real life and I believe many people will be benefited if they can know at an early stage if they will have the tendency of being attacked by Alzheimer’s Disease.

August 11, 2015
by Diana Campeggio
Comments Off on A Postcard From: Vito Mkandawire ’17

A Postcard From: Vito Mkandawire ’17

Name: Vito Mkandawire

Class Year: 2017

Internship Placement: I will be interning at FINCA Malawi, a nonprofit micro-finance organization that gives loans to small-scaled entrepreneurs, as well as big business owners. I hope to learn how to deal with finance issues among low-income individuals in developing countries like Malawi.

What’s happening? We’d love to hear how your internship is going!

This summer I had the opportunity to intern at FINCA Malawi as the assistant loan officer. My primary responsibilities were to provide customer services to clients and assist the loan officer with analyzing and assessing individuals if they were eligible for the loan.

FINCA Malawi is part of FINCA International (Foundation for International Community Assistance), a nonprofit micro-finance institution that seeks to “alleviate poverty through lasting solutions that help people build assets, create jobs, and raise their standards of living.” FINCA Malawi provides access to socially responsible financial services to enable low-income individuals and communities to invest in their future.

Working at FINCA Malawi, gave me the opportunity to have first hand experience and appreciate some of the economic challenges that people face in developing countries. I was able to collaborate with individuals who are already developing and improving themselves through doing small-scale businesses. And this gave me the platform to augment their work and help to train and build their level of capacities so that they can run and operate their businesses efficiently.

Working as the assistant loan officer was very rewarding and valuable since I was part of the committee that decides whether to approve, defer, decline, or reduce the loan amount that an individual is requesting. Being part of the decision making team, helped me to straighten my critical thinking skills, since I learned to look at a problem from multiple perspectives. Also, I acquired new strategies of small business analysis and assessment required to determine if a client is eligible for a loan. In addition, I had the opportunity to analyze how some of the economical theories I learned in my Public Finance and Economic Development courses comes into play in the real world. With this internship I straightened my critical thinking, time management, organizational, quantitative, as well as interpersonal skills.

August 11, 2015
by Diana Campeggio
Comments Off on A Postcard From: Xiaomeng Hu ’17

A Postcard From: Xiaomeng Hu ’17

Name: Xiaomeng Hu

Class Year: 2017

Internship Placement: Think Tanks and Civil Society Program at the University of Pennsylvania. I will beecome familiar with the literature work, seminal author, and current studies of think tanks in the assigned region.

What’s happening? We’d love to hear how your internship is going!

This summer, I worked as a research assistant in the Think Tank and Civil Society Program (TTCSP) at the University of Pennsylvania. My primary responsibility was to update the database of North American think tanks, refile the list of state-based think tanks, and write a short report on policy innovation in global think tanks. I met lots of students who came from other universities and we share the same passion for international relations and public policy. The program coordinator also invited lots of speakers in the same field to talk about their professional development in order to help us pursue our career. I truly learned a lot by writing the literature review and meeting new people in the program, which prepared me for my academic trajectory in the future.

How I heard about my internship:

I heard from one of my classmate, Hannah Lee, who previously took this internship at UPenn and I was fully impressed by her experience within the research group.

Why I applied for my internship:

After reading the TTCSP website and reviewing my academic ability, I decided to apply for the internship in order to continue my academic interests in public policies and prepare myself to become a future scholar in sociology at graduate schools. I think this internship in the TTCSP was a great fit of my career path in civil society organizations.

August 11, 2015
by Diana Campeggio
Comments Off on A Postcard From: Siyang You ’16

A Postcard From: Siyang You ’16

Name: Siyang You

Class Year: 2016

Internship Placement: This summer, I’m work with Leo Xu Projects, a contemporary art gallery located in Shanghai’s previous French concession. The gallery exhibits young Chinese and international artists, and is dedicated to responding to ideas reflecting visual culture in modern china. Some projects also respond to the social and political climate of the century. The gallery is a rather small space, thus I have the opportunity to be hands on in every aspect of the work I need to know, large and trivial, expected and unexpected.

What’s happening? We’d love to hear how your internship is going!

I had the opportunity to help curate a show featuring Hong Kong-base artist Zheng Bo, with a focus on the narrative of weed. The artist examines and reflects the history, existence of wild plants in the transformation of the modern society of China. I feel very lucky that I could have this chance to be there with the artist at the very beginning and experience the progress, from thoughts to works. As a Fine Arts major myself, I liked working with the artist a lot, we both value the freedom one could enjoy while creating art works. In addition, Zheng’s art works opened up my view of arts. For some reason before this, I focused a lot on “traditional” art forms and medium, like painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture etc. Through this experience, I realized that there are actually a lot more ways of expression in arts, such as sounds, videos, objects, texts, etc. Zheng’s reflection on social politics also touched me and reminded me of the liberal education I am receiving in Bryn Mawr.

The exhibition includes a lot about reshaping the gallery space. Thus I also worked a lot with constructions. It was a lot of fun, as I take this field useful to my Cities major. I am learning a lot about theories and creative ideas about designing architecture from school. It was amazing to learn how people actually build things together, and make walls stand and safe.

Besides reflecting on the interesting and valuable experiences I have at work, I also think about what this summer means to my self-improvement, my academics, and my life. My works are not always adventurous. Although sometimes repetitive, I understand its necessity. Sometimes I work more hours and days. The boss sometimes requires me to work overtime and takes it for granted, such as having dinner with gallery clients, or going to construction sites at night. Even during the days I work “regularly,” it’s hard to have time and energy to do my own research, do my arts, or even read books or watch an interesting movie. Together with the words that I read in Springfield chapters, I do not think this kind of work atmosphere or routine would motivate me to get up from bed every morning. This might be one of the setbacks I am having this summer, and I would like to turn this into a lesson to pursuit a suitable goal in the future career.

August 11, 2015
by Diana Campeggio
Comments Off on A Postcard From: Kristian Sumner ’17

A Postcard From: Kristian Sumner ’17

Name: Kristian Sumner

Class Year: 2017

Research Placement: I’m completing my research at Bryn Mawr College in Dr. Tamara Davis’s lab. This summer I was analyzing the methylation pattern in sperm and 6.5 day embryo tissue in mice. By sequencing the DNA I was able to analyze the multiple sites of methylation and understand the differentially methylated region in each of these tissues.

What’s happening! We’d love to hear about how your internship is going.

My internship is going very well. I’ve been sequencing the DNA I’ve been amplifying from the mouse genome. I’m looking at a region in particular of the Rasgrf1 gene and analyzing the methylation patterns present.

How I heard about my internship:

I’ve been working in my advisor’s lab during the school year in addition to this summer internship. She was my professor for intro biology and I really enjoyed working with her during the school year.

Why I applied for my internship:

I really admire my advisor. She is amazing and I really wanted chance to understand molecular biology and genetics from her as well as contribute to her research on genomic imprinting.

Summer Internships 2015

Sun-soaked postcards from Bryn Mawr students

A Postcard From: Shakhari Badgett ’17

A Postcard From: Ann Tran ’18

A Postcard From: Fransheska Clara ’17

A Postcard From: Jane Liu ’17

A Postcard From: Yilun Tang ’17

A Postcard From: Xiaoqi Geng ’16

A Postcard From: Vito Mkandawire ’17

A Postcard From: Xiaomeng Hu ’17

A Postcard From: Siyang You ’16

A Postcard From: Kristian Sumner ’17