Majors:
Internship title:
Research assistant.
What I do, day to day:
My work hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. In the research team office, I have my own desk where I work on simulating finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) on Matlab, which my supervisor has assigned to me. When I get lost solving problems, I ask the graduate students on the research team. I have a lab meeting with the supervisor every Monday and report what I have accomplished so far. Once in a while, I also attend special events such as the National Electrical Engineering Convention and a Saturday seminar at the school.
Most valuable part of this experience:
The most useful part is that I can observe the graduate students closely and hear their perspectives on the electrical engineering field as I interact with them every day. This experience is critical because it gives me a rough idea of what I am going into if I major in engineering.
Advice for students considering internships:
Don't get stuck on your major when you are looking for an internship as a first year student. Try to explore a large spectrum of the field you want to go into because your expectation of your desired job can be different from reality.
How this internship has helped me:
I have earned a new programming language skill, Matlab, which will help me improve my creative problem-solving abilities. I also have experienced an advanced level in the engineering field, which will help me narrow down the areas I want to explore as a computer science major.
Learn more about internships at Dickinson.
Published July 27, 2018