Bethany Mathews ’20: 826DC

Name: Bethany Mathews
Class Year: 2020
Major: Spanish/Independent Creative Writing
Hometown: Bristow, Va.

Internship Organization: 826DC
Job Title: Educational Programming Intern
Location: Washington, D.C.

This summer, I am working with the writing-based arts non-profit 826DC. This organization covers everything from after-school tutoring programs to summer camp writing workshops to full-blown novel production courses. It is all free, and it is all for the youth of the D.C. area.

When I first came to Bryn Mawr, I had known my whole life that I wanted to study creative writing. What I didn’t know was that fulfilling my language requirement would lead to such a passion for studying the Spanish language that I would major in it as well. Of course, this area of focus led to the question, not just from parents and advisors, but from myself as well, “What do you plan on doing with this?” How would my majors prepare me for my future? I began thinking about the things that I enjoyed that were related to both of these fields, and it hit me like an epiphany that I wanted to use my creative writing to show the arts to youth that would need them, and that my knowledge in Spanish would help to bolster my desire to increase the accessibility of the arts.

In high school, I had to drive an hour each way to be able to study creative writing, and I feel very strongly that the arts are a life-changing tool that should be available to everyone. Thus, I sought out work with 826DC.

Since beginning my internship four weeks ago, I have created a library system for our students so that they can continue reading outside of our programs. I have taken stories from the margins of notebook paper and formed fully designed, printed, and bound books with my own two hands. I have gone out into the community and used my Spanish to explain our opportunities to people who may not have had the chance to know about them otherwise.

This week, I will get to bring printed books to the classrooms of second- and ninth-graders and celebrate their accomplishments with them. In a few weeks, I will lead workshops based in creative solutions to environmental issues with sixth-graders, both in English and Spanish. I am doing what I have always wanted to do. Nevertheless, it cannot be said that working in an area I am passionate about has not had its sacrifices. I have lived 30 minutes from D.C. the majority of my life, but between traffic and using public transport, my commute more often than not becomes a two-hour endeavor. On a larger scale, I know this is not going to be sustainable, and it is causing me to give greater thought to where I will live post-Bryn Mawr and how I will handle city life, as this is where most arts nonprofits are centered. But for now, for the next eight weeks or so, I am taking it as time to think, to read, to listen to news or podcasts and expand my mind. It’s a sacrifice that I’ve decided I’m OK with making for a summer of growth. I’ve wanted to work with 826DC since I found out about it over a year ago, and I’m here fostering creative thinking in youth of all backgrounds. I’m teaching them, and they’re teaching me.

Anna Landi ’20: UCSF Emotion, Health and Psychophysiology Lab

Name: AnnaMaria Landi (Anna Landi)
Class Year: 2020
Major: Psychology (Major) and Neuroscience (Minor)
Hometown: Charlottesville, Va.

Internship Organization: University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Emotion, Health and Psychophysiology (EHP) Lab
Job Title: Summer Research Assistant Intern
Location: San Francisco

What’s happening at your internship?

I am one of 14 interns working at UCSF’s EHP Lab under the direction of Dr. Wendy Berry Mendes this summer. Currently, there are various studies being run and I have been assigned to three in particular — one study explores the effects of perceived racial discrimination on sleep quality, another study examines the influence of parent-child relationships on stress, and the final study tests the efficacy of several stress resilience interventions. I perform numerous roles in my day-to-day work life, including being an experimenter, a technician/operator, and a confederate. I really enjoyed applying the knowledge from the classroom to a laboratory setting and seeing psychological theories come to life.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I wanted to gain research experience at a large institution such as UCSF. I am at the crossroads of deciding if I want to commit to a career in academia and pursue a doctorate degree or if I want to apply my psychology training and education to a profession in industry.

What has been your favorite part of this internship?

Overall, the highlight of this internship is the weekly tutorials and workshops led by a member of the research staff — they talk about their professional and personal life trajectories as well as their current research interests and projects. Personally, it has been extremely helpful to hear about each individual’s unique experience and to hear them talk candidly about the choices they have made to get to this point. I have realized that there is truly no “right” or “wrong” path to take in order to pursue research. Also, it is OK to take time off after undergrad before applying to grad school.

Living in a new city? What has that experience been like for you?

I have framed this experience as a domestic study abroad. I was equal parts excited and nervous before coming to San Francisco as this is the first time that I am living away from my family and friends (besides being at Bryn Mawr). I was really lucky to find a wonderful roommate who is also an intern at the lab. Honestly, it was a steep learning curve trying to balance my work and personal life — it is an interesting feeling to be both working here but also a tourist. Furthermore, navigating a new place can be scary, but embracing being uncomfortable with the unknown and learning to ask for help has been a huge growth experience for me. I am definitely not a local, but I am becoming more and more familiar with the city.

Stephanie David ’20: Philadelphia Museum of Art

Name: Stephanie David
Class Year: 2020
Major: East Asian Languages and Cultures
Hometown: Spring, Texas

Internship Organization: Philadelphia Museum of Art
Job Title: Human Resources Summer Intern
Location: Philadelphia

What’s happening at your internship?

Recently, our department spearheaded event planning for a luncheon honoring employees who have been at the PMA from five to 45 years. It was chaotic getting everything ready on time, but we were happy to see the employees smiling as they got recognized. Day to day, I have been helping compile and check data for recruiting and employee benefits. I will continue to help with collecting data and assisting the department with tasks related to that — there is plenty to do! Aside from that, the interns are also being exposed to virtually every department in the museum, including curatorial, retail, construction, and protection services. This is information that my department can take to aid in making our bird’s eye view on the organization more reflective of the needs of the employees, which is great.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I applied to this internship because I value work that is rooted in the humanistic side of the working world. It’s important to me that whatever I do in the future involves engaging with people and growing empathy and understanding. These are aspects of career that regional studies have inspired me to focus on, and with Bryn Mawr students’ mission being similar, this has been a natural fit. Also, a nonprofit arts environment that is also a fairly large organization creates an interesting balance. It involves creative minds but also a need for objective function. The PMA is all about evolving thoughtfully. It is my favorite local museum even as a visitor, so I was curious about its cogs and how everything fits together. It’s so much more than pictures just hanging on the walls and it’s incredible to be able to see just how complex the organization is.

What has been your favorite part of this internship?

My favorite part of this internship has been talking to both my peers and my mentors. I appreciate hearing about so many different paths and stories. This internship is really thorough, and I have interacted with employees from many parts of the institution. Being able to converse with driven supervisors, museum staff, and fellow interns has been a moving experience. There is so much to think about and so much I want to hear from the people around me. Sitting in on meetings, chatting with others, or doing my work day to day have hardly been boring. Everyone being so receptive and brilliant in their interactions has been super awesome and helpful.

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect?

I think most of all a big takeaway was a different type of time management for me. I was focusing my expectations on tasks and skillset building. I feel like I only fully understood what the difference is once I was under organizational expectations. It’s different commuting along with the daily flow down the city street, making sure I am still mindful of how every second counts — but virtually as an employee, not just a student. The expectations change how I spend my time and what I spend my time doing. It’s hard to explain, but there is a sense to this experience that can only be learned from doing, and it has served as an important reminder of the future and of what will be asked of me when I formally enter the working world.

Zhuoran Hu ’21: Tsinghua Urban Planning Institute

Name: Zhuoran Hu
Class Year: 2021
Major: Mathematics, Growth and Structure of Cities
Hometown: Beijing

Internship Organization: Tsinghua Urban Planning Institute (THTF Co.)
Job Title: Intern
Location: Beijing

What’s happening at your internship?

My internship is related to smart cities, transportation, and big data. The team that I joined is currently working on an artificial intelligent system named Insight (or called Hui Yan Da in Chinese). This product is mainly used to improve or further solve some existing problems in China’s highway network system, such as lack of hardware equipment as well as intelligence. Currently, a large number of monitoring video images can only be observed and identified by human eyes, so some emergencies cannot be timely detected, which leads to under-reporting. At the same time, some traffic information is not interconnected and shared.

A large number of real-time traffic data collected by the system are sealed and idle. The current situation makes it difficult for the government and the police to manage traffic networks effectively. It is hard to make predictions as well as to identify and deal with emergent traffic accidents at first. The team is able to use machine learning techniques to form some models that can automatically analyze traffic problems. The goal of the product is to improve intelligent traffic management and service capabilities. Most of our clients are local government and some police offices or security departments. People in our group have pretty diverse backgrounds and have different responsibilities. There are people in charge of collecting, selecting, and categorizing different types of data (mostly images of roads or highways). There are also people who build models and test those models. My work is more similar to the first type because of my lack of knowledge in computer science, especially in algorithms. My other work includes preparing materials for conferences, taking notes, and organizing some team-building events. I also make phone calls, participate in group discussions, and brainstorm with other team members. We are trying to train and improve the model so that it can detect more kinds of traffic accidents even under a dark environment with a bad network connection.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I applied because I want to explore what kind of jobs that I can do with my background in both math and cities. I find organizations or occupations related to smart cities will be a good fit because it is interdisciplinary. I am interested in cities and how people circulate around the city. This internship touches many topics that I am interested in, including transportation and data.

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect?

Before I came to this internship, I thought the concept of smart cities is more related to the field of urban planning or urban studies. But actually, the concept of smart cities is based more on computer science instead of urban studies. To succeed in this field, people not only need to have some knowledge about cities, but also need to become an expert in computer science as well as have a deep understanding of algorithms. I believe that if I am good at coding, I will be able to explore more in this internship.

Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?

I am learning the company’s own software that is used for data annotations. I am also learning the company’s own chat tool that people can use to send large documents and images to each other. I think this experience provides me inspirations and gives me a better understanding of software developments.

What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship?

I think the biggest challenge is to wake up early. I need to wake up at 7 a.m. and leave my home at 7:30 a.m. in order to arrive at the company before 8:30 a.m. The fast pace of the company is also a challenge, because everyone needs to finish a lot of work in a limited time. I think my experience at Bryn Mawr prepared me for the work. I already learned how to work efficiently and multi-task.

Carlie Hansen ’21: Operations Intern for U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth

Name: Carlie Hansen
Class Year: 2021
Major: Biology + Political Science
Hometown: Chicago

Internship Organization: Office of U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Job Title: Operations Intern
Location: Washington, D.C.

What’s happening at your internship?

As the operations intern, I have one of the more dynamic roles within the internship cohort and the senator’s office as a whole. I have worked in every department so far this summer, including communications/press, admin, legislative, and scheduling. Basically, wherever the office staff can use extra hands or an extra brain, I’m there. The teams I work most closely with, however, are the administrative team, where I sort mail or review voicemails, and the legislative team, where I assist the environment and energy policy staffers. On a daily basis, I also engage with the senator’s constituents over the phone and when they visit the office, recording their legislative opinions and assisting them in connecting with caseworkers in the senator’s state offices.

Why did you apply for this internship?

Senator Duckworth is one of my home state senators, and has been a huge inspiration to me as I’ve started thinking about a career in politics, so it seemed natural to pick her office to apply to intern in. For a while I’ve had an interest in working on the Hill in D.C. after I graduate, so I figured applying for a congressional internship would be the best way to see if I wanted to build my career here. Prior to this summer I also received advice that an internship on the Hill in some ways serves as an extended job interview, as the connections you make and reputation you build while interning can help you get a job later on.

Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?

This internship first and foremost has been an opportunity to polish my writing, speaking, and Excel skills. I’ve gotten to develop intrapersonal skills working in group settings and with a variety of teams within the office, and learned how to engage with the senator’s constituents. In the bigger picture, I’m learning about what it means to represent a constituency and how to do so effectively and diplomatically. With that, I think it is important to recognize that any elected official represents people who hold a variety of beliefs, not just those who share their views. Throughout my internship I’ve gotten to see how the senator takes into consideration the views of her constituents without compromising her own beliefs when it comes time to make decisions.

Was this internship what you expected it to be?

I didn’t have a lot of expectations about the internship going in, especially because I had no idea what an operations intern did in the grand scheme of a congressional office. I also have had to constantly think on my feet, as no two days are ever the same on the Hill. But going into the internship with no expectations has let me take better advantage of any learning opportunity that I’ve encountered so far — I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer holds!

Emily George ’21: Sociology of Sport Research with David Karen

Name: Emily George
Class Year: 2021
Major: Sociology
Hometown: Wilmette, Ill.

Internship Organization: Sociology of Sport Research Project with David Karen, Chair and Professor of Sociology, Bryn Mawr College
Job Title: Research Assistant
Location: Bryn Mawr College

What’s happening at your internship?

Currently, I’m working on a few mini-assignments under the umbrella project of researching the benefits and possibility of the “all sport for all” model! Right now, my main focus is researching how the six major confederations of FIFA regulate recruiting in order to maintain competitive balance among the teams. Other than that, I’m looking at how the UN’s Centre for Sport and Human Rights is working towards creating a global respect for sport as a human right and a tool for peace building. On top of these projects, I do some speed-reading and summarizing of books and articles for DK!

Why did you apply for this internship?

I applied for this internship because I felt it would give me the opportunity to explore and experience what a large-scale, long-term research project is like. Furthermore, I felt that it would allow me to obtain and practice many research skills that will be highly beneficial for the remainder of my college career and beyond! Finally, the topic sounded fascinating, so I was thrilled to have the chance to get involved.

Was there anything special about how you found this internship?

In the fall semester, I had asked DK if there were any research opportunities in the Sociology Department, as I was hoping to gain hands-on research experience outside the classroom. At that point, there were no research assistant positions available. However, in February, I received an email from DK explaining that he was planning on conducting research for a book on sociology of sport and asking me if I’d like to discuss the possibility of joining his project as a research assistant for the summer. Naturally, I was thrilled to have the opportunity and expressed my excitement immediately.

What has been your favorite part of this internship?

This is very small, but I have my own office and key to all the rooms in Dalton, which is very fun!

Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?

I believe that the research skills I am gaining will be useful in all my classes going forward, as well as my thesis. Outside of hard skills, I am certain that the other soft skills I am honing, such as persistence, time-management, organization, dedication, and drive will be beneficial in my college years and beyond! I am incredibly grateful to have this opportunity because I feel as though it is helping me grow as a student, researcher, and person.

Tania Feliz Soto ’22: Bosak Lab, MIT

Name: Tania Feliz Soto
Class Year: 2022
Major: Geology
Hometown: Boston

Internship Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bosak Lab
Job Title: Research Affiliate
Location: Cambridge, Mass.

What’s happening at your internship?

Here at the Bosak Lab, researchers study the development of early life on Earth and use modern organisms to model and understand life that can now only be found on the geologic record. I have been working on research regarding stromatolites, which are believed to be evidence of the earliest life on Earth⎯ cyanobacteria. Modern Cyanobacteria exist today in very limited environments where extreme conditions prevent other life from thriving. One such location is Shark Bay, Australia, where hypersaline waters act as the perfect shelter for cyanobacteria. Here, cyanobacteria called Entophysalis form pustular colonies strikingly similar in shape and texture to some 2.6 billion year old stromatolites. We know that in these ancient stromatolites, silica is present in the form of chert and seems to play a role in preservation. In the lab, we run experiments where Entophysalis and other modern cyanobacteria are exposed to a silicified ocean environment similar to the ancient environment to better understand their interaction with silica, how they fossilize and what factors contribute to the fossilization.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I sought this opportunity because I am interested in pursuing geology. However, I’ve come to understand that it is a broad and interdisciplinary field. I want to learn more about the connections between geology and other sciences, in this case biology, so that I can find specific area that I would like to focus on in the future.

What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship?

One of the biggest challenges I have encountered so far is reading scientific literature to understand the background and scope of the research I’m doing. It has proven difficult since you have to put the information of the different papers together specially when forming connections between ancient life and the present. Also using this information in my own ideas has been difficult since not all experiments are logistically possible within the short time I have this summer.

What is most rewarding about your internship?

What I’ve found to be the most enjoyable aspect of this internship is the guidance I have received from the graduate student I’m working closely with. I appreciate the balance in learning and independence since I’m encouraged to pursue my own ideas using the lab techniques and information I’ve learned. Although challenging, the research has been fun and stimulating as I have met people who are very excited about their research and eager to learn more.

Morgan Coursey ’20: Pennsylvania Prison Society

Name: Morgan Coursey
Class Year: 2020
Major: Sociology
Hometown: Wayne, Pa.

Internship Organization: Pennsylvania Prison Society
Job Title: Summer Internship
Location: Philadelphia

What’s happening at your internship?

At my internship thus far, I have been responding to letters and calls from incarcerated people and their families, processing Official Visitor requests (volunteers from the Prison Society who have unsolicited access to speak to incarcerated people and prison officials to ensure humane prison conditions) and I have been helping with the upcoming issue of the organization’s bimonthly newsletter, Graterfriends.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I applied for this internship because I respected the deep history (which I have since learned more about) behind the Prison Society, and after tutoring at the Glen Mills School with the Petey Greene Program, I was looking for an opportunity to work with incarcerated people and their families. I also found that the work the Prison Society does helps to highlight, in a material sense, many of the sociological and philosophical phenomena that I have discussed at Bryn Mawr.

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect?

When I first started reading letters from prisoners, I was really surprised about what goes on inside of our state’s prisons. Though I understand that there are limitations and challenges in prison distinct from those in the outside world, it was really disheartening to read about people not receiving adequate or timely medical care for serious health issues, being assaulted, filing grievances and being ignored, having mail withheld or tampered with, losing touch with family and friends, being forced into solitary confinement, and just feeling ignored and forgotten.

What is most rewarding about your internship?

I think the most rewarding aspect of this internship so far is being able to provide people with hope. Just this past Friday, a woman wrote in from a county jail and shared that she had gotten engaged exactly a year ago. She mentioned that she and her fiance were previously using drugs and were on the streets. She was looking for information about how they could get married, as they are incarcerated in the same prison. Finally, she wrote that she did not have anyone on the outside that she was in correspondence with that could help them. I was fortunate enough to be that person on the outside to get back to her with some information about how she might be able to apply for a marriage license or even have a ceremony in prison.

Even though I know as an organization we cannot solve all the problems of the people who contact us, just being able to correspond with people who need and deserve a listening and understanding ear is really special. I am looking forward to learning more about the history and philosophy behind the Prison Society, prison conditions today, and finally, what we as both an organization and as individuals can do to ensure that conditions are humane inside of our prisons.