Summer internships provide valuable experiences

By Stephen Wilson

Each summer, students venture to new locations to intern in an industry of interest, trying on a role in hopes of finding a company, field, and/or career they love. Here are a few Lafayette students who did just that.

Natalia Baez ’23

Economics and anthropology and sociology
Hometown: Bronx, N.Y.
Company: Goldman Sachs & Co.
Location: Dallas, Texas
“This summer, I’ve had the remarkable opportunity to intern at the renowned global investment firm Goldman Sachs at its Dallas, Texas, office within the asset management division. I was a part of the execution and closing team within the real estate side of the firm. Throughout my internship, I was able to onboard a total of 127 assets to a web-based portfolio platform that required 264 property setups. In addition, I was able to acquire and submit time-sensitive payment contacts to a third-party contractor in order to rebuild workflows for same-day funding. Lastly, I completed ad-hoc projects to resolve validation breaks, incomplete workflows, and urgent asset onboarding. Through this internship, I was able to develop technical, leadership, and public-speaking skills that have strengthened my personal growth to come back as a stronger scholar at Lafayette College. I enjoyed my internship greatly because it forced me to step outside of my comfort zone and grow. I’ve come to understand, thanks to Goldman Sachs, how much I love learning about the real estate industry and how much I want to pursue a career in it following graduation.”

 

Aidan Tai ’23

Economics and computer science
Hometown: Barnegat, N.J.
Company: Amazon
Location: Seattle, Wash.
“I spent my summer interning as a financial analyst within Amazon Web Service (AWS). Through my project work, I was able to gain exposure to several facets of financial planning, analysis, and reporting, as well as software development. This internship has been an incredible opportunity to get accustomed to the professional environment, develop a wide array of skills, interact with new technologies, and meet tons of great people. Being able to relocate to Seattle, I was allowed the opportunity to go on numerous hikes in the beautiful Washington area. In this photo, I am getting distracted while making my way up Mount Rainier.”

 

Alexandra Powell ’23

Mechanical engineering
Hometown: Irvington, N.Y.
Company: Whirlpool Corp.
Location: Benton Harbor, Mich.
“This summer, I was a Whirlpool Engineering Rotational Leadership Development (WERLD) intern at Whirlpool Corp. As a member of the Surface team for freestanding ranges, I investigated consumers’ concerns with existing stove knobs. During my 12-week internship, I conducted a consumer study, created a measurement system to quantify the wobble of the knobs, identified the predominant cause of the wobble, and provided the company with ideas on how to improve their knobs. My favorite part of my internship was tearing down a freestanding range and learning about each component of the unit. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from the knowledgeable and talented engineers at Whirlpool and am excited to continue designing products that will improve the daily lives of consumers.”

 

Matthew Moise ’24

Mechanical engineering
Hometown: Suffern, N.Y.
Company: Victaulic
Location: Easton, Pa.
“I was a Transformation and Operational Excellence summer intern. I took tours of the different campuses, getting a better feel as to what the company produces. My role has also been to learn about and implement an efficiency program called LEAN, where I led events on different Victaulic campuses to improve workplace organization, safety, and quality for the betterment of the business. I met my reference, Ken Parks, vice president of engineering, through two events held by the Dyer Center and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), where he spoke during the fall of 2021. With that connection established, I met Dina Manoway ’83, at the Scholarship Luncheon in the spring of 2022 and was fortunate enough to get an internship with her department of the company.”

 

Julia Romano ’23

Economics
Hometown: Westfield, N.J.
Company: Bank of America
Location: New York City
“This summer I participated in a rotational summer internship in the sales and trading division at Bank of America. For the first four weeks of the internship, I sat on one desk within the division, then I switched to a different desk after those first four weeks. The short rate sales desk focuses mostly on short-term interest rate products, which include repo sales, commercial paper sales, and STFI sales. The sales team works very closely with the trading side to buy and sell these products to and from many different clients. These first couple of weeks were particularly interesting because of recent decisions by the Federal Reserve to hike rates by 75 basis points. This is the largest hike in rates since 1994, so the market was incredibly interesting to follow. Additionally, the inflation data that was released in early June was far above expectations, which makes the market very volatile as well. It is incredibly rewarding to see everything that I have learned in the classroom at Lafayette be applied in the real world.”

 

Tessa Landon ’22

Policy studies
Hometown: Hamilton, Mass.
Company: OnePointFive
Location: New York City/virtual
“I work as a sustainability consulting associate at OnePointFive, a sustainability consulting startup. I am translating my passion for sustainability into measurable results by helping create a high-level carbon and waste reduction strategy across the life cycle of a client’s products. I am analyzing a client’s carbon footprint, building a greenhouse gas inventory, and helping quantify the impact of decarbonization levers.”

 

 

Jacob Greenberg ’23

Economics and history
Hometown: Natick, Mass.
Company: Tierney
Location: Philadelphia
“This summer I interned in Tierney’s media department. I was able to work on client accounts and assist in the planning and execution of ad placement and overall media campaigns. I also worked on a group project challenge with other Tierney interns for a major client. Being exposed to the entirety of the media planning process has been an incredible experience at a full-service agency.”

 

 

Jelissa Kamguem ’23

Chemical engineering
Hometown: Bamenda, Cameroon
Company: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Location: Cambridge, Mass.
“This summer, I was a research intern in a lab at MIT under the supervision of Dr. Kulik Heather and Dr. Cho Yeongsu. My project involved designing rules for metal organic frameworks as materials used for storing hydrogen energy based on binding energy predicted by machine learning algorithms. Burning fossil fuels is a major cause of climate change. As a result, more environmentally friendly sources of energy such as hydrogen are being used. However, there exist challenges in storing hydrogen since metal hydrides are so expensive and storing it in high pressure tanks could lead to an explosion. My research aims to develop cheap materials that are efficient in storing hydrogen gas.”

 

 

Dylan Gooding ’23

Economics and government and law
Hometown: Branchburg, N.J.
Company: District office of Congressman Tom Malinowski
Location: Somerville, N.J.
“This summer I interned at the district office of Congressman Tom Malinowski, a member of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey. There, I assisted with incoming calls from constituents and helped our caseworkers with constituents’ cases. Casework has caseworkers contact a federal agency on a constituent’s behalf to fix an issue. I also participated in mobile office hours, an event where our office tables around our district, and constituents can come to us in person with their issues. This experience has been rewarding in that I have been able to help the constituents of my district and better learn the role the federal government plays in people’s lives.”

 

Jacob McCauley ’24

Mechanical engineering
Hometown: Maple Glen, Pa.
Company: Kulicke and Soffa
Location: Fort Washington, Pa.
“Kulicke and Soffa specializes in machines that package semiconductors. At Kulicke and Soffa this summer, I worked on Katalyst machines with the systems engineering team. The team looks broadly at all of the machine functions and ensures that everything is operating smoothly. Most of the work I did involved analyzing data from both in-house and customer machines to try to find and define any issues with the machines. Once I understood the problem I was working on, I wrote specifications and collaborated with the software team to implement changes to the machine.”

 

Roger Cirone ’23

Electrical and computer engineering
Hometown: Yorktown Heights, N.Y.
Company: Pfister Energy
Location: Hawthorne, N.J.
“This summer I worked with Pfister Energy, a leading turnkey commercial, industrial, and utility-scale solar energy company. Working as a solar engineering intern, I have learned about the entire process of solar construction, from preliminary electrical designs to final installation. The preliminary electrical designs are one of the most important aspects since they act as a sales pitch to the client and proposals for our project management and estimates team. Using AutoCAD, we design solar arrays, electrical designs, and all aspects of the project for the client to see. Specifically, solar systems take more than just the engineers designing the plans; I have cross-collaborated with the project management, estimates, and operation teams in order to make sure each stage of the project goes smoothly. Because there are many people working on one specific project, I also work on quality and assurance checks for structural, electrical, and racking systems for our solar projects. This internship has taught me a great deal about solar energy and how renewable energy is the future.”