From the controls of an underwater vehicle in the Black Sea to developing the next must-have toy at Hasbro, our students receive education that extends well beyond the classroom.

We believe in the power of internships and the major impact they have on career placement and keeping our economy strong. That’s why we encourage each student to complete at least one internship and we’re proud to report about 80% of the Class of 2013 completed at least one.

The entire Class of 2013 participated in senior design capstone projects. These projects grouped students in teams to tackle real challenges in most cases faced by real companies and government agencies. In the 2012-2013 academic year, our students worked on projects as varied as a pressure-controlled stethoscope to a metal recycling machine to a land development plan.

For a complete list of projects, see the appendix.

Learning at NASA

Climate change threatens everything from the safety of coastal communities to the purity of the air we breathe. To better understand this phenomenon, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration operates an extensive environmental program. Playing a key role in the program are paid interns like Emily Serman.

The civil and environmental engineering student spent four summers interning at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The first year, she analyzed phytoplankton. During the next three summers, she served on a team studying the behavior of ozone that protects the Earth from the sun’s rays but can cause temperature changes in the atmosphere.

At NASA, Serman calibrated data collection instruments, reviewed reams of data and organized atmospheric observations spanning many years so scientists could identify long-term trends. In later summers, she determined the contours of ozone in the atmosphere’s multiple layers. Finally, she presented to NASA administrators.

“I saw how the research fits into the real world,” Serman says. “Plus, when you are at NASA you feel like you’re in a special group of people.”

Every day, Serman met scientists renowned in their fields. She saw a rocket blast off from Wallops Island and witnessed the last Space Shuttle launch from an auditorium packed with NASA scientists.

But Rhode Island was never far away. Serman found herself applying her classroom learning to her internship tasks, a process that strengthened her understanding of topics she learned at URI.

Serman, of Newark, MD, also knows that technical experience is only half of what makes a good engineer. The daughter of environmental scientists understands that environmental solutions require global cooperation and an appreciation of different cultures. To bolster her global education she joined the International Engineering Program and spent the 2012-2013 school year in Germany.

In Germany, she studied at the Technical University of Braunschweig and then held a paid internship at Züblin, a construction and engineering firm. There she managed the distribution of engineering plans for a metro line in Qatar. She conversed in German and absorbed a culture that embraces environmental sensitivity. Like NASA, Germany showed Serman that internships provide a way of seeing how engineering, math, culture and language merge.

“To me it’s all about being well rounded,” Serman says. “I like to look at the big picture.”

 

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