Max Westerman – Intern, Genomic Expression
Q: How did you ended up working for Genomic Expression?
Max: I was raised in high school through the agricultural science program, so a lot of my high school classes were science based. The obvious choice for me to continue that career was to a bio major. I chose to pursue that at Endicott College. Then, my internship class led me to Genomic Expression. I was picked up through a recommendation from my internship coordinator and now here I am.
Q: What kind of assignments do you get tasked with as an intern?
Mainly, we’ve been doing COVID testing work, but I do any general assistance to my supervisor. I do inventorying, for example, any kind of cataloging or inventorying online. Also, general maintenance stuff like we maintain miSeq, which is a machine we use in our COVID testing process.
Q: Have you been trained on the operation of any of the machines since you started working here?
Yes, I was here for the training on the NextSeq, which a newer version of the miSeq.
Q: Have you had any other internships before this one?
Yes, Endicott College requires you to complete multiple internships before you graduate.
Q: How does this internship compare with internships you’ve had in the past?
It’s definitely a lot more work. It’s been a lot to adjust to. We’ve been working very hard lately with a recent resurgence of COVID. It’s been a lot more difficult, although, I will say it’s not as much physical labor as I have experienced in the past. My previous science related job was in a greenhouse and that was very labor intensive.
Q: What have you enjoyed most about working here so far?
Probably location. I like working in the Cummings Center. It’s very nice with the proximity to everything, plus the fact that we’re within NSIV so we get connections and any kind of career boosters through that. It’s good to be close to everything so I can always be able to stay near my school and stay near a bunch of places I can get lunch and things of that nature.
Q: What do you want to do in the future, post-graduation?
I’m very open-ended, honestly. I don’t really know 100% what I want to do. My primary goal is to try to move here permanently after I graduate. I live in Connecticut right now, so it’s about 3-4 hours away, I’d like to try and stick up around here and maybe either continue being a lab tech, like I am at this company, or I can branch out and find something else.
Q: What’s your favorite movie that you’ve seen this year?
The only movie that I’ve seen in a movie theater since like last January, I would have to go with Love and Thunder – the new Thor movie. That’s the only one I’ve seen this year in theaters but Jackass 4 was pretty funny, so that that would be up there too.