Once again, interns working at NSIV impressed us with all they accomplished, both for their companies and personally. At the August InnoVentures U, our summer interns made formal presentations before a group of 30, explaining what kind of projects they were engaged in and the impact of their work. Great prep for being able to clearly explain to others, what they did and why it matters. They all did a fine job of presenting and we applaud their valuable contributions to North Shore InnoVentures.
They are smiling because their presentations are over! (L-R: Kayla Baus – Endicott College and working for IVIVA, R. Aspinwall, A. Livermore, J. Nevin, H. Shain, T. Guerina, M. Jozefiak)
Riley Aspinwall, an Endicott College intern for Spectrus, tested a protocol that reduced incubator time and added to the portfolio of services that Spectrus would be able to offer. She described a complex experiment that compared two methods for measuring protein concentration. Working independently and designing a project were some of the benefits noted by Riley.
Tori Guerina, after graduating from North Shore Community College, served as a lab manager intern for NSIV. She took on a large responsibility for our labs since the lab manager position was open during the summer. Learning to be flexible, dealing with each crisis and troubleshooting issues as they came up were all part of the job. With a lot to learn quickly, she enjoyed the challenge of planning for efficient equipment layout. She also completed a full equipment inventory while preparing everything for a new lab manager before heading to UMass Lowell to continue her education.
Julius Nevin, a graduate of James Madison University, spent his summer with Genomic Expression working on analysis of RNA samples and producing a database. The goal was to have cancer diagnostic reports to provide the best solutions for individual patient care. Familiar with working with bioinformatics, he also gained wet lab experience as well as exposure to a variety of lab software. Using 7 Bridges software enabled Julius to do batch processing, cutting time from a week to just one day.
Madison Jozefiak, a junior at Colgate, joined the staff at NSIV as our Communications intern. The task was to help NSIV improve and expand its social media presence by developing a strategy and plans for implementation. The primary focus was on Twitter and preparing interesting content for posting that would show people what NSIV is really like. A related goal was to build an inventory of articles about each of our companies and some of the graduates to use in newsletters and other materials. It was independent work that required initiative and creativity. We expect Madison will be watching our Tweets this fall!
Alix Livermore, a junior at Marblehead High School, spent her summer working with Lariat. It was her first internship and a great opportunity to use lab equipment to conduct DNA experiments, testing samples at different temperatures. She characterized the experience as her introduction to the professional world of science, being in a lab and doing things by herself. She gained news skills and her work saved time for Lariat employees to do other important projects.
Harry Shain, also an Endicott College student, interned at Glycologix and quickly realized his being there enabled his boss the time to attend to other work. He was able to fill orders, making the products for shipping. While Harry is a bioengineering major, this internship gave him access to equipment he had never used before and increased his confidence in the lab, improved his teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills. And he learned that he really enjoyed this kind of work, helping to narrow his vision of what a future job might look like.
NSIV Summer Interns posed with their “Bosses” before celebrating their successes with a cake!
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