A Productive Summer of Research and Internships
This past summer, 32 students took advantage of Principia's stipend programs—one for unpaid (or low-paying) career-based internships and another for on-campus research assistantships. From teaching English in Thailand to interning on Capitol Hill, from researching plant genetics to analyzing data on Illinois "sundown towns," students put their learning into practice, gaining valuable skills and making career connections in the process. Here are just a few examples of the work they undertook.
On-Campus Research Assistantships
For senior Sarah Clewell (pictured above) working with Dr. Chrissy McAllister to research the breeding systems of plant species as part of a National Science Foundation grant opened the opportunity to meet scientists at the Danforth Plant Center at Washington University in St. Louis and the Missouri Botanical Garden. She even traveled to London for research at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. With her sights set on graduate school, Sarah notes, “The professional development that has come from working on this project is invaluable.”
Sophomore Namrata Roy and junior David McLeod-Warrick worked alongside physics professor Dr. Grant Larsen in Principia’s quantum optics lab. In conjunction with the Institute for the Metaphysics of Physics, directed by Dr. Laurance Doyle, they set up an experiment counting entangled infrared photons from a split laser beam, which will form the basis for testing fundamental questions in quantum mechanics. David and Namrata learned a lot about both physics and life, including the importance of troubleshooting. As Namrata put it, “Solving one problem often led to another, and we patiently worked through each one.”
Off-Campus Internships
Junior Robby Butler, a business administration and theatre double major, worked in development at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Along with attending functions for donors and researching donor prospects, he occasionally stepped in to help with stage management—gaining experience for both aspects of his double major. “There was a TON of work with some 12+ hour days, but I wouldn’t change a thing!” Robby says.
In a very different setting, junior Natalie Cooper, who is considering a career in law enforcement, interned at the Miami-Dade Police Department. “I now have a very clear picture of what it takes to be a police officer,” she says, noting how much “every officer cared about his or her job and its impact on the community.”
Another student, sophomore Nat Kenworthy, interned beyond U.S. borders, working alongside marine park rangers at the National Parks of St. Eustatius in the Dutch Caribbean. His main projects included conducting a fish census at a shipwreck site and collecting biological data on an invasive fish species. He also helped implement a community education and outreach project. And toward the end of the internship, he was even asked to train a new park ranger. Nat also learned to navigate change in the organization, a key skill in any employment situation. “I learned a lot about the importance of remaining professional no matter what,” he says. “And I saw the value of good communication across levels of management.”
Along with strengthening the professional and life skills mentioned here, several students honed their presentation abilities by sharing their research at Summer Session (an adult education program), and some will give poster presentations at the annual St. Louis Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Retreat coming up later this month.