Internships offer students valuable opportunities that can significantly influence their academic journeys. For the COSMOS research team, these experiences have been particularly beneficial, providing numerous advantages. Internships enable students to tackle challenges from diverse angles, pushing them to rethink assumptions and inspiring innovative thinking. COSMOS welcomes from summer internships Manohar Koya, Imran Mohammed, Remi Oni, Diwash Poudel, Precious Sani, and Shadi Shajari.
We are excited to announce the recent internships of our cosmographers, who have had the privilege of working with prestigious companies such as W&W AFCO Steel, Acxiom, Amazon, VINCI Education Worldwide, and FedEx, as well as the Arkansas State Department of Commerce.
These internships have infused our cosmographers with fresh ideas, creating a dynamic and collaborative atmosphere that drives innovation. They have also provided opportunities to build professional networks, connect with industry leaders, and establish meaningful relationships. These connections create a vital link between academia and industry, paving the way for future collaborations aimed at enhancing the understanding of real-world challenges, developing a workforce with relevant industry skills, and fostering mutual knowledge exchange.
Through these internships, cosmographers gain essential real-world problem-solving skills that they can apply to our projects upon their return. We are immensely proud of their achievements and are eager to see the remarkable contributions they will continue to make as they advance their academic pursuits, enriched by their experiences. COSMOS welcomes them from their summer work, and read the reports of their work below.
Manohar says, “During my summer internship at FedEx, I had the exciting opportunity to work within the InfoSec organization, specifically with the Risk Data Engineering team. I developed data dashboards and improved the team’s alerting and monitoring systems by building a Python microservice integrated with Teams webhooks for dynamic alerts. A key highlight was presenting this work to Gene Sun, CISO of FedEx and SVP of InfoSec. His insights not only validated the impact of my contributions but also provided a new perspective on the critical importance of information security. This experience significantly enhanced my technical skills and deepened my passion for cybersecurity.”
Imran remarks, “During my internship at the Arkansas State Department of Commerce in the Division of Workforce Services, I had the opportunity to work on various applications, including mainframes, C#, and AWS. I was part of the IT team responsible for managing and developing applications that support unemployed individuals in Arkansas. I gained valuable insights into how the Arkansas state government assists those who register on the website by providing unemployment insurance claims and offering job opportunities tailored to their skillsets. My team owns and manages all the unemployment-related applications, such as Arknet and Ezarc for the State of Arkansas. Overall, it was a great learning experience.”
Remi expresses, “In my summer internship at Amazon AWS Dallas, I worked as a Data Engineer Intern on the Roster Analytics ORCAS team. I developed a robust data quality framework aimed at addressing key challenges in data integrity within our pipeline. The solution was built and implemented using the DQChecker-python-wrapper to conduct data quality checks on both upstream and downstream datasets. This framework not only reduced redundancy but also saved my team more than 20 work hours per month by catching data quality issues early. I became proficient in AWS services like Glue, S3, and QuickSight, and further honed my time management and problem-solving skills. The best part of the internship was participating in virtual game hours and playing table tennis with colleagues after work, which made for a well-rounded and enjoyable experience.”
Diwash says, “During my summer internship for VINCI Education in Dunn Loring, North Virginia, I had the opportunity to work on developing an action model using computer vision, which allowed me to dive deep into vision transformers. This experience not only provided valuable technical skills but also gave me a firsthand look at American working culture. The charming surroundings and my first-ever ride on a metro train added to the overall experience, making it both memorable and enriching.”
Precious reports, “During my summer internship at Acxiom LLC, I served as an Information Security Intern, where I acquired substantial knowledge and expertise in secure SDLC and AI Governance, securing information systems and preventing vulnerabilities. I was introduced to various industry-standard tools such as Burp Suite and Snyk, which are instrumental in enhancing the security of web applications. Additionally, I had the privilege of interacting with leadership and gaining valuable insights from their experiences. The skills I acquired during this internship have equipped me to write more secure code and effectively safeguard information assets.”
Shadi reflects, “During my internship at W&W AFCO Steel company, significant efforts were made to refine and enhance barcode detection and processing systems using deep learning techniques. Super-resolution models were trained and debugged, with optimizations applied to improve the accuracy and speed of barcode detection, even under challenging conditions such as rapid movement or poor image quality. Deep learning solutions like OpenCV and PyTorch were integrated to address complex detection issues, and barcode repair mechanisms were implemented to enhance the reliability of the models.”
Dr. Agarwal commented, “These internships represent significant milestones in the careers of our cosmographers. The knowledge and insights they gained during their recent experiences in the data science industry often help ongoing research at COSMOS. We remain committed to encouraging our researchers to engage with the industry beyond the university, and their internships are a testament to their growing expertise and talent.”