"What I Did This Summer"

Dan Brown

Major: Agricultural Engineering

"This past summer, I interned with the Mercer County Soil and Water District. I worked on problems facing my neighborhood: water quality issues in Grand Lake Saint Mary's watershed. Much attention has been surrounding the lake after an algae-produced toxin was discovered. I was working side by side with engineers, lawmakers, farmers, and activist groups to develop economical solutions on how to effectively clean up the 13,500-acre lake. I also transferred hand-drawn watershed maps into AutoCAD onto the auditor's tax maps as well as installed waterways in the county using the Total Station and laser level."

Elizabeth Burdick

Major: Architecture

"I traveled to Mongolia this summer to observe and work on issues of urban development in the capital, Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia has suffered a sort of 'shock therapy," to quote a resident, of capitalism in recent times which has caused a huge rural-to-urban migration. This has put great strain on the environment and the resources of the city. I was privileged to join up with a group of students from the University of Seoul as well as the Mongolian University of Science and Technology to participate in a charette which brainstormed ideas to resolve these issues."

Jessica Daugherty

Major: Operations Management

"This summer I had an internship in London that I was able to get through Fisher. I worked in the operations department of an online luxury brand company. Aside from working, I was able to live like a true Londoner and experience the culture and everything the lively city had to offer. Along the way, I developed some great friendships with others in the same program. After the internship was over, I backpacked around Europe for three weeks experiencing all that every destination city had to offer and learning much about the world that I could not have understood without actually being there."

Susan Dixon

Major: Social Work (Master's)

"I was very honored this summer to work on a research project in Mobile, Alabama, through a joint internship with The Ohio State University and the University of Alabama. The study was a longitudinal survey of what psychological, biological, social, and environmental risks teens are exposed to in urbanized inner-city Mobile and surrounding counties. The people, land, history, and culture of the South all taught me something new! It was an amazing summer that allowed me to use research skills like data collection, grant writing, abstracts, literature reviews, and data management. The exposure to different levels of poverty in the South was also very enlightening and humbling."

Allie Feinstein

Major: Marketing

"I spent my summer in Los Angeles working as a production intern for Thor, a Marvel Productions film, and as a promotions intern at the New York Film Academy (NYFA), a film and acting school in L.A. On Thor, I was responsible for basic office duties, but perks included set tours of Iron Man 2 and meeting actors like Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth. At NYFA, I translated for Russian students and created promotional strategies. I even got to make my own short film! My internships allowed me to make amazing contacts and provided me with a great deal of knowledge about film production and the entertainment industry as a whole."

James Greenebaum

Major: Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology

"I spent my summer at the University of Michigan Biological Station, known as 'The Bug Camp', on Douglas Lake in Northern Michigan. I spent my days working with Peter Curtis, examining carbon cycling processes following the transition from aspen dominated ecosystems to those of later-successional species. My duties included quantifying woody debris on the forest floor, measuring soil respiration, and taking digital images of root structures. I also had the chance to live with 200 students and faculty from around the world studying a wide range of topics from damsel flies and snails to atmospheric nitrogen and invasive species. I even got a chance to become friends with some Wolverines!"

Ravi Gupta

Major: Economics

"This past summer I had the opportunity to live in India, where I studied the country's rural health care system. In collaboration with several different non-profits, I compared public and private programs to educate individuals from rural communities about health issues. Furthermore, I was able to administer an extensive health survey to households in the rural villages, trying to understand the challenges they faced in accessing proper health care. The trips to the villages and my conversations with individuals who lived there were the most transformational experiences, where I understood more fully the importance of adequate healthcare."

Karen Hart

Major: Social Work (Master's)

"I spent the summer in Nigeria, West Africa, working with a nongovernmental organization to develop a vocational training program to get kids off the streets. The program also involved sourcing employment or microfinance loans for the kids to start a business. Sporadic electricity meant buying my own generator; lack of social workers in the community meant, in addition to program development work, I was also a case worker for the underprivileged in my surrounding area. One of my clients died in my car on our way to his third appointment at the general hospital. Flexibility and adaptability was a must this summer. "

Elaine Householder

Majors: International Studies and French

"I traveled to Worcester and Oudtshoorn, South Africa, to conduct field research and volunteer work through the Institute for Field Research Expeditions. Over this five-week period, I participated in day-care and life skills programs with street children and interviewed at-risk youth regarding their perceptions of violence in South Africa. My South Africa adventure also included mingling with the locals at a braai, cage-diving with crocodiles and horseback riding through the Winelands. The cultural insights and data I gathered will form an integral part of my Undergraduate Honors Thesis."

Alex Hughes

Major: Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife Management

"This summer, I was lucky enough to take part in an internship with the Student Conservation Association (SCA) in nature’s grand cathedral: Yosemite National Park. Working for the park’s Division of Interpretation, my primary job was leading families and groups of visitors on nature walks. We observed and studied everything from wildflowers to black bears, and whatever other part of Yosemite’s intricate ecosystem made itself available for us to experience. Through great training from my co-workers in the National Park Service and my excellent ongoing education in Environment and Natural Resources from Ohio State, I felt as though I was able to enhance many visitors’ stay in Yosemite and give them the opportunity to make a personal connection with the natural world."

Lisa Johnson

Major: Architecture

"This summer, I had the opportunity, with thanks of the ARTA (Architectural Research Travel Award) to spend time in Toulouse, France. I worked with the City Planning Department and a professor at a local university studying accessibility for people with disabilities and all people in the city. I learned about the new laws (of 2005) and the new updates that are becoming required. I was able to understand the importance of this topic to the society and the way they design to make accessing the public spaces easier for everyone, emphasizing the use of public transportation and pedestrian traffic, but completing their new designs within the culture of the city. I had the chance to live with a French family and take French class with other students from all over the world. "

Ruthie Lee

Major: Business Marketing

"Over a period of three and a half weeks, I went to six different cities in South Korea. My parents are both from South Korea, but I was born in Columbus, Ohio, only visiting Korea once when I was four years old. I got to meet all of my relatives that I've never met before, and saw the house my father grew up in, in addition to my mother's hometown. I experienced Seoul, which was like the Korean New York City, and I got a taste of my Korean background. It was an amazing experience to see the part of my culture that I never really knew."

Pete Metz

Majors: Political Science and Geography

"This summer I participated in the Washington Academic Internship Program through the John Glenn School of Public Affairs. I spent nine weeks interning in the office of Congressman Steve Driehaus—my representative from Ohio’s 1st Congressional District. I also took a weekly class taught by an OSU professor and wrote a policy analysis on the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives on my second day at work. Living and working in Washington provided me with a unique experience to both advance my academic career as a student and prepare myself for life after college."

Amy Miller

Major: Environmental Science

"What did I do during my summer vacation? Well, there's a lot to do when summer is six months long! Working at OSU's Stone Laboratory on the Lake Erie islands from April through September has given me the chance to do science, enjoy the outdoors, and make new friends, all while living in a vacation land. The charm of the job is its variety; any given day could find me teaching field biology to school kids, helping professionals with research, giving science and history tours of the lab's facilities, assisting college field classes, landscaping and gardening, doing maintenance such as cleaning and painting, or cooking and serving food."

Erin Reilly-Sanders

Major: Architecture (graduate student)

"Aside from a study abroad tour of Europe, finishing up my year-long goal of reading 100 books, and earning my keep at the Office of Financial Services, work this summer steadily accelerated on the group project that I've been involved with for almost two years—the OSU Solar Decathlon Team. We built an 800-square-foot, solar-powered house that we'll move to Washington, D.C., in October for the competition. As the Fabrications Project Manager, I did paperwork and general coordination as well as picked up other tasks like some of the graphics and our dining contest."

Niraj Shah

Major: Marketing, Finance

"I spent my summer in New York interning for one of the largest investment banks in the world. I was apprehensive going in, given the public image of Wall Street and the knowledge that I would be working intense hours, competing for a job against predominantly Ivy League interns. I worked in a group that directly advised CEO's of retail companies on how to survive the current economic landscape. While the hours were challenging, the people were nothing like the negative stereotypes I had feared and I learned more than almost any other three-month span in my life."

Bethany Stoller (Taylor)

Major: Communication Technology

"I worked for Nationwide Children's Hospital's Marketing & PR department as their interactive marketing intern. Through this position, I assisted with the redesign of the hospital's web site (to be launched later this year), helped research and draft a social media policy, customized the hospital's various social media pages, assisted with a Health e-Hints direct mail piece, and worked with the other interns to draft a marketing proposal for the opening of the new Canal Winchester Close To Home center. This internship has been an extremely valuable experience for me, and I continue to learn something new every day."

Leslie Vanderkolk

Major: Chemical Engineering

"This past summer, I was incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to work in a research laboratory in the Kansas Life Sciences Innovation Center at the Kansas University Medical Center. I spent a little over two months working in the lab, and learned more than I could imagine through hands-on experience. The lab focuses mostly on diabetic neuropathy, which can appear as either a numbing of or a painful feeling in a diabetic's feet. I worked with the five graduate/medical students in the lab, as well as the lab manager, on their research projects on different strains of mice. My responsibilities included helping with behavioral testing and analysis, tissue extraction, immunochemistry analysis, and western blot analysis. I gained a lot of knowledge and experience in an academic research setting, and I met a lot of great people along the way."

Victoria Venable

Majors: Social Work (Ph.D. student)

"I spent one week this summer in Dublin, Ireland. The land is as beautiful and green as they say!! We toured many historical sites. I then went to Poland for three weeks with a group of students from the College of Social Work. We visited Krakow and Warsaw. I participated in lectures at Jagiellonian University and the University of Warsaw. This was a great opportunity to learn about Polish child welfare efforts, juvenile justice strategies, and initiatives to combat human trafficking. I also had fun learning about Polish history and culture. Pierogies and mushroom soup were my favorite!"

Katie Watt

Majors: History and International Studies

"I am working on a senior honors thesis in history. It focuses on a major transition of the National Children's Council of Argentina in 2006 and the catalysts of this change. I spent two weeks in Buenos Aires researching primary documents including newspaper articles from the National Library, interviews with staff members, memos from the transition, and new government documents from the renovated Bureau. I plan to compose the majority of the thesis this summer and defend it this winter. This research will contribute to my pursuit of a Fulbright Fellowship to teach English in Argentina before entering a graduate program in International Community Development."