CSI Students Attend the RSA Conference

Posted on April 10, 2020 by Student Spotlights

by Kevin Hood

My name is Kevin Hood and I am a Sophomore studying Cyber Intelligence and Security. During my time at Embry-Riddle, I have been managing the Cyber Lab, leading Cyber Defense Club, and working with the college to grow the degree program. Recently, Mohammed Dalloul and I organized a trip to bring a group of students to San Francisco. During the last week of February, the Women in Cybersecurity Club and the Cyber Defense Club visited San Francisco to tour Silicon Valley companies and attend the RSA Conference. The goal for the trip was to help the students practice networking, expose them to opportunities, and make Embry-Riddle well-known in the cybersecurity industry.

This year, club members attended and toured Google’s Headquarters, The Intel Museum, and the Plug and Play Tech Center. This allowed students to experience the Bay Area commodities and cybersecurity companies that exist. Google offers a unique work environment that ensures their employees live in a healthy work-life balance. Our students were surprised how Google provides free gourmet meals, freedom to pursue creative ideas, and collaborate with the best minds in the industry. The GooglePlex has 3D printing labs, employee gardens, and gyms available for employees to use during the workday. Google offers student internships in cybersecurity, and we talked to them about participating in our career fair that we offer for students in both the Fall and Spring semesters.

The second place we visited was the Intel campus in Silicon Valley. Kevin Dorland, a senior in the Cyber Intelligence and Security program, gave other students a tour of the Intel Museum. Kevin’s expertise and previous knowledge on Intel’s products was an inspiration for our students and taught them about the history of computers, old storage devices, Intel StrataFlash memory, microcontrollers, and the manufacturing behind Intel chipsets.

Silicon Valley is best known for the technology startups in the industry, and the College of Security and Intelligence Dean, Dr. Jon Haass, got us connected with the Plug and Play Tech Center. Plug and Play is an innovation platform that helps startup companies connect with the world’s largest tech giants. These connections help the startups gain support and investments to grow their products. Plug and Play partners with universities across the United States to support student startup ideas for startups when they graduate college.

During our tour of the facility, we learned about the process for how collaboration between the fortune 500 companies and startups can lead to the best innovation. Startups can present their ideas to company representatives and gain feedback on their ideas, which can lead to investments and company partnerships.

The next two days of the trip were spent attending the RSA Conference. The RSA Conference is the largest cybersecurity conference in the world, where students attend keynotes, networked with over 500 companies, and attend the RSAC College Day Sponsor Panel. During this event, we networked with the cybersecurity leaders from NBCUniversal, Walmart, Lockheed Martin, RSA, Intuit, Dell Technologies, and Microsoft about cybersecurity initiatives and ideas from students.

On Thursday afternoon, we met with Mike Gordon, Vice President & Chief Information Security Officer for Lockheed Martin to discuss how we could collaborate for more student projects and opportunities. Mike is an Embry-Riddle Alumni who provided support for ERAU’s 2019 CyberAero Competition. Lockheed Martin has set up special programs for our students including the Lockheed Martin Cybersecurity White Paper Competition where students wrote papers addressing multiple topics in cybersecurity to win prizes. Additionally, we met one of our recent Embry-Riddle graduates, Andrew Recker, who is working as a Cybersecurity Engineer at Lockheed Martin and was one of the founders of the Cyber Defense Club. Our goal is to continue to strengthen the relations with Lockheed Martin Cybersecurity organization for future opportunities, specialized internship programs, and project support.

*Embry-Riddle students with Mike Gordon, Vice President and CISO of Lockheed Martin (ERAU Class of 2000), and Andrew Recker, a Cybersecurity Engineer at Lockheed Martin (ERAU Class of 2019).*

Embry-Riddle’s Women in Cybersecurity Club (WiCys) attended the conference to gain connections and industry support across Cybersecurity domains. Currently, the ERAU WiCyS Club is the only WiCyS Club in Arizona, and they want to help other Universities start their own chapters. The club members networked with NBCUniversal to discuss how they can gain more support for projects and student opportunities. Additionally, they spoke with John Scimone, Senior Vice President & Chief Security Officer at Dell Security & Resiliency, regarding this topic because he is an Ambassador for the Executive Women’s Forum on Information Security, Risk Management & Privacy.

*Student Representatives from Embry-Riddle’s Women in Cybersecurity Club with Andrea Abell, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer of NBCUniversal, and NBCUniversal Recruiters.*

Students from both the WiCyS club and Cyber Defense Club attended the expo floor and industry talks on quantum cryptography, machine learning, anti-fraud, product security, and advanced threats facing the industry. The exposure for these students inspires them, as they can see first-hand the innovation and product ideas that these companies provide to the cybersecurity industry. These students discussed initiating startups, capstone ideas with representatives at the car hacking sandbox, and research projects that they could present in partnership with the sandbox partners at the following year at the conference.

The opportunity to tour Silicon Valley and attend the RSA Conference was invaluable to us. During the conference, Mohammed and I spent most of our time collaborating with the members of the Chief Information Security Officer Panel and companies on the expo floor. Gaining insight into the industry and learning how academia can collaborate with the companies was very inspiring. Also, Mohammed and I are very proud of the students for leaving a lasting impression of the university at the expo floor, getting recruited for international job opportunities, and learning how to solve the cybersecurity threats facing the world. Overall, the trip was life changing for all of us and a huge thank you to the College of Security and Intelligence, Student Government Association, Undergraduate Research Institute, Campus Facilities, Women in Cybersecurity, Dean Rhondie, and Leah Richwine for making the trip possible.

Senior Detail Spacecraft Design Collaboration with NASA

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Student Spotlights

By Ian Gregory Bigger (Team Lead) and Steven D. Carreon (Asst. Team Lead)

During the prior semester, Fall 2019, our team, Zero-G, was generously invited by Dr. Phillip Anz-Meador of NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office at Houston Johnson Space Center to conduct hyper-velocity impact tests for Project ORION (Orbital RemediatION) at the Experimental Impact Laboratory. The testing allowed us to gain experience with several different orbital debris shields commonly used on the ISS as well as experimental shields. This data would be used to determine which shield type would be most appropriate for a sweeper debris satellite intended to clean debris fields in low earth orbit that pose as a threat to current functional satellites. Testing was supervised by lab director Dr. Mark Cintala, and test engineers Frank Cardenas and Roland Montes. Our trip to Houston was accompanied by our highly esteemed capstone professor, Dr. Daniel White, and lasted through November 7^th to the 9^th.

*Concept art of finalized design of an ORION spacecraft based on most effective shield.*

The change in design of ORION from an active satellite capable of rendezvous with large piece of orbital debris to a passive satellite intended to pass and clean small debris in high debris orbits originated from Ian Bigger’s Summer 2019 internship at the Orbital Debris Program Office at Johnson Space Center. As a team, we decided implement multi-layered micrometeoroid orbital debris shields, the current method that most large spacecraft implement for defense against orbital debris.

Entering the Fall 2019 semester came with a complete revamp of our capstone project’s preliminary design along with many difficulties. Through multiple iterations of our team’s design, we were able to create a project that became feasible and fulfilled our project requirements. In doing this, we attracted the attention of the Hypervelocity Impact Test Lab, allowing us to test an experimental orbital debris shield composed of two panels of steel mesh.

*Light Gas Gun inside the Experimental Impact Laboratory at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.*

*A look inside the Light Gas Gun impact chamber in Houston, TX.*

Our team decided to test five shield variants that could one day be re-purposed for intentionally impacting Low Earth Orbiting debris. This method of passive orbital debris remediation had never been tested up to the point of our detail spacecraft design commencement. One of the shield variants chosen (aluminum foam) was outside of our team’s budget. After notifying Dr. Philip Anz-Meador of our team’s financial limitations, he amazingly and surprisingly offered to find and donate an aluminum foam block (6” x 6”) to us, courteous of NASA. The block had an approximate value of $800.

*Section cut of the aluminum foam block donated by NASA, after a 6.063 km/s impact.*

We had a smooth flight to Houston and arrived the night of November 7^th. After situating in our own respective hotel rooms arranged by ERAU, we went out for double cheeseburgers with avocado at Texas’ own Whataburger, and they were delicious. We needed all the body and mind fuel we could gather for what would become a full 8-hour day of testing at Houston Johnson Space Center the following day.

Upon arriving at Johnson Space center, we were greeted and verified for entrance by very polite, armed security guards at the South Gate, and directed to the front office to obtain our guest passes. After obtaining our guest passes, we immediately made our way to Dr. Phillip Anz-Meador’s office in the building adjacent to the Experimental Impact Laboratory. Dr. Phillip Anz-Meador was excited and cordially greeted us, and then introduced us to the building staff that would be supervising our hyper-velocity impact testing.

There was a total of six test fires conducted in the two days of testing. Four tests in the first day, and two on the second day. Preparation for each shot took approximately 1.5 hours. Between each preparatory period, we took advantage of the time by enquiring on the vast amount of test equipment and procedures within the laboratory, history of the staff with NASA, and pleasant conversations about our future plans as professional engineers.

Just before a firing was about to start, the 1 mm stainless steel sphere projectile was loaded in a collapsible sabot lubricated with a graphite pencil. The loaded sabot was then loaded into the launch tube just aft of the metal diaphragm.

*Light Gas Gun compression chamber that contains the energy to deliver the projectile down the barrel to the impact chamber.*

The compression chamber was then filled with nitrogen gas just under the point of diaphragm rupture. Once the final checks were made the entire laboratory was evacuated outside into the hallway where the key-activated firing control panel was located. The compression chamber was topped off with more nitrogen gas, then test engineer Roland Montes would flip the release switch to trigger the gun powder portion of the Light Gas Gun that would rupture the diaphragm and delivery the projectile down the chamber. A successful shot was indicated by a rapid gas hiss and audible pop over a couple milliseconds.

*Diagram of the impact process for shields with a standoff distance between panels (NASA, 2018).*

The velocity of each projectile was measured using a series of three laser sensors located in the launch tube about 30 inches apart from one another. Each velocity was translated using a combination of time and distance recorded by three oscilloscopes and timing devices.

The results turned out amazing and above all of our expectations for an undergraduate capstone project. We took a tremendous amount of care in manufacturing and assembling the five shield variants. No penetration occurred in any of the designs. Some of the shields did experience bulging on the rear panel, but still no spalling and no penetration.

*All five post-impact shield variants after being shipped back to ERAU.*

After a successful round of tests on the second day, we were all cleared to get lunch and tour the facility. We said our farewells and went out to get more burgers at a local favorite of NASA employees, including the astronauts in training. Dr. Phillip Anz-Meador accompanied us, and on the car ride over he asked us what our plans were for the future. We received congratulations and even future job opportunities with NASA and their contractors. We even expressed our interest in top secret jobs related to orbital debris and were told to contact him in the future when we were ready for the commitment.

*A look inside the Space Center Houston tour in Houston, TX.*

After a fantastic meal, we returned to Johnson Space Center to do a brief tour. With our guest passes we decided to take the Space Center Houston tour backwards to avoid the flood of tourists because we could. Dr. White and the two of us had an amazing and eye-opening experience at Johnson Space Center. As a group we learned how a professional laboratory operates, the deadlines associated, and the level of professionalism mixed with quirkiness that is required at facilities like NASA’s Johnson Space Center. We were reassured by lab engineer Frank Cardenas that in order to work with NASA, the employees all have a profound interest in their work and have fun. So much interest and fun that the clock and time seem to disappear. We learned this behavior firsthand in our time working on this capstone project, and finally realized that we were not alone in our fascination of remediating space debris during our time at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Undergraduate Research in Aviation Business Administration

Posted on December 12, 2019 by #ERAUPrescott

*Presenting my project during the 2019 ERAU Open House*

My name is Kelvin Maurice Russell and I am a Senior majoring in Aviation Business Administration with an Area of Concentration in Airport Management. I recently completed my economics research paper titled How Does Federal Funding For U.S. Airports Affect Airport Growth? I was fortunate enough to have this paper funded by Embry-Riddle’s (ERAU) Undergraduate Research Institute and the School of Business. Dr. Jules Yimga, my economics professor and faculty mentor, provided me great guidance and support while researching and writing this paper. It is my hope that this research will be published in a transport journal which may influence policy makers and airport professionals on the importance funding means for airport growth.

I was a student in Dr. Yimga’s EC 315 – Managerial Economics course in the Spring 2019 semester when I begin discussing with him my desire to make a difference in the aviation industry by conducting a research project. I knew that he was well versed in the topic since he recently has 11 published paper in transport journals. Also, as a student I knew how important it was to have conducted research during my undergraduate degree and I wanted to have something to show for it on my resume. Beginning in the fall 2019 semester and I took EC 330 – Air Transport Economics with Dr. Yimga and this class required a final research paper. This experience was a great opportunity for me to delve into the literature on this topic and research extensively. Taking time to analyze the information was hard but exciting and I learned so much.

It was initially a challenging time finding a distinct and specific topic in the broad field of aviation. In the beginning, however, I set clear intentions for what I wanted my paper to produce:

Make an impact to the overall U.S. transportation industry
Focus on either U.S. airlines or airports
Allow my paper to be a reference to policy makers within the aviation sector

Through the help of Dr. Yimga, we eventually came up with the topic of airports in the United States and how federal funding affects airport growth. I was instantly excited because the topic was not only specific enough for the course requirements, it was a topic that did not have much analysis in terms of how funding affects airport growth, and it was a topic I knew could make a difference considering funding being a key discussion driver among many industries.

The result of my paper consists of multiple regression analysis performed on the amount of funding the top 30 U.S. airports received and how it affected overall airport growth in terms of passenger traffic, runway work, departing flights, and more. As a curious individual I learned a great deal about Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants, which is the main source of federal funding for U.S. airports. As a student I was able to enhance my Excel skills through performing regressions and interpreting their meanings. This of course was not without the help of my great faculty mentor, Dr. Yimga.

I would like to thank all those who assisted me in my research and analysis during this project. This includes the Undergraduate Research Institute Committee and the School of Business. Again, special thanks to my economics professor and mentor, Dr. Yimga. Through his guidance and support in this and other projects I have learned and grown a great deal.

My Summer Internship with The Boeing Company

Posted on September 16, 2019 by Student Spotlights

by Dai Ibrahim

This summer I had the opportunity to work at The Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington. As an Embry-Riddle Software Engineering Student, I was a part of the cyber security product development team. I quickly found out that ERAU students’ reputation precedes us. When I told my co-workers that I attend ERAU, they all praised the university and the students. My team especially loved ERAU because of our manager, Sheila B. Reilley. I had the pleasure to work with Sheila before she retired after 30+ years at Boeing. I will forever be grateful to Sheila for giving me the opportunity to work with her team this summer.

*The Boeing sign at the 40-88 building in Everett, WA.*

I worked with two different groups within the team over the 12 weeks I was there. At first, I worked for autonomous systems. Within autonomous systems, I worked with my team lead, ERAU Alum Alan Tomaszycki, and the College of Security and Intelligence on developing a multi-discipline capstone project. I was also able to contribute to a patent that is in the process of getting approved.

After that project was complete, I went on to work with the rest of the team in Seattle where I worked on front-end development which is what I am really interested in. I was put on a team developing a front-end for airplane log data that was in JSON format. I was assigned to work with one other intern on the front end while two interns worked on the back end of parsing the logs. My partner and I started by getting requirements from the members of the team that were going to be the primary users. After gathering the requirements, we started by experimenting with the designs and making wireframes and screen-flows that imitated what we wanted the displays to look like and satisfied the requirements. When the basic design process was done, we started working on use case scenarios. We came up with six different scenarios for how the displays could be used. We then revisited our designs, and we altered them so they would better reflect the scenarios. The software engineering courses that I took over the past three years have prepared me for the real-world applications of the engineering process.

*Cold War’s B-47 Stratojet in the Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA.*

We had weekly meetings with the team and the project leader to go over our designs to ensure that they aligned with the needs of the team. After we got the okay on our designs, the next step which I was in charge of was implementation. I got the data that the back-end team produced, and I used python and TKinter to make the front-end piece. Programming the display was the easiest and most enjoyable part for me. I requested a code review with some of my coworker to get feedback on my program, and I got lots of comments praising my code. My coworkers pointed out that they can tell that I am a software engineering major and not CS like most of the interns because of how maintainable and well written my code was, and how well I documented it. During this whole process, I discovered that the ERAU software engineering classes have equipped me with all the skills and the knowledge that I need in the field and the ability to adapt to new challenges. I was more knowledgeable about the software engineering process that most interns, and I owe it to the SE professors who prepared me to make it all possible.

*SR-71 Blackbird in the Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA.*

I learned so much from my team over the 12 weeks. Most importantly, I learned about the software engineering process for front-end development. I am now certain that I want to pursue front-end development as a full-time career. I was given a return offer to Boeing for an internship next summer with the same team on my last day. I had a blast working with my team this summer, and I can’t wait to see what I will be working on next summer.

*The annual Embry-Riddle/Boeing partnership summit at the Boeing Flight Test & Delivery Center in Seattle, WA.*

Research Opportunity for Undergraduates in Autonomous Vehicles

Posted on September 4, 2019 by Student Spotlights

by Andrea Gray

This past summer I was privileged to work as an undergraduate on a National Science Foundation funded research project at Wright State University. This research program was focused on autonomous vehicles and split up the 11 participants into 4 separate teams working on specific research and development projects under the general topic of autonomous vehicles.

I was on a team with another undergraduate student studying Electrical Engineering working on developing a forward collision detection and avoidance system in autonomous ground vehicles using LiDAR and IBM’s 90nm CMOS technology. As a Software Engineering student, the focus of circuit creation and design was not something I was familiar with, but luckily, I had a wonderful teammate and supervisor, along with the experiences I have had at Embry-Riddle, I was able to learn and be successful in my work.

LiDAR is growing in popularity with autonomous ground vehicles due to their ability to function in adverse weather conditions (comparative to a camera) and their recent decrease in cost. The 90nm CMOS, Complimentary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor, is being used along with the LiDAR because it is a low-power and low-space solution that can also produce the necessary performance needed to make rapid decisions for the system. This LiDAR system, being low-energy and high-performance, is a development that is highly valued in the autonomous ground vehicle field. While there are many teams performing research and development for systems such as this one, there is no system that has been adopted by commercial or professional companies as there is still a lot to be perfected in the systems and costs can still be too high. This is where our research shows its value, since LiDAR is rapidly dropping in price and our system is based on dependability, our final design and report should be very useful for others in the field after presented at a technical conference at the end of this year.

For the development of this system, we first designed the basic circuitry logic in MATLAB. This process was where I was able to take the lead from my previous MATLAB and Simulink experience and develop a basic functional forward collision detection and prevention system. From there, we exported the circuit into a software platform called Cadence. Cadence allows for circuit development that meets the specific specifications and functionalities of particular technologies per their manufacturer’s specifications. My teammate, being familiar with Cadence, took over the circuitry design while I did more research on issues that would need to be mitigated with LiDAR systems such as the detection of the return LiDAR pulse off of obstacles with poor reflectivity rates (i.e. matte black bar bumpers). My teammate navigated the complex Cadence design process, with my research inputs, and we were able to successfully create our final circuitry system for a forward collision detection and prevention system for an autonomous ground vehicle.

By the end of the 3 months, I had gained a large understanding of autonomous ground vehicles, their history, and their future. I produced a background report, multiple progress reports on the technology we designed with their setbacks and future plans, and I am currently working on the final report of the project, along with my teammate, which is planned to be published into a conference by the end of the year. Along with knowledge gained on the topic, I learned an immense amount about perfecting my time management skills, my teamwork abilities, and, a vital skill for engineers, the ability to create a professional technical report that is well-organized and well-written all while being completed under a strict time constraint. I am very grateful for not only this experience, but also for the knowledge gained during it and the knowledge I was able to utilize from my academic career at Embry-Riddle.

Luke Baird’s REU at Wichita State University

Posted on August 23, 2019 by Student Spotlights

This past summer, I attended an REU at Wichita State University in Kansas. I originally heard about the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program in an email from Dr. Ed Post, advertising the REU in Cyber-physical systems, along with several other REUs. REUs are summer research internship programs at different universities throughout the country funded by the National Science Foundation in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. With the support of several professors in the Electrical Engineering department at Embry-Riddle, I was readily accepted into the program.

Before, I had zero experience whatsoever with research, however, the program provided a smooth introduction to it. My work schedule was super laid-back. Once a week, I would meet with the program coordinator for different workshops discussing topics such as how to apply to graduate school, what is expected in research, and how to present research findings effectively. Also, I met weekly with my faculty mentor regarding the specific research in which I was involved. As a result, I needed to employ a lot of self-discipline. Thankfully, I formed good study habits at Embry-Riddle that I applied at the REU.

When I was in high school, I had a job with a marketing company developing mobile apps. Based on this work experience, the program coordinator paired me with a project in the field of Android cybersecurity. It was my task to research and develop a set of tools to determine if a given app on the Android platform is hiding in different lists on a device.

At a poster session featuring my work with Android.

One of my favorite things about Kansas is that the people there are remarkably hospitable. Within days, I had the opportunity to make friends both with other REU interns and with several local residents through a college group and a local church. This was a huge blessing as I did not have a car in Kansas.

Towards the end of the REU, I had the opportunity to visit Hutchinson, KS where NASA’s Cosmosphere is located. Their lobby is built around a SR-71 Blackbird banked 30 degrees for its turn to final.

Beside an SR-71 Blackbird at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS

One of the coolest things that I got to see there was the original Apollo 13 space capsule, reassembled after different parts toured the world for many years. It was particularly interesting to see the history of rockets from World War II through the space race. As an American, I was quite unfamiliar with the German and Russian history which was covered extensively and honestly in the museum.

Currently, I am finishing up the paper that was mostly completed during the REU. It is wonderful to be able to show a completed paper at the end of a program, especially as an undergraduate. I went from not knowing a thing about research to having a finished paper. My mentor and I are submitting the paper to a conference which I will hear from by the end of the month.

To any students who are interested in research—I would highly recommend an REU, especially for Sophomores as REUs accept Sophomores far more readily than industry internships do. There was even an intern who had only completed his freshmen year who was accepted! I am thankful for Embry-Riddle making this wonderful opportunity possible for me this summer!

My Summer Internship as a Software Developer for Compassion International

Posted on August 19, 2019 by Student Spotlights

This summer I got to intern with Compassion International as a Software Developer. The Software Engineering (SE) program at ERAU taught me a wide range of skills, so I didn’t really know where to start looking for internships. I applied anywhere and everywhere from large aviation companies to small tech startups. Along the way I realized that the things I had learned went far beyond just academics. While the SE program has provided me with the necessary skills to be prepared for industry, I have learned professional and interpersonal skills through communicating with professors and being an RA. I started to seek positions that would compliment that. I wanted to find something that combined the experience I have had academically with something community driven and people focused. That’s when I found Compassion International.

*At the entrance to Compassion International in Colorado Springs*.

Compassion is a Christian global non-profit ranked in the top 15 U.S. charities. Their goal is to sustainably release children from poverty. The organization is currently working in 25 nations (Bangladesh, Colombia, Kenya etc.) with over 2 million children in the sponsorship program at 7500 centers. Compassion also partners globally with 11 countries (England, Australia, Italy, etc.) to provide sponsorship and funding. Sponsors can communicate via letters directly to their sponsor child and the funds they provide go straight to the church and Compassion Center that the child is a part of. Compassion Centers are in poverty-stricken communities and run by local church leaders where a child is fed, clothed, and educated. The goal is to support children in the program from a young age through college/trade school to help break the cycle of physical and emotional poverty.

The role of the USA office in Colorado Springs where I was an intern, is to support the sponsors, children, and centers. This support includes everything from finance management and marketing, to IT infrastructure and data processing including development of education curriculum for each country and a technology system to allow safe communication between countries. I worked as a Developer on an IT team to build an internal application for the global programs and travel department. The team I was a part of does pair programming and Test-Driven Development, so I spent a good portion of the summer building automated user interface testing and working together with other interns. The classes that I had taken in Software Quality Assurance and Analysis and Design of Software Systems were so helpful during the project. It was exciting to know that while I was growing my skills professionally, the application I helped to build has tangible and real effects beyond my personal role at the organization.

*Impact Session with the President of Compassion – Santiago ‘Jimmy’ Mellado*.

The internship at Compassion was well rounded and amounted to more than just a job. Part of the program is a field visit so I spent a week visiting the Compassion Guatemala National Office and visiting the children there. The purpose of this trip was to provide us with context and into the work that is done in the field and how it relates to the daily office work in the states. In the US Office, I was poured into each week professionally and personally. I learned how work really is more than a title and a set of tasks. An effective workplace is one that cares as much about the person’s individual growth as they do about the progress they make. I was placed with a host family to live with as well as with a mentor in the organization to meet with weekly and seek professional and personal guidance. Each week we had “Impact Sessions” with the executives such as the current and former CEOs of the organization, the Vice President of Marketing and Engagement (formerly responsible for stuffed crust pizza at Pizza Hut), Vice President of Human Resources (instrumental in the formation of Blockbuster Video, Einstein Bros., and Boston Market). These sessions each week were to expose us to different life lessons and career paths and to learn from their incredible experiences. The program was also designed for the interns to become a close community. Every second outside of the office was spent exploring nearby cities and climbing Colorado mountains until we felt like a family.

*A Compassion sponsor child watching as the intern team built his family a new house.*

*Visiting the home of a Compassion Family in Coba, Guatemala*

I could not have imagined a better place to be an intern. ERAU provided me with both the personal and technical skills in order to succeed this summer.

*Compassion Summer 2019 Interns after receiving news that we are one of the top 100 internships in the U.S.*

Scuba Diving with Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation in Greece

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Student Spotlights

by Tristan Richardson, Forensic Biology

The Forensic Biology degree program at Embry-Riddle contains coursework and skills that are relevant to a wide variety of fields, as I discovered this summer. I have considered many career paths during my time at this university, as the major is diverse in its applications.

This summer I decided to branch out into Marine Biology, as I have always had an interest in this field and have experience as a Scuba Diver. I knew that I would love to have an experience that was truly international, as I hope to someday work abroad. For these reasons, I chose to Intern with Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation, located in the islands of Samos and Lipsi, Greece. This incredible location opened my eyes to the diversity of options completing field work and has helped me to narrow down my career path.

With this internship I was able to shadow and learn from graduate students from all over Europe, as well as work on my own long-term project. My project assisted with the recovery, protection, and replanting of the seagrass species Posidonia oceanica, an important environmental engineer. This project took nearly 2 months to complete, culminating in me leading the replanting action day with the assistance of 10 other interns and supervisors. With great autonomy, I could also assist with multiple other projects and surveys when my schedule allowed, including those regarding Environmental DNA, mapping of Pinna nobilis, and the impacts of microplastics. Filling out weekly reports and completing presentations for this internship also greatly prepared me for employment in the field.

All my coursework at Embry-Riddle assisted me with the completion of this internship. The knowledge of the research process and the understanding provided by the biology courses and technical report writing came into great use. Being able to use the knowledge one has learned in the classroom proved to be very rewarding. I am very happy with what I’ve done during this internship, and I believe this internship will greatly help me with upcoming classes, as I now have a greater background and expanded knowledge base with which to solve problems.

Rolenn Manufacturing Internship Inspecting Medical Devices

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Student Spotlights

by Daisy Hatcher, Forensic Biology

This summer I interned at Rolenn Manufacturing, Inc. from May to July. Rolenn is a medical device manufacturing company that specializes in making parts for medical devices and implants. They work with many customers internationally making parts for devices that will eventually help save people’s lives. My role at Rolenn Manufacturing was an inspector. As an inspector, we have to inspect all the parts that are shipped by Rolenn. My specific role as an inspector was to inspect a part known as 60000591-001, known as 591’s for short. This part is extremely small, with a diameter of about 1.880 mm to 1.910 mm to be exact.

I also learned the process of the stages of inspection and how to fill out the related Quality Assurance paperwork. While I only did the final inspection for the parts at Rolenn, I did learn the overall process of production and inspection. I was trained and involved in the inspection and shipping part of the process. Inspection involved using a microscope and computer to measure dimensions of very small parts. Once the parts were inspected, they were cleaned and shipped with 70% isopropyl alcohol and 30% deionized water. The parts were then weighed and averaged to make sure the correct amount was being packaged and sent to the customer.

To complete the process, the parts are shipped by the inspection department along with all the associated quality assurance paperwork. I learned that it takes many people and pieces of a puzzle to ft together to have this process run smoothly. The classes I have taken at Embry-Riddle really prepared me for work assignments. At Rolenn, we had to keep up with due dates which parts had to be shipped out. Organizational skills and rules I learned int he lab helped me to prepare for this internship.

My experience with the cooperative education/internship program at Embry-Riddle was great. All of the assignments made sure I was getting the most out of my internship experience and helped me along the way. The learning objectives we had to prepare beforehand were extremely helpful in guiding me in the direction I wanted to go throughout this internship. They allowed me to set goals that I wanted to achieve while interning and kept me accountable. The reports have allowed me to share what I have learned over the summer. I enjoyed everything that came with this internship and it showed me that I am more than ready to start a career working in a lab environment.

Internship at Lemuel Martinez’s 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Student Spotlights

by Dante Gurule, Forensic Biology

In the summer of May 2019 I interned at the Lemuel Martinez’s 13^th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There is a DA office in each of the three counties including Sandoval, Cibola and Valencia. I worked for Sandoval County as it was the closest to my house. At the DA office there are many attorneys that work under Lemuel Martinez. These attorneys represent the State in criminal cases for all cases whether it be a felony or misdemeanor offense. During this internship I got to assist these attorneys with building case files, as well as observe them in both the District court, for felony offenses, and Magistrate court, for misdemeanor and below offenses. In preparing cases I would work with the different legal assistants and take on my own cases as I would prepare them for a variety of attorneys. Most cases I prepared were domestic violence cases including battery, deprivation of property, violation of restraining orders, etc.

The majority of my classes for my forensic biology degree did not provide much knowledge for this internship as my degree has a heavier emphasis on the sciences. However, the mock trials done in both my Instrument Analysis and Trace Evidence class as well as my Investigative Methods and Forensics Science class allowed me to understand the procedures and components of a trial. My Intro to US Legal System and US history classes gave me a good foundational understanding of our laws and constitution. I think it’s important to note I am yet to take the procedural law class for my degree which would have been very useful. I think my class work did show me the importance of forensics in law and how they coincide.

This internship was important for both my career and educational plans. After I graduate I plan to go to law school and this internship at the DA office not only introduced me to what Attorneys do but also allowed me to put my foot in the door to intern again with them while in Law School so I could get more hands on work with the Attorneys. This internship was overall a great experience and I am glad I got to work there.