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Interns standing behind a podium
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Interns standing behind a podium

Students from the University of Hawaiʻi System were among the 29 participants in the 2017 Akamai Internship Program that gives college students from Hawaiʻi an opportunity to gain a summer work experience at an observatory, company or scientific/technical facility in Hawaiʻi. The students spent the eight-week program working on research projects with mentors at a variety of STEM facilities on Hawaiʻi Island and Maui including the telescopes on Maunakea and Haleakalā. The projects ranged from engineering to information technology to statistical data analysis.

2017 UH Akamai interns

UH Mānoa

  • Jennifer Chun, Characterization of the Intermediate and Baseband Frequency Hardware of the Yuan Tseh Lee Array Telescope
  • Jeri Goodin, Instrument Transfer Shock Reduction Design Concepts for W.M. Keck Observatory
  • Reyn Mukai, Developing a VR Application Modeling the TMT Observatory for Risk Analysis and Outreach
  • Kurt Noe, Developing Web Applications for the Management and Monitoring of Data Warehouses
  • Heather Situ, Designing a Holder for Anodized Aluminum Slit Masks
  • Akira Vernon, Optimization for the Ray Tracing Algorithm for TMT Adaptive Optics Reconstruction Parameter Generator

UH Hilo

  • Daryl Albano, Integrating a Web-Based Interactive Timeline to Inform the Community about the Thirty Meter Telescope Development Process
  • Brianna Craig, Sea-truthing the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite: Calibration and Validation of Water Quality in West Maui
  • Chantelle Kiessner, Statistical Evaluation of Polarization Noise Data
  • Joshua Parep, Building a GUI for the Instrument Performance Calculator for the CryoNIRSP Instrument
  • Dallas Tada, Creating a Public Database of Star Clusters from the VISTA Variable in Via Lactea (VVV) Survey

UH West Oʻahu

  • Catherine Sarte, Implementation of a Network and Application Monitoring System for Subaru Telescope’s IT Infrastructure

Hawaiʻi Community College

  • Elton Nakagawa, Designing a Mobile Device Management Solution for Gemini Observatory
  • Christopher Roof, Optimizing the UH 2.2-Meter Telescope Engineering Databases

Read more about the interns’ projects at the Akamai website.

More on the Akamai Internship Program

Prior to completing a project, all interns complete a one-week resident intensive preparatory course in Hilo, Hawaiʻi Island or Kahului, Maui, where they meet the other interns and Akamai’s dedicated staff team who work with interns and mentors throughout the program to ensure a productive experience. Interns get coaching on communications skills, and present their work at the end of the summer at a symposium. Interns are paid a $3200 stipend, and are provided with housing if needed, along with travel from home island to internship site. After completing the program, interns are invited back for occasional workshops, connected to job opportunities, and may apply for a second internship.

Local workforce needs for the astronomy industry are increasing and Akamai prepares local college students for telescope jobs and a broad range of STEM fields. The Akamai Workforce Initiative has had a successful 15 years of building Hawaiʻi‘s scientific and technical workforce.

Learn more about the Akamai Internship Program at the Akamai website.

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