This SGRS pop up event will raise awareness of the benefits of internships by highlighting how students are able to apply their research skills beyond Cornell in national labs, industry and startup settings. Many successful careers beyond academia begin with an internship or practicum experience, as the Doctoral Career Outcomes surveys reveal.

Who should attend

Anyone interested in navigating the questions to resolve before, during and after an internship is invited to attend. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the labs the panelists and attendees who are not on the panel but have interned are from, the target audience includes master’s and Ph.D. students in mechanical and aerospace engineering as well as electrical and computer science, material science, biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, and math departments.

Panelist bios

● Andre Paradise, a fourth year Ph.D. student, will discuss how his research on artificial intelligence (AI) in Professor Silvia Ferrari’s lab inspired him to be part of the NSF I-Corps program and work with industry professionals on AI applications in novel technologies.

● Rebecca McCabe, a third year Ph.D. student, completed a summer internship with Infinite Cooling, a start up company, to develop a control scheme to save energy and water in industrial cooling towers. Her research in Professor Maha Haji’s lab is on designing offshore wind and wave renewable energy systems.

● Carl Geiger, a fourth year Ph.D. student, is a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO) fellow. NSTGRO includes a visiting researcher experience to allow fellows to continue pursuing their research or explore related research interests to their graduate projects at a NASA site. Carl continued his research on electrospray propulsion systems he conducts in Professor Elaine Petro’s lab at NASA Glenn over the 2023 summer.

● Saksham Kaushik, a second year master’s student, was a cell engineering analytics intern at Tesla for seven months. This experience supplemented his interest in autonomous systems and control challenges he explores in his research in Professor Silvia Ferrari’s lab. Saksham is also a non-US citizen and is knowledgable of the additional challenges this can present.

The panel will be moderated by Grace Genszler, a fourth year Ph.D. student in Professor Dmitry Savransky’s lab. She has experience obtaining an internship through the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program (MIFP) and will speak to this experience as needed during the panel. Grace’s research on trajectory design and mission planning transferred well to her time at Virgin Orbit as a MIFP fellow.

Following the panel, there will be a networking reception to allow students to have more in depth conversations with the panelists and other students in the department who have interned, as this panel represents a small subset of graduate students who have completed internships.

About SGRS

The Sibley Graduate Research Symposium’s (SGRS) mission is to “foster academic curiosity and awareness of research at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.” In the spring semester of 2023 we piloted, with support from Careers Beyond Academia, a career panel of Ph.D. holders to highlight their career trajectories after graduation. Students heard from professionals in academia, commercial industry, start up culture, consulting, and national laboratories. This helped graduate student attendees explore and imagine new career options.

About Careers Beyond Academia

We help doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars from all disciplines explore and gain skills for their future careers through flexible, experience-based, empowering opportunities. Participants develop their transferrable skills while learning about a variety of careers, including those in industry, non-profits, government, communication, policy, consulting, regulatory affairs, and more. Participants have reported more confidence in their career decision, improved relevant skills needed for a successful career, deeper connections with professionals, increased awareness of their disciplinary career options, and better preparation for several career pathways.

Through small group and individual consultations, exposure to career possibilities through panel discussions, and immersive activities to test drive particular pathways, we will help guide you in your career decision-making process and experiential skill building.

Our activities aim to engage you wherever you are in the job search process, from exploring potential paths to experiencing possible careers.