On July 30, UC Merced students and their JGI mentors toasted to the end of a nine-week virtual internship. The celebration was preceded by short final presentations attended by more than 75 JGI staff. According to Axel Visel and Zhong Wang, founders of this internship program, this was the largest turnout for the final presentations to date.
This summer internship program, which began in 2014, pairs undergraduate and graduate students from UC Merced with at least one JGI mentor. Together, they work through a specific project that aligns with each intern’s interests or educational goals.
This year’s internship program was remote in its entirety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, mentors set up weekly, or in some cases daily, check-ins with their mentors to ensure projects progressed despite the challenges of remote work. In addition to the knowledge gained on the job, interns had the opportunity to learn valuable professional skills like time management and presentation skills.
“This program is so important for JGI, engaging with the UC Merced students is a fantastic component of our work,” said Nigel Mouncey, JGI Director. “This year is unlike any other year, but we’ve had another successful year. I was so impressed with the work everyone has done.”
The 2020 JGI-UC Merced interns and mentor/s:
- Brendan Blasius & Guohong “Albert” Wu
- Edgar Jimenez & Sharon Greenblum and Matt Mingay
- Frank Gutierrez & Simon Roux
- Harrison Ho & Ian Blaby and Ernst Oberortner
- Jacob Espinosa & Li Lei and Virginia Scarlett
- Jasper Toscani Field & Brian Bushnell
- Lesly Lopez & Li Lei
- Lorenzo Scaturchio & Benjamin Cole
- Sarina Qin & Frederik Schulz
- Sidharth Babu & Zhong Wang
By Ashleigh Papp