The National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to the STEP Partnership of San Diego (SPSD) provided stipends for 36 student interns (12 students in MESA/MEP program at each campus – San Diego City College, San Diego State University, and Southwestern Community College) this summer at various projects in science and engineering firms.

This is a unique paid internship that incorporates a team component into the student internship experience. Hired student interns were placed in teams of 2-4 students to work on projects in engineering and science firms or for faculty. Summer internships occurred between May through August of 2011, at a minimum of 100 hours. In some cases, employers and/or faculty may extend internships or create other internship opportunities for students (beyond summer 2011).

Company partners:

1. Ambient Controls
2. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
3. Bio4Front
4. Caltrans
5. CSP, UCSD
6. CURE, UCSD
7. FRCSW
8. Goodrich Aerostructures
9. Kennedy/Jenks Consultants
10. Malcolm Pirnie
11. MWH Global, Inc.
12. Naviscan
13. Research – Dr. Lisa Chaddock at San Diego City College
14. Research – Dr. Gordon Lee at SDSU
15. Research – Dr. Fletcher Miller at SDSU
16. Research – Dr. Satish Sharma at SDSU
17. Research – Dr. Gerald Selah at Southwestern College
18. Rick Engineering Company
19. San Diego Coastkeeper
20. SPAWAR
21. Suburban Water Systems
22. Technische Universitat Hamburg-Harburg

Collaboratively, each student intern team created a joint poster that detailed their team’s experiences at their respective companies and presented to those in attendance at the 4th Annual NSF/MESA Summer Team Internship reception held on Wednesday, August 2, 2011 at San Diego State University Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center.

The program for the luncheon included keynote speakers David T. Hayhurst, SDSU Dean of the College of Engineering, and San Diego MESA Alliance (SDMA) Industry Advisory Board Vice-Chair Maria-Victoria Charles of Hamilton Sundstrand, followed by student and mentor recognition. Open poster presentation/networking amongst guests in attendance closed out the luncheon.

The following are a few of the summer team interns’ poster presentations:

1. SWC_8_Barriga_Robles
2. SDSU_5_Herrera_Miles
3. SWC_12_Arias_Hinahon_Moran_Rumney
4. SWC_11_Byrum
5. SWC_10_Coreas_Sycks_Betancourt
6. SDSU_15_Leandro
7. SDSU_9_Damman
8. SDSU_6_Armenta_Tuley_Barrios
9. SDSU_4_Arroyo_Nuspl
10. SDSU_3_Gonzales_Long_Harmes_Reyna
11. SDSU_1_Akram_Valdivieso_Inciong
12. City_16_Hernandez_Jahumada_Alarid
13. City_11_Vasquez
14. City_7_Aloisio_Alvarez
15. City_2_Aristide_Riveros_ Rojas_ Roman_Vera
16. SWC_13_Ascencio_Bogart_Cao_Sanchez_West
17. SDSU – Reveles – Schroeder

Photo gallery: