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Internship Highlight–Steven Tra

Posted by Christopher Lester

Hello CSS Community,

My name is Steven Tra, and I am a senior majoring in Computer Science with an intended minor in Mathematics. This past summer I interned at the Engineering Research and Development Center’s Geospatial Research Laboratory (ERDC-GRL) in Alexandria, VA. This internship was offered to me in association with the SMART Scholarship, a DoD scholarship that provides full tuition and summer internships to students majoring in STEM. Overall, this internship exposed me to the areas of data science and machine learning, and I plan to explore these areas further in my studies and future career opportunities.

My internship started on May 29th and lasted ten weeks, officially ending on August 3rd. On my first day, I was assigned a mentor, and he allowed me to choose from three different research projects that I could pursue. Although I cannot describe explicitly what I did for my project due to security reasons, I can disclose that I worked on a large-scale data project. Essentially, I created a computer application that could generate a large amount of random data; this data could be very simple (i.e. contain very few fields/characteristics) or very complex (i.e. contain dozens of fields/characteristics). Once the data was generated, I used it as training data for a neural network. The neural network used a complex machine learning algorithm which allowed me to make predictions on incoming test data sets. The results for my network were satisfactory overall; I was able to accurately predict 78.41% of the one million test data examples. From this internship, I learned more about best practices in data science and machine learning, which are two of the most rapidly growing fields in computer science right now. I also learned about my interests and preferences as a researcher and employee.

As a recipient of the SMART Scholarship from the DoD, I am required to complete internships with ERDC-GRL until I finish my undergraduate degree. Thus, I have confirmed that I will be returning to their facility next summer. However, the experience I have had so far will prepare me for the rigor of working in the industry as well as any other post-graduate endeavors.

CSS Team Leader & Webmaster,
Steven Tra

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Scholar Testimonials

Eric Herrera
Class of 2016

The CSS program has truly been transformational in my transition into manhood. I have been extremely lucky to be in such a prestigious program and to meet so many great scholars. I have met some of the most dedicated and passionate scholars since my matriculation into the program. I will continue to maintain the lifetime friendships that I now have. One thing that resonates with me is when Dr. Lester says the journey is just as important as the destination. After being in this program, I feel like I have all the tools necessary to start the next chapter of my life. Without this program, I don’t know where I would be. I am truly grateful for all the energy that Dr. Lester, the graduate students, and the team leaders put into the CSS program. Their hard work does not go unnoticed. This program is inspirational and I hope it continues to reach new levels of success.

Eric Herrera
B.S. Mechanical Engineering,
2016
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School of Engineering
University of Maryland,
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