Summer Internship with CESER Nourishes Curiosity and Innovation

Every summer, CESER has the pleasure of offering university students enriching internship experiences that provide real world experience to support their career development.??

CESER’s Risk Management Tools & Technologies (RMT) division is delighted to host intern Jhovanni Loeza, a senior electrical engineering student at Texas A&M University – Kingsville this summer. He joins CESER through the? Minority Educational Institution Student Partnership Program (MEISPP), a program offering undergraduate and graduate students from minority-serving institutions an opportunity to participate in an immersive 10-week summer internship at DOE or its national laboratories.???

?An academic advisor first saw Jhovanni’s love for problem-solving, engineering, and his mathematical skills while he was a student at Del Mar College. Through this advisor, Jhovanni was introduced to electrical engineering; a perfect match for his interests and skills.? After transferring to Texas A&M University - Kingsville, Jhovanni became a member of multiple groups, including the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). His coursework and involvement with these groups prepared him to excel professionally. Through the MSPDSPP program, Jhovanni was able to secure an internship with the RMT division this summer.??

“He was a clear standout candidate during the interview process, displaying curiosity, motivation, and professionalism,” shared CESER’s National Hazards Program Manager, Joe Dygert, who mentored Jhovanni this summer.???????????????????????????????????????????????????

As an intern, Jhovanni is working on an energy security research project that leans on his love for problem-solving by exploring how natural disasters escalate cyber attack vulnerabilities within energy systems. This research has a personal connection for him. Being from Texas, he witnessed first-hand how bad actors took advantage of the chaos during an emergency and carried out phishing attacks during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.??

“His work on examining the nexus between natural hazard events and cyber attacks has been interesting, enlightening, and will ultimately be leveraged as insight into ongoing complex challenges facing American energy infrastructure,” explained Joe.???

This internship is his first foray into the energy sector and gives? him? the chance to better understand the breadth of expertise and work within DOE. Jhovanni has been connected?? to multiple programs and partners within CESER, and has seen how important constant communication between teams is for success – a lesson he will take with him as he returns to campus and prepares to enter the workforce full time.???

Jhovanni encourages future interns to embrace enriching opportunities to learn more about their career fields and leaves this experience with a firm belief that there is more to DOE than meets the eye.??

“Every time you engage with somebody, it’s an opportunity to learn something new,” he says.???

While he doesn’t have a dream job in mind yet, he knows it will “allow my curiosity to flourish, allow me to innovate, and problem solve.”. He is eager to continue on his trajectory within the research arena – we hope it’s in the energy sector!

Read this blog on CESER's website here.