A student's internship with Naval Sea Systems Command

by Asmaa Hasan, chemical engineering '22  

Last week, I completed my second summer internship as a STEM Student Employment Program (SSEP) intern at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). Over the past 13 weeks, I had the opportunity to be involved with various unique experiences in the Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (CBR) Defense Division.
 
I helped plan and execute a week-long test event that analyzed new chemical and radiological detection equipment. The event tested the new equipment capabilities against current equipment. Marines were outfitted with the developmental equipment provided by various government agencies to perform test scenarios. I co-lead the training of the marines on the new gear. I also wrote a safety brief for the event that was presented to over 75+ military and civilian personnel on a daily basis for the duration of the event. I was the Data Collection Lead during the test event and managed a small team of 4. I worked directly alongside the Test Director and marine officers to coordinate and run the trials of the test scenarios.
 
Additionally, I worked on a project in relation to CBR defense efforts at the Pentagon for a couple days. I obtained my 1st challenge coin from this project!
 
Opportunities like this are few and far between. I am grateful I was able to have this experience where I grew both personally and professionally. Not only was this a great learning experience, but also a fun one! I was able to ride and drive around on a Polaris vehicle with some marines (we got it to its top speed!) and had a tour of the Pentagon.
 
I may have had the job title of an intern, but I was treated as a fellow engineer. Towards the end of the summer, I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was promoted within the year since I started in this role in 2020. Now, I am looking forward to starting my senior year at UMBC this week and hope to apply the new skills and knowledge I learned to my coursework and future opportunities!

[Originally posted on LinkedIn, reposted with permission]