The Research Park gathered virtually to celebrate the most outstanding interns across its 120+ companies on Thursday, July 28. Fittingly, the ceremony was held on National Intern Day. The students honored as finalists and winners encompass a variety of disciplines, majors, and colleges from across the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, exemplifying the nature of interdisciplinary work that happens at Research Park companies. The end of the academic year and summer has posed many unique challenges for Research Park interns, although they proved surmountable. In the midst of a pandemic, interns definitely had unconventional learning experiences at the Park in comparison to past summers. They formed connections with peers, co-workers, and supervisors while working remotely – without having the chance to meet in-person. Many of them were even in time zones around the world. These interns have impacted the Research Park and their employers through the countless projects they conceived, worked diligently on, and followed through to completion. Thank you to all the managers who took the time to nominate their students. Thank you to the panel of professionals who judged these awards. To watch the entirety of the Intern Awards ceremony, click HERE. Entrepreneurial Leadership in a Startup Grayson Schaer, Research Associate at EditekkUndergraduate in Aerospace Engineering | Grainger College of Engineering “Grayson is a joy to work with because he is a receptive listener and an effective communicator. Grayson is passionate about his work and a quick learner who adapts to various challenges very quickly. Although his undergraduate training was in Aerospace Engineering, he has touched on many areas in his time with us that go well beyond this focus.” Most Outstanding Undergraduate Intern Harry Zhao, Engineering Intern at CaterpillarUndergraduate in Aerospace Engineering | Grainger College of Engineering “Harry holds a high work ethic; he started on time even when working from home and finished all committed work on time. Harry also has a high potential to be a great leader. This summer, he was assigned three tasks in one week. However, he had long term insight and ask me to change the priority because one customer is desperate to get the correct result from a 1-click tool. The internship in Caterpillar prepares him for his future career and applies his STEM knowledge in real-world problems.” Anders Cox, Plasma Processing Intern at Starfire Industries LLCUndergraduate in Electrical Engineering | Grainger College of Engineering “Anders embedded himself with one of our Ph.D. researchers and became both the ‘right’ and ‘left’ arms of two different projects. Anders worked as an intern last summer, through the fall and into spring, and his dedication and commitment to Starfire, its team, and our mission show that motivation, behavior, and work ethic are valued. Anders deserves this award for his technical contribution and the personal side.” Finalists: Domenic Di Girolamo, Actuarial Intern at State FarmUndergraduate in Actuarial Science | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Jessica Huang, Market Research Analyst at AbbVie Innovation CenterUndergraduate in Accounting & Information Systems and Information Technology | Gies College of Business Most Outstanding Graduate Intern Eric Cheng, Data Analyst at AbbVie Innovation CenterPh.D. in Food Science and Statistics “Eric is a conscientious student, bringing attention to detail, a strong work ethic, and a varied skill set to his position at AbbVie. He has contributed value in supporting and expanding his team’s ability to make decisions through the creation of a novel software package. Furthermore, he has supported the long-term use of his contributions with the creation of additional documentation and a more user-friendly interface for future data analysis. His advisor sums up Eric by stating: ‘As a former Professor of Preventive Medicine, I would certainly rank Eric in the top 0.5% of all graduate students that I have ever had.’” Finalists: Jialu Yan, Data Science Intern at CargillPh.D. in Physics Jack Massey, Actuarial Intern at State FarmMasters in Statistics Grant Greenberg, Neuroscience Bioinformatics Intern at AbbVie Innovation CenterPh.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering Best Technical Innovation Award Katherine Ritchie, Cancer Metabolic Modeling Intern at SimBioSysUndergraduate in Computer Science | Grainger College of Engineering “Ms. Ritchie’s work ethic, leadership, and behavior have been exemplary over the course of this internship. Despite having to work remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms. Ritchie has maintained a professional attitude and a dedication to maintaining an office environment. Ms. Ritchie is routinely early to meetings and has no trouble describing her work, presenting challenges she is facing, proposing solutions, and offering suggestions for the work of others in the company. Her diligence, intelligence, and commitment to understanding our workflow have earned the appraisal of the entire leadership team.” Finalists: Ali Taghibakhshi, Student Robotics Intern at John DeerePh.D. in Mechanical Engineering Eric Cheng, Data Analyst at AbbVie Innovation CenterPh.D. in Food Science and Statistics Best Non-Technical Innovation Nupur Bhardwaj, Human Resources & Community Intern at Motorola SolutionsUndergraduate in Marketing | Gies College of Business “Despite having to work independently and remotely, and Nupur has done a tremendous job with overcoming these obstacles. She has been a self-starter and comes up with all of the wonderful ideas for these events at Motorola Solutions. Nupur deserves this award because she stepped into a role we had never envisioned – creating community – which was very different than what she expected the internship would be. However, she not only embraced the role but excelled in it, far exceeding my expectations. Her efforts made the difference between having an okay internship experience due to COVID-19 and having an amazing internship experience in spite of the circumstances.” Finalists: Vishaank Ghai, Project Manager at COUNTRY Financial DigitaLabUndergraduate in Computer Science & Economics | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Anne Zulkarnain, UX/UI Designer at CargillUndergraduate in Industrial Design | College of Fine Arts Most Competent and Collaborative Team Granular Flex Team: Jake Stahl, Undergraduate in Agriculture Business Market and Management | College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental SciencesJordan Breedlove, Undergraduate in Agriculture Business |College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences “Our Flex Team is
