Over the summer, some Mercer students participated in many different internships, study abroad programs and research fellowships. Here are a few who represented the Mercer family by working all over the world.
Joshua Dupaty - Research at Eastern Carolina University
Joshua Dupaty participated in a National Science Foundation funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). The program he specialized in was for biomedical engineering students with a focus in simulations, imaging and modeling.
“They are highly competitive programs so just participating in one was a really cool and fulfilling experience,” Dupaty said.
The project Dupaty worked on was called ‘Detection of Skin Hydration Levels Using Novel Air Puff Device’ and he worked under the direction of Dr. Jason Yao.
Stephen Galloway - Internship with Congressional Black Caucus in Washington D.C.
Galloway was a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Congressional intern and worked with Congresswoman Frederica Wilson out of Florida.
Galloway said he performed a variety of tasks including answering constituent phone calls, organizing the Congresswoman's binder and attending numerous meetings, hearings and briefings.
“Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and I was thankful for the opportunity to be in
Where in the world did bears go this summer?
D.C for the summer,” Galloway said.
Alicia Mikowski - Marketing and Events Intern for the City of Centerville
Mikowski worked on planning and executing events in Center Park in Centerville, including food truck Fridays, farmer market days and goat yoga.
Mikowski said she also helped in organizing larger events like the city's Independence Day celebration which had 3,000 attendees. For the Independence Day celebration, she wrote and recorded a radio ad.
She also managed social media for Center Park, including making regular Facebook and Instagram posts, replying to inquiries made by citizens and creating Snapchat filters for the events.
“This has been a very rewarding internship, and I have loved working with the city of Centerville,” Mikowski said.
Shakti Biswas - Study Abroad in Seville, Spain
Shakti Biswas studied abroad in Seville, Spain where he took a medical Spanish class and visited a Spanish hospital.
Biswas said he stayed with a host family while in Spain, and he went on excursions to different cities like Cordoba (where the picture was taken), Toledo and Barcelona.
Maddie Curtis - Internship at GEICO
This summer, Maddie Curtis had the opportunity to work as an intern at GEICO through their Business Leadership Development Program in Macon.
As an intern, Curtis said she worked with other interns to tackle opportunities the company had to improve in certain areas and they presented their recommendations to upper management.
They also planned community service events in Macon, interacted with managers in all of the departments (sales, service, claims and auto damage) and had a WebEx leadership session with the CEO Bill Roberts.
Curtis said they spent a lot of time practicing for the presentations, but also had time for outings such as an escape room, bowling, origami and dinner at Piedmont Brewery.
Brittany Tran - Mercer on Mission Vietnam
Brittany Tran fit and built prosthetics designed at Mercer University for amputees in Vietnam who lost their limbs from unexploded landmines from the Vietnam War.
Tran said that the team triaged patients, fit orthotic braces for children with disabilities, taught and trained patients to walk with their prosthetic devices, provided help with physical therapy for patients’ rehabilitation and more.
“The greatest result was seeing disabled patients walk out of the clinic. I went there to help give people their lives back, but I left with my life changed,” Tran said.
Charlotte Dungan - Research at Stanford University
Charlotte Dungan interned at Stanford University for nine weeks through a program called ReNUWIt or Reinventing the Nation's Urban Water Infrastructure.
Dungan said they used engineering principles to improve the management of urban water.
Where in the world did bears go this summer?
Courtesy of Joshua Dupaty
Courtesy of Stephen Galloway
Courtesy of Alicia Mikowski
Courtesy of Shakti Biswas
Courtesy of Maddie Curtis
Courtesy of Brittany Tran
Courtesy of Charlotte Dungan
