Meet the Summer Interns!

Six MATC Summer Interns Share Experiences from Classroom to Workforce

The MATC Summer Intern Program is designed to connect undergraduate students in the Engineering college to businesses in the public and private sectors for an internship experience. This past summer was the first time, since the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, that students and sponsors were able to meet at the beginning and end of the program to share expectations and experiences. This summer, six students interned at the Nebraska Department of Transportation, Felsburg Holt & Ullevig, Alfred Benesch & Company, JEO Consulting Group Inc., and Lincoln Transportation and Utilities.

As part of the program, the Interns wrote a report on their experiences and presented on their internships at the wrap up meeting in front of other interns and representatives of the sponsoring organizations.

Ye Jung Cho interned at the Nebraska Department of Transportation, specifically in the Highway Safety section in the Traffic Engineering Division. Her tasks included studying intersections to look for safety improvements by analyzing crash patterns, number of lanes, width of the roadway, etc. She also worked on a project gathering data to improve pedestrian safety. She was able to connect what she was learning in the classroom to her internship, saying “I was able to experience how transportation engineering is used in society and how it connects to our safety.”

Tom Loseke spent his summer with Felsburg Holt & Ullevig (FHU). There, he participated in traffic studies by doing data collection, data processing, and analysis. He enjoyed going out to set up traffic cameras, as it got him out of the office and he was able to get a firsthand look at the intersections he was studying. Mr. Loseke expressed his internship held a good mix of applying what he learned in the classroom to his internship, and learning new techniques and software. In addition, “the most enjoyable thing about this summer was getting to know the people at FHU.” He had weekly traffic group meetings that improved his communication and confidence. He was able to see how the research and development at FHU would help Nebraskans like himself, saying “I get to work on projects in my own backyard.”

Alfred Benesch & Company’s Omaha office hosted two interns. Abdullah Alajmi was one of them and worked mostly in their Civil Engineering department, with a focus in hydraulics and hydrology, but he also interacted with associates from the many areas of Benesch. He familiarized himself with new software and programs and used these new skills to complete his tasks during the internship. Mr. Alajmi spent time in the office and out in the field, and said “personally, being in the field is better than working in the office because I am the type of person that progresses more when I see the work visually and practically.” Throughout the summer, Abdullah was introduced to employees in different fields and met the CFO and CEO of the company.

Madison Vater also interned with Alfred Benesch & Company. At university, she is studying architectural engineering, so going into an internship primarily for civil engineers allowed her to expand her experiences and skills. Although not working in her academic field, Madison outlined the benefits of any internship including looking at it as an “opportunity to meet some really amazing people and form lasting connections.” Not long after starting, Ms. Vater was already participating in field work for ongoing projects, and was able to get her hands on multiple projects throughout the internship.

Jose Aguilar Melgar interned with JEO Consulting Group Inc. in JEO’s Omaha offices in the Traffic and Technology Department. He worked on multiple projects, and was given the opportunity to professionally present the teams’ findings. The projects Mr. Aguilar Melgar worked on directly benefited the Nebraska and Kansas Departments of Transportation. During his time there, he “met great engineers who were dedicated to their work and took some of their time to mentor and share their knowledge in engineering.” He utilized his superior’s knowledge to further the value of this internship, as “they are a walking library of knowledge, and they like to share their knowledge so take advantage of these opportunities that an internship offers you and learn as much as you can.”

Ryan Weyers was a repeat intern. Last summer he spent his internship with Schemmer, a private firm, but this summer he switched to the public sector and worked with Lincoln Transportation and Utilities (LTU). “Through writing and CAD drafting in the office, meetings, field work, and special events, my MATC internship at LTU has made this summer another very informative and enjoyable one.” At LTU Mr. Weyers was able to work on assignments with autonomy before receiving feedback and reworking. He enjoyed getting to work with everyone involved, rather than just communicating with other civil engineers like in university classes. He valued the times when a field work project led him to tasks typically out of the civil engineer’s realm. He finished the experience saying “more challenges of civil engineering were revealed to me, but so too was more confirmation that this is the field that I would like to make my career in.”

The detailed reports on their experiences were reviewed by MATC personnel, and during their final presentations Madison Vater was awarded the “Best Paper”. All intern reports are available at https://matc.unl.edu/internship_success.