MCS Students Put Science to Work Through Summer Internships

Internships help students build skills, expand their network and explore career paths. They also provide valuable insight into the types of work and industries that align with their interests and goals.

This summer, Mellon College of Science students applied their scientific training in industries ranging from biotechnology and artificial intelligence to finance and entertainment. Along the way, they discovered that the skills developed through studying science, including problem-solving, data analysis and critical thinking, are valuable in nearly every field.

Their experiences demonstrate that science extends far beyond the laboratory. Whether developing new technologies, analyzing data, improving public programs, creating immersive experiences or advancing potential medical treatments, MCS students are using science to drive innovation and solve real-world problems.

Designing Experiences That Last

Madelyn Streisfeld spent her summer exploring a question that has long fascinated her: Why do some experiences stay with us long after they’re over?

The rising senior, who is pursuing a bachelor of science and arts in neurobiology and dramaturgy, interned with Paramount’s Events & Brand Experience team in New York City. Working on television premieres, conventions, interactive exhibits and live events, she gained firsthand experience designing memorable audience experiences.

The internship brought together two of Streisfeld’s biggest interests: entertainment and neuroscience.

“I’m very interested in understanding how audiences react to plays and musicals and theater environments on a neurological level. What this summer showed me is that it is possible to expand that even further to immersive and live entertainment spaces.”

At Paramount, Streisfeld worked on a range of projects, from curating an Instagram post for a red carpet premiere to doing live event production support for virtual Drag Queen Bingo. She also was introduced to experiential design, a field focused on creating meaningful interactions between people and environments. She shadowed designers and producers and saw how decisions about layouts, accessibility, color palettes and storytelling shape the way audiences experience a space.

“Not only do I have this interest in design and live entertainment in general, but I also am very interested in the justification behind each of the choices that designers are making and how can we pull from neuroscience and pull from psychology in order to inform those decisions,” she said.

The internship gave her the vocabulary to work with designers and producers, which boosted her confidence in bringing her neuroscience background into those conversations. The internship also broadened her understanding of where science can have an impact. Before the summer, Streisfeld primarily imagined applying neuroscience in academic research. Now, she sees opportunities in entertainment, museum exhibit design, marketing and experience design.

“It opened my eyes to how valuable science consultation can be in fields that I hadn't previously expected, which is awesome. It just made me feel like my skills could be applied to even more places than I previously thought.”

Building the Classroom Where AI Learns to Code

Problem solving has always come naturally to Umar Sheikh. As a high school student, he excelled in national math competitions, tackling challenging math problems. This summer, the rising junior applied those skills to a new challenge: artificial intelligence.

Sheikh, a mathematics major, spent the summer as a software engineering intern at Mechanize, Inc., a startup that builds reinforcement learning environments used to train and evaluate advanced AI coding agents.

In these environments, an AI agent is assigned a task, attempts to solve it and receives feedback based on its performance. Think of it as a classroom where AI agents learn through trial and error. Sheikh helped build that classroom.

His work involved designing realistic software engineering tasks, testing AI agents on those tasks, grading their performance and analyzing where and why they failed. The goal is to better understand the limits of today’s most advanced coding models and identify situations where they still struggle.

“You have to be very careful with the environment and the task that you come up with,” Sheikh said. “It should be fair and realistic for the agent. You can’t give it the answer, but you have to provide enough clues and context that it’s actually able to accomplish the task.”

His mathematical background proved especially valuable when evaluating model performance.

“There’s a fair bit of statistical reasoning involved in analyzing the models’ success rates, comparing performance across models or tasks, and deciding whether those differences are actually meaningful or if they’re just noise,” he said.

Beyond the technical work, Sheikh valued the chance to apply what he learned in the classroom to real-world problems. The experience also gave him a look at professional engineering work.

“It’s nice to actually make use of the knowledge that we gained in a more practical setting. And it’s been really fun to be part of a diverse community, make those connections and expand your network. That’s been a really significant benefit for me.”

A Second Summer, A New Perspective

Sometimes the most valuable lesson from an internship isn’t what you learn about a project. It’s what you learn about yourself.

That was the case for chemistry major Isabella Mamudoski, who spent the summer at PPG Industries exploring a new area of chemistry.

Mamudoski has spent the past two summers at PPG, a Fortune 500 company that develops paints, coatings and specialty materials. Last summer, she worked with the formulations team on coatings that protect vehicle paint from scratches and other damage. She enjoyed the work, but it was the people who brought her back.

“I really liked my team my first year there,” Mamudoski said. “They were all super welcoming and super nice. If I want to work somewhere, I want to enjoy the people around me.”

This summer, Mamudoski joined PPG’s analytical chemistry group, where she helped expand the company’s Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy library. FTIR is an analytical technique that identifies chemical bonds and molecular structures by measuring how a material absorbs infrared light. Scientists use the resulting spectra like molecular fingerprints to identify unknown substances.

Mamudoski’s project focused on organizing FTIR files from PPG sites around the world. Many already existed but were scattered across multiple databases. Using code she developed, Mamudoski consolidated the records into a centralized library, expanding it from about 2,000 entries to 25,000.

“If chemists need to go back and look at previous samples, they can go into the library,” she said. “It’s super helpful for all the scientists.”

The project challenged her to develop new coding and data-management skills while working alongside analytical chemists and information technology specialists.

Just as importantly, it helped her identify the type of chemistry she enjoys most. While she appreciated the opportunity to explore analytical chemistry, she found herself drawn to more hands-on work in formulations and synthesis.

“One thing I appreciated about PPG was being able to talk with employees about their career paths,” Mamudoski said. “Everyone had a different perspective, but the biggest takeaway was to figure out what’s best for you. Everyone got where they are through a different path.”

Using Data to Support Entrepreneurs

Government data might seem far removed from the people it serves. But for Cassandra Yang, the connection is clear.

Last summer, Yang interned with New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, where she saw how government programs can improve people’s lives. She took that interest to the state level this summer, joining Empire State Development, New York’s economic development agency.

“Last year’s internship got me interested in government work and how we can help people and put some good out in the world,” Yang said.

A mathematics and physics double major, Yang interned with the Entrepreneur Development team, which oversees Entrepreneurship Assistance Centers across New York State. The centers receive state funding to help aspiring entrepreneurs develop business plans, access resources and launch new ventures.

To maintain that funding, the centers must meet goals tied to the number of people they serve, jobs they help create and support they provide. Tracking those outcomes relies on a large database, and Yang spent the summer helping improve it.

Much of the program’s data was spread across multiple reports, requiring staff to manually combine information and verify results. Yang helped consolidate those reports into a single system and ensure the data was accurate.

“A lot of it was data validation, data cleanup and making sure everything was working right. I enjoyed it. I want to pursue something in data science or analytics after I graduate, so this was a good fit for me.”

Beyond organizing data, Yang analyzed it to identify trends and opportunities for improvement. She credits Carnegie Mellon’s rigorous coursework with developing the attention to detail, focus and time-management skills she relied on throughout the internship.

She had the chance to visit one of the Entrepreneurship Assistance Centers and attend a meet-and-greet with Empire State Development leadership, getting to meet some of the faces behind the numbers.

“We got to ask government leaders about their priorities and what they’d recommend to students like us,” Yang said. “It was a great opportunity to meet the people leading government and make connections that could be meaningful down the road.”

From Particles to Prices

At first glance, physics and financial markets may seem worlds apart. But both seek to understand systems that are constantly changing.

Senior Nolan Hughes spent the summer exploring that connection during a 10-week sales and trading internship at BNP Paribas, a global financial services firm. The physics major quickly discovered how the quantitative tools used to study physical systems can also help explain the behavior of financial markets.

“The bread and butter of physics is trying to quantify physical systems and how they evolve through time,” Hughes said. “Everything’s dynamic. And it’s the same in markets because nothing is constant.”

Hughes spent the summer rotating between the credit trading and mortgage-backed securities trading desks. He shadowed traders, learned how markets operate and explored how firms price assets and manage risk.

Many of the concepts felt familiar. Mortgage-backed securities, for example, rely on models that aggregate information from thousands of borrowers to predict how a larger system will behave.

“The same techniques that you would use to do that is kind of how you model the evolution of a system of particles,” Hughes said.

One of his projects involved optimizing an algorithmic trading strategy using Bayesian optimization, a statistical technique used to find efficient solutions to complex problems. The challenge required him to develop a creative approach to a problem without a clear solution.

During the summer he saw firsthand how incredibly intellectually stimulating finance can be. And he realized that he felt at home on the trading floor.

“It’s loud, it’s hectic, and you don’t really have time to sit and process everything. You just have to make decisions and go with it,” he said. “I loved it.”

Hughes said one of the most valuable parts of the internship was being immersed in the culture of a trading floor. Finance has its own specialized language that can be difficult for newcomers to understand.

“There’s no way to really learn that stuff other than just by being around it,” he said. “I’m very lucky to have had this experience, and I’m excited for what’s to come.”

Contributing to a Drug Discovery Pipeline

A promising drug candidate can spend years moving through the development pipeline before it reaches patients. This summer, Ph.D. candidate Emmy Nguyen got a firsthand look at that process during a 12-week internship at Genentech, where she worked on an early-stage program targeting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Nguyen’s project focused on evaluating a novel drug candidate designed to reduce inflammation and infection associated with the disease. As part of the lead optimization stage of drug development, she designed experiments to test the potential drug’s effectiveness and analyzed the resulting data.

“It was very exciting to work on a promising drug candidate and contribute to the pipeline,” Nguyen said.

The internship also expanded her scientific toolkit. While her research in Carnegie Mellon’s Bridges Lab focuses on microbiology, her work at Genentech introduced her to techniques used in immunology, including cell culture and flow cytometry.

Some of the most valuable lessons came outside the lab. Through pipeline meetings and project discussions, Nguyen observed firsthand how scientists across diverse disciplines worked together to advance a potential drug.

“It was very eye-opening to work with experts across different functions and learn how interconnected drug development is,” she said. “The rigorous science, interdisciplinary collaboration, and shared purpose were incredible to experience firsthand. I thrived in that fast-paced, mission-driven environment."

Navigating experimental designs, cross-functional meetings, and project timelines pushed Nguyen to maximize both precision and efficiency.The internship also exposed her to the many career paths within the biopharma R&D industry.

“I entered the summer knowing that I wanted a career in translational science, but this experience showed me the breadth of roles where I can make an impact,” Nguyen said. “Connecting with scientists across the organization helped me realize that scientific discovery isn’t just about solving complex biological questions — it’s about the collaborative teamwork, shared ideas, and people driving that science forward.”

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