College of DuPage STEM students gain vital experience at Argonne National Laboratory

College of DuPage students Lashawna Harris, Leiyoko Haynes and Mitchell Ludewig are gaining crucial practical experience through prestigious summer internships at Argonne National Laboratory.

The students are graduates of the college's STEM Student Success Scholarship program, designed to provide financial and academic support to students in a variety of areas in science, technology, engineering and math.

For Harris, who is working at Argonne on web applications used to analyze traffic and vehicle use, the opportunity to serve an internship at the national lab feels serendipitous. She used to drive past Argonne every day and was always curious about what it was. Now she is learning about the day-to-day operations in one of its labs.

"The best thing about the internship is doing the hands-on work," she said. "It is great to take the knowledge I've gained at COD and apply it in a professional setting, which is preparing me for my future education and career."

A resident of Naperville, Harris earned her Associate in Applied Science with high honors this past spring and has two courses to finish in the COD component of the College's 3+1 Bachelor of Science in Computer Science transfer program with Lewis University.

Willowbrook resident Haynes credits the STEM Student Success Scholarship program with opening up many opportunities that include applying for the internship at Argonne, where she is analyzing data on power outages to determine if economics and race play a factor in the duration of an outage.

"Hands-on learning gives me an opportunity to foster my analytical skills, something that is so important in not only STEM but all majors and life in general," she said. "I get to develop one-on-one connections with distinguished faculty in their fields, which help with networking or even getting recommendation letters. Finally, I get to expand my knowledge and understanding of a chosen field outside of the classroom, which will only help in my future studies and career."

Haynes plans to transfer to Benedictine University in the fall, where she will earn a bachelor's degree in biology with the aim of applying to medical school. She said that her experience at COD helped her develop critical thinking and decision-making skills.

"I met several goals because COD provides a wide range of courses at an affordable price," she said. "I especially like the flexibility of COD's courses because that has allowed me to maintain a school-life balance. I also was fortunate to be a part of the STEM Student Success Scholarship program, through which students can reference and use its many resources to their advantage."

Ludewig, a resident of Woodridge, will complete his studies at COD in spring 2022 and earn his Associate in Engineering Science degree. He then will transfer to the University of Illinois at Chicago's School of Engineering to pursue a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. The first undergraduate intern ever to work in Argonne's Experimental Operations and Facilities division, he is working under the supervision of the deputy division director with blueprints of the lab's low-energy accelerator facility.

With a lifelong interest in building and creating, he said the opportunity to see and work for Argonne is a dream come true.

"I feel very proud to have this opportunity," he said. "Essentially, I am getting paid to do stuff I enjoy while getting a taste of what one form of an engineering profession is like. As the first student intern in the Experimental Operations and Facilities division, it is quite an honor to set the bar for future students who go for the internship."

COD Professor of Chemistry Richard Jarman, who has helped innumerable students find internships at high-profile organizations for 15 years, said COD students are highly regarded at Argonne. He added that students derive a variety of benefits from experiences such as this one.

"This internship plays an important role in transfer to a four-year college," he said. "Students can build confidence and enter into a research program at a university more readily when they can show they have experience doing research at a national lab. It puts them on a level playing field with students from elite institutions. It also helps encourage them to pursue other internships and research projects while providing opportunities to network and make contacts at prestigious scientific organizations."

Harris said an interest in website development set her on a path that led to COD.

"I attended a well-known university in the area, but I was the only woman in many of the courses and was concerned that there were no women in this industry," she said. "While that was a hindrance, I never gave up. When I found out COD offered a computer science program connected to a bachelor's degree at a much lower cost than other schools, it made more sense to enroll here."

She added that her experience at COD exceeded her expectations.

"It's been phenomenal," she said. "I've met amazing instructors and the STEM student success coach was really supportive. There have been so many great opportunities - I received scholarships and this internship through COD. My goal was to just attend and complete my courses. I did not expect to meet so many people who care."

The STEM Student Success Scholarship program, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, is designed to recruit and retain students in STEM programs, especially physics, chemistry and engineering. The scholarship covers tuition and fees for a year and provides some funding for books. Specific support systems are in place to ensure the success of students in this program, including a STEM student success coach, faculty mentors, internship and job shadow opportunities, guided study groups, and tutoring.

Learn more about the STEM Student Success Scholarship program at www.cod.edu.