My internship at the Department of Energy

Name: Alexis Smoot

Year and major: Undergraduate in Environmental Engineering and Honors College

Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee

Where you interned: Office of Environmental Management (DOE) in the Department of Energy, Washington, D.C.

How did you get your internship? My internship is a part of a FIU and DOE fellowship program where I am a student researcher during the school year and over the summer we are stationed at DOE facilities.

How did you pay for room and board while you where interning in D.C.? The fellowship I ‘m a part of paid for the plane ticket to D.C. and back, the rental car and room and board.

What did you do there? Created a sustainability index to measure and compare different environmental remediation technologies (technologies used to remove of pollution or contaminants).

How did your internship connect back to your coursework? It helped me understand the different aspects of sustainability and how each remediation technology operates and effects the environments.

What was the coolest thing that happened during your internship? The coolest thing about my internship was all the people I got to meet over the summer at the Department of Energy and the FIU in D.C. office as well as all the places I traveled to. I got to meet FIU’s President Mark B. Rosenberg and the Student Government President and join them on a corporate tour of Local Motors, a company in D.C.

What did you learn about yourself? I learned where I want to focus my studies during my final year of school.

How did the position increase your professional confidence? I understand more about how professionals in the workforce approach their problems, especially when there are different viewpoints on a situation.

How did you expand your professional network? By connecting with the local alumni and the staff at the FIU in D.C office located in Washington D.C., I got to meet lot of new people and learn new things about my field.

How did it help you prove yourself in the “real-world?” This internship gave me a chance to bring something new to the table that was always discussed at the DOE but never put to action. My work helped expand a project more and on a deeper level.

What advice do you have for those beginning the internship process? Don’t be afraid to try something different or ask questions. Always apply for a position even if you don’t think that you can get it. You never know.