By Elizabeth Burke '17
Current Siena sophomores Dan Carpenter '18 and Tim Saxe '18 spent the summer after their freshman year completing a six week internship with the New York State Public Service Commission. Under the guidance of computer science professors Robin Flatland, Ph.D. and MaryAnne Egan, Ph.D. the students created an IPad educational game which was presented at the August New York State fair in Syracuse, New York.
While over 300 Siena students complete internships every year, it is rare for them to have this opportunity after their first year. The opportunity was made possible through a $680,000 National Science Foundation grant recently awarded to Siena’s Computer Science Department. The grant seeks to engage freshmen students like Carpenter and Saxe in early internship experiences to help address the national shortage of computer science talent in the United States.
“The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that this situation will worsen over the coming five years. They predict that 51% of the growth in STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Math) job openings will be in computer science and that these jobs will be among the highest paying,” said Egan.
The Computer Science department at Siena places young students in this program because the Public Service Commission understands the educational value of the experience and is committed to providing their interns with guidance and assistance in technical work. Dr. Flatland explained that most young students tend to not consider computer science because they had not studied it at their high school.
As interns, Saxe and Carpenter worked together to create their application “Utility IQ Challenge.” The app quizzes the user on utilities such as energy, electricity, water, telephone, and gas. In developing this app the students became familiar with photo editing, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Not only did the students develop technical skills, they also exercised their communication skills. Saxe said the duo collaborated with the Public Service Commission to develop how they wanted their app to appear in terms of timing and color.
“Over the course of this internship I had to try to reconcile the ideas that the client had for the game with what I felt I could create, which was difficult at times because clients typically don’t know how the features they want are implemented,” said Carpenter. “So, I had to find a way to mold their general ideas into a product that was as close to what they wanted while also being achievable on my end.”
Carpenter and Saxe were able to combine their interest in computer science with their liberal arts skills to have success in their project. Internship opportunities such as this can help students enhance their education and discover new career paths.
