Student Serving Internship at National Laboratory

Lauren Graeser, a Westminster College junior mathematics major, is serving a 10-week summer fellowship at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Pittsburgh.

The internship, under the U.S. Department of Energy's Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship program, is sponsored by the Department of Energy 's Office of Fossil Energy.

Graeser, a daughter of Ralph and Jan Graeser of Jefferson Hills, is a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School.

Graeser is working with Vyacheslav Romanov, a post-doctoral fellow at NETL, on a carbon sequestration project in which she is analyzing data and calibrating the apparatus for measuring the amount of carbon dioxide adsorption in different samples of clay.

The Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship program offers summer internships to minority students to enhance their knowledge and gain hands-on experience. To participate in the program, students must be enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student pursuing a degree in mathematics, science, engineering, or technology, and must hold a minimum grade point average of 3.0.

Mentored by scientists and researchers, the interns are assigned specific projects related to their skills and qualifications. They write, present, and publish a technical paper at the end of the program. The fellowship provides interns the opportunity to develop their professional, technical, leadership, and communication skills, while promoting careers in the Fossil Energy Program, particularly in fossil fuel research and development.

Contact Dr. Carolyn Cuff, chair of Westminster's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, at (724) 946-7291 or e-mail ccuff@westminster.edu for more information.

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