UNO computer science students (from left) David McDonald, Anthony Marchiafava and Austin Schmidt have been selected for a summer internship at Stennis Space Center.

Three University of New Orleans computer science graduate students have been selected for paid summer research internships by the Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program (NREIP). NREIP provides competitive research internships to college students at Department of the Navy research laboratories during the summer.
 
NREIP is a nationally competitive program administered by the American Society of Engineering Education.  A major goal of NREIP is to make the selected interns aware of the research activities of Department of Navy laboratories, in order to facilitate employment by that agency upon graduation.

The summer 2021 NREIP recipients from UNO are Anthony Marchiafava, David McDonald and Austin Schmidt. They will intern at the Center for Geospatial Sciences at the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

NREIP graduate recipients receive a stipend of $11,000 for the 10-week summer research internship.

“I have always believed strongly in the value of government science in the United States, and this internship gives me a chance to participate in this great endeavor,” McDonald said. “I am looking forward to the interdisciplinary nature of this position, where I will bring my computer science skills to the table to further the work of experts across a wide spectrum of the sciences.”

The NREIP internship awards are a reflection of the existing instructional and research partnership between UNO’s computer science department and the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis, said Mahdi Abdelguerfi, University of New Orleans computer science professor and department chair. 

Nationwide, nearly 800 graduate and undergraduate summer 2021 internships have been awarded to college students in engineering and science to conduct research at 45 Department of Navy laboratories. 

“The NREIP is an exciting opportunity to be part of a team focused on research-oriented problems,” Marchiafava said. “I am excited about applying what I have learned in computer science at UNO while being part of a Naval Research Laboratory team of scientists and plan to gain some practical experience myself.”