Bakersfield College student and electrical engineering enthusiast Antonio Magdaleno is getting his hands on satellites this summer, but it has nothing to do with getting more TV channels.
His satellites will be a little more stellar than that.
BC biology major Kate Ball is spending the summer delving into the intricacies of magnetotactic bacteria.
Both Magdaleno and Ball have accepted internships at institutions that offer college students chances to participate in prestigious programs. Magdaleno has been accepted into a 10-week summer internship program offered by NOAA or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Silver Springs, Maryland. Ball has been admitted into a 10-week, 40-hour a week “research experience program for undergraduates” in microbiology at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.
Magdaleno said he belongs to not only BC’s club MESA but also to BC’s club HOPES or Hispanic Organization Promoting Engineering and Science, which is a chapter of a bigger organization called SHPE or the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. According to Magdaleno, every year there is a big convention called NTCC or National Technical Career Conference. At the latest NTCC convention in January 2007, in Denver, Colorado, Magdaleno and a fellow BC engineering student met a Stanford University-based recruiter for NOAA.
The recruiter inquired about their GPAs and asked if they wanted to apply for NOAA. Magdaleno eventually applied online, and soon he received a confirmation of acceptance for the internship by NOAA. Only 15 students in the U.S. had been accepted into the summer program; two of these students were from California. One of those Californian students was, of course, Magdaleno.
“I was really surprised when I got accepted as an intern by them,” Magdaleno said.
Magdaleno said he will get free room, board, and a stipend of $650 per week.
According to Magdaleno, an engineering student’s chances for employment improve greatly with internships, especially if the internships are taken early on in the student’s educational career. Companies favor students with internship experience, he said.
Magdaleno admitted he wants to work with satellites as a NOAA intern because satellites are connected with the weather. He is especially interested in hurricanes and hurricane hunters.
“Satellites take pictures of the atmosphere, and I think that is fascinating,” Magdaleno said.
Magdaleno said that the NOAA building in Silver Springs, Maryland is next to the Discovery Channel building. NOAA is often called upon by Discovery to act as a consultant, Magdaleno said. Magdaleno admitted that he would like to visit the Discovery Channel headquarters.
“I don’t think I’ll be on TV, though,” Magdaleno conceded, and then he laughed.
Other BC MESA members interning this summer will be electrical engineering student Marcelino Rubio, who will be working for Chevron in Bakersfield. Rubio said that part of his job will be to test power plant equipment for efficiency. Gustavo Isarraras, 19, and an engineering student, will be interning at UC Riverside for research-related projects, he said. Bioengineering student, Juan Salcido will be interning at UC Berkeley and working on projects connected with biochemistry.
BC student and biology major Kate Ball is also looking forward to her intern experience in which she will work with a UNLV professor on projects involving gene isolation, magnetotactic bacteria, and replication PCR or polymerase chain reaction. Ball said that she is keenly interested in cell behavior. Ball hopes to use this interning experience as a future teaching tool. Her professional goal, of course, is to be a college life science professor.
Ball admits part of the fun of the research will be exploring how the research findings can be applied to various professional fields. Part of her interning job will be to assist the professor in properly cataloguing the findings.
Ball applied online for the internship after being directed by BC Professors Joe Saldivar and Janet Fulks, who both often encourage their students to apply for internships, Ball said.
Ball will receive a stipend as well as free housing and meals. After the conclusion of her internship at UNLV, Ball will continue her education at Biola University in La Mirada.