CALS Stars: Landscape Architecture Students Win Competition

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Jordan

Jake Wievel, Parker Jones, Zach Small and Stefan Golos are four juniors majoring in Landscape Architecture at UW-Madison. They spend most of their days on campus in the Landscape Architecture studio (aka “the dungeon”) in the basement of Agriculture Hall. As I interviewed this group, I couldn’t help but notice their creativity. My basic interview questions prompted a collaborative drawing that featured their individual defining characteristics which helped me place names with faces. According to their “specs”, facial hair (or lack there of) is the best way to identify each group member. The classification system ranges from “no” beard to “full” beard. This obvious creativity was an important reason why the students won the Green Building Council Natural Talent Design Competition last summer.

The competition challenged student teams to design a Sustainable Learning Center in Rosemont, MN for the Dakota County Technical College. Teams needed to incorporate a gathering place to educate and enlighten students and community members about sustainable design and technology.  Teams could work with mentors who could help projects progress and aid student professional development. One of the UW-Madison team’s greatest accomplishments was working through complete building design, as opposed to just working with the landscape.

“It was an architectural competition so we had the chance to experience that element of the project.” said Small (“full” beard).

Student design competitions are a great way for students to learn about the architecture industry and demonstrate professional skills to potential employers.  Participating in a team competition can also show experience with teamwork – an important characteristic to employers.

“Working with a team is very important in a [design] firm environment.  To be able to show an example of collective thought – that makes it a great piece,” said Wievel (“okay” beard).

As a team,  the students were forced to think through real-world challenges and opportunities outside of class.

“We don’t have that many opportunities to do group projects in-studio. I think one of the coolest aspects of doing this was just the shear amount of work we were able to get done by working as a group of four with a concentrated effort,” said Parker (“no” beard). “That experience mirrors a lot of the way a firm works, how the real-world operates.”

By participating in this “real world” environment, the team felt they were able to draw on each other to learn important skills related to the landscape architecture profession.

“We definitely learned a lot of things from each other that we wouldn’t have learned just working beside each other in the classroom.” said Wievel. “Everyone starts to specialize in their own areas and figure things out outside of class.  Being able to take those special skills and bring these into a collective environment was great.”

Each student appreciated the competition and felt it was a great representation of skills  they would use in internships and full-time positions.  Student competitions are available for virtually every major/area of study. For information on how you or your student organization can get involved in student competitions, contact your academic advisor, career center or even alumni from your program.

Below is the project they handed in for the competition.

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FBI: Matt Spence

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Jordan

Matt Spence is a senior majoring in Genetics. In addition to genetics, he is also earning certificates in gender and women’s studies and LGBT studies. After he graduates in May, he hopes to enjoy another summer interning at Harvard University or touring Europe before entering medical school. Matt works in a research lab on campus, volunteers with PAVE, the LGBT Campus Center and St. Mary’s Hospital ER and is the Co-President of PRIDE (Promoting Recognition of Identity, Dignity, and Equality) in Healthcare-Undergraduates.

Q: What did you do to find an internship?

A: I found my internship by emailing different contacts of mine and my family’s asking if they had any positions available or knew of any openings.

Q: What did finding an internship teach you about searching for a full-time job?

A: Finding my internship reminded me how important it is to make personal connections and to reach out to others. If you put yourself out there, meet people, work hard and create a good name for yourself, others will be happy to help you the best that they can.

Q: What type of on-campus research opportunities did you pursue to enhance your resume and help improve your professional skills?

A: My work in research labs here on campus gave me many of the skills that my internship was looking for. My knowledge of lab techniques and training with mice were what this internship required.

 Q: How did this opportunity help you in achieving your career goals?

A: This internship was an amazing opportunity to work in a cutting edge research lab, but it reminded me that going into medicine is my true calling. I really enjoy participating in and reading about groundbreaking research, but it is not what I want to do for the rest of my life. Although it is not what I want to do with my life, I worked very hard over the summer, and I earned the respect of my colleagues and a great letter of recommendation from the professor I worked for.

Q: What did you do during your internship?

A: I was able to work in one of the world’s most cutting edge biological research labs. My work in the Rinn Lab was centered on a new project in the lab’s quest to discover new lincRNAs and define their roles and functions in mammalian cells. In order to accomplish this goal, I helped maintain eleven strains of knockout mice lacking specific lincRNA genes and cloned mouse lincRNAs to be expressed in different cell types. To maintain the mouse colony, I set up breeding pairs, weaned pups, and genotyped and sacrificed mice. The other half of my work involved cloning mouse lincRNAs from different cell types and inserting them into bacterial plasmids. By cloning the lincRNA genes into plasmids, they could then be put into viruses and inserted into mouse cells in vitro.

 Q: In what way was your internship valuable to your professional development?

A: This internship taught me many new research techniques and allowed me to learn more about how cutting-edge science is performed. It also taught me the value of working hard and being able to accomplish things that have never been done before.

Q: What was the most important thing you learned at your internship?

A: I think the most important thing I learned was the value of working hard and doing my best work. As I pushed myself to learn more about the biology of the systems I worked with and the techniques I was using, I became more engaged in the project and was able to produce greater results in less time. While I worked hard, my colleagues and supervisors took note and praised me for my contributions and accomplishments.

Q: Do you feel your internship experience was important to your career development? If so, why?

A: This internship was an amazing opportunity to participate in something that I find incredibly interesting. The work ethic that it reinforced within me will help me in every area of my life, but the specific biomolecular techniques are less applicable to the rest of my life. It was a very valuable experience, and one I hope to be able to repeat next summer.

Q: Who do you feel helped you the most in your professional development and why?

A: I think the people that helped me prepare for the professional world the most were my parents and the post-doctoral student that I work with here in Madison. My parents are both business people, and they taught me the importance of meeting people and making good impressions. They also helped me write my resume and cover letters. My post-doctoral student taught me about how to work in a lab, participate in research, and stay invested in a project.

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FBI: Laura Bechard

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Jordan

Laura Bechard is a senior major in Community and Environmental Sociology and International Studies.  She had an internship this summer with the U.S. Department of State Consulate Office in Barcelona.  She is from Osseo, Wisconsin and enjoys music, hiking, learning languages and sustainable agriculture.

Q: What did you do to find an internship opportunity?

A: I underwent the online application process found at the U.S. Department of State’s career services website. I enrolled in an international study abroad course with IAP that dealt with processing my role in my international internship.

Q: What did finding an internship teach you about searching for a full-time job?

A: The overall process (especially for government jobs) takes a long time. I applied for the internship in November, was offered a placement in December, completed my background check in March, and began working in May. I also learned that you need to sell yourself and highlight things that you think your employer would want to hear.

Q: What type of student organization experiences did you pursue to enhance your resume and help improve your professional skills? 

A: I was a grant writer for Slow Food UW in the fall of 2011. This position helped tailor my writing skills to sell an idea which translated over into selling myself in the internship application.

Q: What did you do during your internship?

A: I helped in American citizen services which ranged from replacing lost/stolen passports to writing reports on trends that occurred within the Consulate Office.

Q: In what way was your internship valuable to your professional development?

A: I learned how to conduct research and write official government reports, or cables. I also was exposed to Spanish culture and the language which I hope to use in my career.

Q: What was the most important thing you learned at your internship?

A: The most important thing I learned was to have enthusiasm. If you have enthusiasm or passion about what you do, then you will not be afraid to ask appropriate questions and take the initiative. Also, by having a positive attitude, you will develop good relations with your coworkers.

Q: Do you feel your internship experience was important to your career development? If so, why?

A: I want to work in environmental policy on the international scale. This opportunity to work in the Consular Section with the U.S. Department of State in Barcelona gave me insight into how the government functions and the duties of a Consular Officer. I also was able to practice Spanish.

Q: Who do you feel helped you the most in your professional development and why?

A: The assistant consular officer helped me the most in my professional development because he really pushed me to look into taking the foreign service exam and pursue the State Department as a career. All of my coworkers helped me experience multiple aspects of the Consulate Office.

 

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FBI-Jens Arneson

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Jordan

Our latest Featured Bucky Intern is Jens Arneson.  He is a senior majoring in Soil Science-Turf Grass Management and Scandinavian Studies. He interned this summer with Bioforsk-Norwegian Agricultural and Environmental Research.  He is from Stoughton, Wis. and has been interested in golf and his Norwegian heritage his entire life.

Q: What did you do to find an internship opportunity?

A: When I first came here to the UW, I talked to my advisor to make sure that at some point in my college career I would get an opportunity to do something related to turfgrass over in Norway.  We began planning and waited to see what connections would provide the most practical education so I could get the most out of my experience.

Q: What did finding an internship teach you about searching for a full time position?

A: It taught me that trying to be ahead of schedule is the best thing you can do.  Start searching early and getting the pieces in place well ahead of time. This will increase your chance of getting an internship or job because it shows a drive and determination towards a goal, which both employers and places you are trying to intern value very highly.

Q: What type of student organization experiences did you pursue to enhance your resume and help improve your professional skills?

A: I have been involved in the Badger Turf and Grounds Club since I started here, which allowed me to see what other students had done for their internships, giving me great ideas for how to approach looking for one.  It also allowed me to take a leadership role, which translated into taking responsibility and advancing myself as a leader.  I have also been active in the Collegiate FFA Chapter, which has given me even more leadership experience and an opportunity to work with the CALS Student Council to better understand how our CALS government works from the inside.

Q: What did you do during your internship?

A: Throughout the summer I got a chance to work firsthand on the research trials that were being conducted at the turfgrass facility.  This includes all aspects of mowing, topdressing, collecting clipping/water/soil samples, registering plots, turfgrass establishment, fertilizing and spraying.  I also was allowed to go to different golf courses and soccer fields in Norway and help diagnose problems that they were having and offer solutions.  The facility I worked for hosted the European Turfgrass Association’s annual conference, where I assisted in setting up our facility for a field day and helped out with the speakers during the education portion of the conference.

Q: In what way was your internship valuable to your professional development?

A: Superintendents make decisions based on scientific data and research trials, so now I have a firsthand knowledge of how these trials are done and what the data means.  I also have more experience diagnosing diseases and problems on courses, then relaying the information to the superintendents and the greens committees that oversee how the course is being run.  This will help me in documenting what is happening on my course, assessing how to react to what is happening and making an informed decision on how to fix the problems.

Q: What was the most important thing you learned at your internship?

A: I think the most important thing is truly understanding how much effort is put forth into doing turfgrass research, and really trying to get the most out of reading their reports that are released.  It seems that too often people dismiss these trials when they are full of pertinent information that can be very valuable to you as a superintendent.

Q: Do you feel your internship experience was important to your career development? Is so, why?

A: I feel it was very beneficial to my career development because anytime you get a chance to work intensely with a particular plot, you notice the most subtle changes. This allows you to be ahead of certain pathogens and seeing if your fertilization and watering regimes are effective.  Also, when applying for the internship, I got experience in applying for a position, which will be important when applying for jobs once I graduate.

Q: Who do you feel helped you the most in your professional development and why?

A: There were two people who helped me the most in this process.  First, was my Soils advisor, Dr. Doug Soldat, who helped me make the first connections.  He allowed me to plan my whole experience so I could gain real-world experience in this adventure.  I had to make a schedule and budget, and find funding for the project, which are valuable skills to have in the future.  Second, was Dr. Trygve Aamlid of Bioforsk, who I stayed and worked with while in Norway.  Once I got used to how things operated at their facility, he was always willing to let me try new machinery, help collect data and really expand my knowledge of how turfgrass research is done.  He also let me experience the different golf courses in Norway, which allowed me to catch a glimpse of how different superintendents handle running courses and gain as much knowledge as possible in the different styles of golf course management.

 

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