— Summer Internship Program Experience 2016

I’m working with South West Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), under the supervision of Dr. George Cutter. It really is going great, initially there were a few things that he introduced me to, such as challenge image datasets of seals, penguins, and other aquatic wildlife for the computer vision community and challenge. I have also worked on various programs, for geographic plotting of images, classification and delineation of data for information gathered from the sweeping of a river, etc.

For the past few weeks I’ve begun focus on an algorithm that can remove haze and atmospheric degradation from an image, called the dark channel prior. Learning and implementing the original code in Matlab (which is a language that I get to learn and tool I get to use) was just the first step, splitting the algorithm into separate, main functions. Further steps which I am working on currently are (1) image improvement, actually improving the algorithm itself, especially due to the fact that we hope to implement it on underwater sequences rather than terrestrial scenes. (2) is speed improvement, hopefully to reach the point of extremely low delay processing and implementing of the algorithm in real time on the ROV as video is being gathered. This includes research in both the direction of parallelizing the process as well as implementing it in another language and utilizing different toolsets, such as OpenCV.

Hannah Hu – La Jolla HS

 

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Everything has been going great in my MTS internship at Teledyne RDI. I’ve acclimated to the work environment and have met many people in the process. Everyone at the facility is very kind and helpful, and I feel like I fit in just right.

 

In the past few weeks, I’ve been working on creating a program in C++ to convert the raw PD0 format of the data collected by the Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) to different formats requested by customers. However, in the past few days, I was reassigned to work on testing out the modules for the Z-Boats (remotely controlled, data-collecting marine vehicles) along with working hands-on with an ADCP, using the WinRiver II software to analyze and test the data. Currently, I am looking over an updated manual for the WinRiver II program (which is used to observe the data collected by the ADCP), and essentially reviewing it for any errors/mistakes that could have slipped through.

 

Overall, it has been an awesome experience thus far. I can’t wait to see what other things are coming up ahead in the future, and am looking forward to whatever comes next.

 

Nick Vecchioni – St. Augustine HS

 

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Everything is going fine so far. The staff at Fugro Pelagos has been very kind and welcoming to me.

I recently finished my training with the ArcGIS software. I am now applying the skills I have learned through ArcGIS to actual projects, performing tasks such as digitizing.

 

Onrei Ladao – Mt. Miguel HS

 

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My experience working at Sidus Solutions has been a very insightful one. Not only have I been able to work with a wide range of equipment, but I have also been able to get a first-hand look at how an engineering-based company is able to design and then manufacture products. Overall, I am enjoying my time here and I eagerly look forward to expanding my skillset in engineering and familiarizing myself to the professional workplace. One of the most influential factors in assisting my transition is the positive and friendly atmosphere the people here provide.

 

I have mainly been focusing on understanding the manufacturing procedures and overall production/testing process that Sidus conducts. Nick Ruiz, the person who supervises me, had given me the opportunity to do a wide variety of tasks, including FATs (Factory acceptance tests), run client-specific tests, and use a pressure tank that goes up to 10,000psi. Some other memorable moments include soldering wires and cables together, and assembling harmonic gear drives. I’ve been enjoying the work here, and all the different things I’ve been able to do have made these first two weeks very exciting. In the upcoming week, the electric engineer of the company will be letting me explore the design and engineering process of our products, which I highly look forward to.

 

Franklin Ye – La Jolla HS

 

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Everything has been going well;  I am enjoying working at Kenautics and with the other intern.

In the three weeks so far we have brainstormed different ways of streaming video and data to an Android device over a USB connection, we have talked to harbor police at Harbor Island in San Diego to get an idea of what a generic diver would expect from a new underwater navigation device, and in the last week or so we have been designing and implementing different approaches to streaming data to the Android device.  I am creating a ROS server and node design, while Charlie is developing his own communication for the DINIS and the Android device.

Josh Steiner – Canyon Crest Academy

 

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The internship has been going wonderfully at Kenautics. I have been writing code for an android app to communicate with this navigational device in order to replace its screen with a removable android device. Its really cool figuring out how to get our board to communicate with the android and I have learned a lot about how android devices communicate with USB accessories. We also have been discussing data flow, how each individual part communicates with other parts through drivers and how important it is to create a document containing all of the messaging formats.

 

Charlie Lewis – Sage Creek HS

 

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My internship at Tecnadyne has gone pretty well so far. I like how it’s a nice small company and I’ve gotten to know everyone. I’ve been doing a little bit of everything. I helped test and record data for hydraulic pumps and helped coat them with a waterproof coat. I was able to see how the workers assemble the thrusters from the beginning to end. Today I got to work on some soldering and attaching resistors and such onto chips.

 

Guadalupe Refugio – The Preuss School

 

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Things are going great, I love working at Sontek-Xylem. Everyone is so friendly. It is such an amazing experience over all. Right now I’ve been on a project where we construct a new unit that will allow for better temperature calibration of G3 compasses. Along with that I’ve been helping out with the repair department on some probe testing and assembling. I’ve also been given the chance to watch the engineering program work and I can’t wait to see and learn. They are awesome coworkers who have a great sense of humor and are easy to approach without feeling intimidate and are always willing to lend a hand. But this is only the start with the upcoming, beam controller project and solid work introduction planned.

 

Neshao Cubahilo – Scripps Ranch HS

 

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I have finished four weeks of my internship at the Whale Acoustics Lab at the UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The experience has been amazing and everyone is very friendly. Lunch by the beach is incredible and everything has been calm and stress-free so far.

 

I have been helping to document and archive data collected by the lab that is stored in hard drives. I also learned a bit of MATLAB, the programming environment used to develop Triton, which is the lab’s software for data analysis and processing. In addition, I have been learning about Triton itself and looking at the graphs produced by the software. I was given the task of graphing some of the hard drive data (information about manufacturers and date processed, etc.), and I was able to use what I had learned about MATLAB to write several functions that read Excel files and can produce graphs on the data from the spreadsheet. Going from not knowing any MATLAB to being able to write MATLAB functions in a short amount of time was really cool, especially since I am very interested in programming.

 

I am so grateful for MTS, SIO, my mentor, and everyone else involved for this unique experience!

 

Lili Chen – Mt. Carmel HS

 

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  1. Working in the lab at Scripps Institution of Oceanography has been going well. It’s a nice environment and I get to work with other volunteers (in college) as well as the scientists, which really highlights the collaboration aspect of scientific work. They’ve also been very accommodating for my schedule; I’ve enjoyed working in the lab for these 3 weeks and I’m looking forward to the rest of my stay in the lab.
  2. Originally, I began on training for pacific corals which involved labeling colonies on Photoshop, however after the lab went to a conference for coral scientists (it was an interesting experience seeing them prepare for it), and the project I was getting trained for was put off. Instead I am now working on a Caribbean coral data set (after training) on a program called Photoquad. The data set focuses on set quadrants over a period of 3 years 2009-20012 (and one month from 2013). For the data set I plot out the areas of the coral colonies over time, identify the species, and name each colony.

 

Andrew Moura – St. Augustine HS

 

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I’ve had an absolutely amazing time interning at Teledyne SeaBotix so far, and I’m very grateful to MTS for this kind of rare opportunity to explore real world engineering.

Coming in, I had some programming background, but at SeaBotix, I’ve been able to build upon what I already knew and tackle new areas. Under the guidance of my mentor Gaurav Sharma, I’ve learned about serial communication methods, the components of the ROVs they manufacture, and more. I’ve even learned Linux from scratch, and am becoming more and more familiar with the command line. My mentor has also been very helpful in answering my questions about the engineering field and the career path involved, sharing personal experiences and tips. In addition, I’ve been able to attend meetings of all types — brainstorming, engineering change order, etc. — and I’ve gained insight into different aspects of the work culture. Everybody has been very welcoming and inclusive. In fact, the whole environment at SeaBotix is very open and friendly, and I always find myself learning a lot while having fun.

I’ve been mainly assigned two kinds of projects. The first kind is documentation. My supervisor, Leverett Bezanson, is having me update the schematics for electrical engineering and make sure they all have the appropriate description and revision numbers. I will also be working on firmware too, but I haven’t received the details on that yet. My other project is a research project, and I’m very excited about it! I will be evaluating the camera/video capabilities of the computing board they are planning on using for future ROVs and using OpenCV and C++ to write programs. I’m drafting my own research plan, designing my own tests, and depending on how much progress is made, I could test my project on the ROVs. The whole process of it has been very interesting.In addition to the projects, I’ve been given other tasks such as dismantling defective thrusters and checking them for the source of the problem, which was very fun too. I’m also supposed to get a chance to test-drive the ROVs, and I’m really looking forward to that!

Overall, I’ve been having a wonderful experience, and it’s passing by so quickly. This summer has really solidified my interest in engineering and been very important in helping me think about majors and potential careers.

 

Caroline Zhang – Torrey Pines HS

Opportunity runs deep….