Three students put their science and technology skills to use in the astronomy sector this summer as part of the . The student internships culminated in community presentations of their projects on August 9 and 10 on Â鶹´«Ã½ Island.
Malcolm Chun, an student at Â鶹´«Ã½ CC, worked at the Institute for Astronomy on a project to upgrade the system that opens and closes 22,000-pound doors on the dome.
Chun said his experience shows the “Akamai Workforce Initiative is an invaluable experience that serves up real-life challenges that prepare you for a career in science, technology, engineering and math fields.”
Julina Lee, who graduated from the Â鶹´«Ã½ CC program in May, interned at the . She worked on a project to modify how images taken at the summit at night are transferred to astronomers.
Noah Levine, also an information technology student, interned at the . He worked on a project to help monitor the electricity used during general operations at the observatory on the summit of Maunakea.
“The end product is a group of webpages grouped by equipment on Status Server that displays current, voltage and power factor information, both real-time and over a past interval, pulled from the energy monitors in table and graph form,” according to Levine¡¯s description of the project.
Lee and Levine plan to pursue bachelor¡¯s degrees in information technology, and Chun wants to seek a career in telescope instrumentation when he graduates from Â鶹´«Ã½ CC.
—By Thatcher Moats