Security to satellites: Engineering interns share insights

This summer, several College of Engineering students interned at companies across the U.S. and internationally. These undergraduate and master’s students represent departments across Carnegie Mellon University’s Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley locations.

In their own words, College of Engineering interns describe their internships and what these experiences allowed for them.

Kate Bergan (ChemE, BME ’27): Merck

I interned with the VAQTA Vaccine Manufacturing Team at West Point, supporting bulk operations. VAQTA is an inactivated Hepatitis A vaccine. During my internship, I contributed to several cross functional initiatives, including process improvement efforts, data tracking support, and knowledge retention activities. I also helped develop internal guides to support the use of various software tools.

Kate’s manager, Kirsten Doherty, had this to say: We’re proud to have Kate as part of the Merck West Point team. Through her internship, she has contributed to the important work behind our science and manufacturing operations while bringing curiosity, collaboration, and a positive spirit to the team. Her experience reflects the people and teamwork that help drive our site forward every day.

Damayanti Chattopadhyay (INI MS student): Adobe

This summer, I worked as a security engineer intern at Adobe within the Enterprise Security organization, specifically on the Data Loss Prevention team. My work focused on evaluating technologies that help protect sensitive company data on removable storage devices such as USB drives and external hard drives. As part of this project, I tested and compared security solutions across macOS and Windows environments, assessing their security capabilities, usability, and performance to help inform future security decisions.

Beyond the technical work, I had the opportunity to collaborate with security engineers, product teams, and industry partners while learning how large organizations approach protecting data at scale. This internship has allowed me to apply concepts from my coursework to real-world cybersecurity challenges and has been an incredibly rewarding learning experience.

Rachel Cheng (CEE, EPP ’28): Foreign Investment Board of Palau

This past summer, I served as an information technology consultant with the Foreign Investment Board of the Republic of Palau, a Micronesian island nation whose economy is shaped by foreign investment from the United States, China, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and across the broader Pacific region. These foreign investment businesses ranged in everything from construction and hospitality to consulting, food and beverage.

As a consultant, I applied the project design and analytical thinking skills I developed as a civil engineering and engineering and public policy student. A central part of my work was building rapport with my Palauan coworkers, which supported me in conducting an effective compliance audit and diagnosing operational gaps stemming from a recent leadership transition that directly informed the development of an updated standard operating procedure for the office. As the primary deliverable, I designed a full-stack web submission portal for foreign investment license applications and quarterly compliance reporting. Moreover, I trained and integrated into the portal a multilingual AI assistant, grounded in legal regulations, that acts as a concierge between the Palau government and foreign investors.

My time in Palau enriched my understanding of geopolitics in the Pacific region and deepened my passion in technology and diplomacy.

Joshua Nee (ECE MS student): DoorDash

This summer, I interned as a software engineer on DoorDash’s DashPass team, where I owned a new member-facing service from design through production launch. Rather than build a one-time solution, I architected the foundation that every future project on the team now inherits, which has been the most rewarding part of the summer. My team trusted me with real ownership, and with their support I shipped it to 10% of DashPass members, impacting tens of thousands of people since launch. Beyond the code, I’ve genuinely loved the culture here, from casual badminton nights with coworkers to feeling supported as an intern from day one.

Sonali Shastri (MSE, BME ’27): SpaceX

I had the incredible opportunity to spend 12 weeks at SpaceX as an engineering intern. From the beginning, I was given significant ownership over my projects and the opportunity to work at the intersection of engineering, business, and AI. I had the chance to lead presentations, communicate directly with external partners, and develop systems and tools that addressed real operational needs and are being implemented within the organization.

One of the highlights of my internship came just three weeks in, when I had the opportunity to travel to Thailand with my team. During the trip, I visited manufacturing facilities, gained firsthand exposure to large-scale engineering operations, and experienced the opportunity to see engineering concepts translate into the real world.

Beyond the technical experience, my time at SpaceX taught me a lot about taking initiative, communicating across teams, and owning projects from start to finish. I was also fortunate to experience an especially exciting time at the company: I got to watch two rocket launches and witness the company’s IPO, all while exploring Seattle for the first time! Couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity!

Jenny Shen (iii MS student): Apple

This summer, I worked as an algorithms software engineering program management (EPM) intern at Apple. My internship at Apple has been an incredibly rewarding ride. It gave me firsthand exposure to what it takes to build and deliver some of the world’s best products. More than anything, this experience has helped me understand how much I enjoy solving large-scale problems and, equally, appreciating the craft that happens behind the scenes.

I felt like I was seeing the iceberg from a completely different perspective. What we see on the surface is only a small fraction of what it takes to make a product work. Beneath the surface are countless decisions, tradeoffs, dependencies, and people working together to make it possible. As an EPM, I got a glimpse into what lies beneath—from understanding the “why” behind what we’re building to crafting the right narrative and aligning engineering teams around a shared vision.

I’ve learned so much about being comfortable with uncertainty, bringing different teams together around a shared vision, and carefully crafting a narrative that resonates with both technical and executive audiences. I’ve also learned how important it is to understand the technical details of the infrastructure and databases while being able to step back and see the bigger picture. I’m excited to bring that perspective into my final semester at CMU: not only in how I approach projects and collaborate during group projects, but also in how I think about the kind of product leader I want to become.

Jocelyn Xu (ECE, ’28): Siemens

I worked as an embedded engineer intern at Siemens Energy from May to August. I worked on the firmware for autonomous inspection robots designed to navigate and examine large industrial equipment. I built the low-level systems that let the robot sense its own motion and position in real time by combining data from motion sensors and wheel encoders to help it navigate accurately. I also engineered the robot’s precision movement controls, enabling it to move smoothly along five different axes of motion and implemented an automatic inspection workflow. To tie it all together, I also developed custom communication protocols and a graphical user interface to enable communication among a computer, controller, and the robot.