On a typical day this summer, you may have started the morning stirring sugar into your coffee. After checking the weather forecast or making a few calls on your cell phone, you may have then logged into secure networks to access work data or conduct financial transactions.
And this summer, four UMBC students learned how they could contribute to the complex choreography that lies behind such seemingly simple actions in the modern world.
Pelumni Enilolobo, a rising senior in mechanical engineering, worked at the historic Domino Sugar facility in Baltimore, optimizing packaging operations; Yash Diggikar, a Ph.D. student in computer science, worked for NASA Goddard in Greenbelt on AI-assisted weather and earth-system modeling; Kaleem Butt, a rising senior in computer engineering, worked at Catonsville-based company RF Safety Laboratory, LLC, helping to test if the radio frequency emissions for new wireless consumer devices stay within safe limits; and Joycelyn Chow, a rising junior in computer engineering, worked for the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, on cybersecurity research.
Building and strengthening connections
The companies and organizations that employed these four Retrievers are all part of the vibrant economic ecosystem in Maryland. UMBC has built relationships with many of these local employers and facilitates student connections.
Butt first learned about RF Safety Laboratory, which has offices at the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park, through a LinkedIn post. He later connected with the CEO of the company at a UMBC Career Fair. “At first, they were looking for people who could work during the school year. I couldn’t do that, but we stayed in touch and I later found out about the summer opportunity and applied,” he says.
Enilolobo found out about career opportunities at Domino Sugar during a Career Center-sponsored event that brought company representatives to the UMBC campus. And Diggikar connected to the NASA project through his advisor, UMBC research professor Milt Halem, a retired NASA employee who maintains strong connections to the agency.
Yash Diggikar (left) with UMBC advisor and retired NASA employee Milt Halem. (Photo courtesy of Diggikar). On right, the NASA Goddard campus. (NASA/Francis Reddy)
While Chow was already familiar with APL from her years attending their ASPIRE high school internship program, she connected with colleagues and mentors at the lab who also attended UMBC. “One of my mentors, Jackie Schultz [’20, information systems], was in the same scholars program—Cyber Scholars—that I’m in right now at UMBC,” Chow says.
A summer of insights
For all four students, the summer offered the chance to contribute, connect, develop their skills, and discover insights that will shape their future careers.
Chow says she really values the strong team culture at APL and could easily see herself working at the lab full time after graduation. “The lab works on so many interesting problems, such as addressing the cybersecurity risks for satellites and other technology that wasn’t necessarily built with these concerns in mind,” she says.
Joycelyn Chow stands with a poster about her summer internship work in 2023 at the ASPIRE Showcase (left) and with fellows APL interns in summer 2025 (right). Fellow Retriever Anugrah Zachary is on the far right. (Photos courtesy of Chow)
Diggikar says his summer work at NASA has clarified the direction of his Ph.D. research, which will look into how machine learning can speed up predictions of the Earth’s weather systems. “I have started to actually see a path, and how people can start a research project and end up at the end goal,” he says.
Enilolobo says he realized the sweet spot of taking ownership of his work and proactively reaching out to colleagues and mentors at Domino. “At work, you pretty much have to go find people who can help you,” he says. “You have to be assertive, and get your stuff done. I feel like that’s a very good way for somebody to grow, and it’s helped me a lot so far.”
Both Enilolobo and Butt remarked on how much they enjoyed the hands-on nature of their summer work. Enilolobo says he spent about 60 percent of his time on the factory floor, observing how machines pack sugar into 50-lb bags. In the bwtech office, Butt worked in a testing lab filled with electrical equipment and fellow engineers. “If I ever had a question, they would immediately jump up and help me,” he says.
And sometimes an insight came from an unexpected place. Butt says he hadn’t thought much about company size when considering jobs. But when he had to take time off for ACL surgery during the summer, all his office mates threw him a surprise party, with plenty of cake and well wishes. The moment really stuck in his mind. “Working for a small company, it feels like family,” Butt says. “It’s been amazing.”
