Weathering the Storm: UL Architecture Graduate Students Awarded Internships at National Laboratories

Gabriel Hoggard (M.Arch, F 22), Zackery Trahan (M.Arch F 23), and Parker Vice (M.Arch F 23) received internships at three National Laboratories after winning the national JUMPintoSTEM final competition.

The JUMPintoSTEM challenge seeks to introduce students from backgrounds that are underrepresented in STEM to building science research at National Laboratories across the country. This summer Hoggard, Trahan, and Vice interned at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, Golden, CO), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL, Richland, WA). During the summer the student team engaged in funded building science research projects at these laboratories. 

The 2022-23 Challenge Series Topics were: Curb Your Carbon, It’s Electric, and Sustainable and Resilient. The UL Lafayette Team competed in the Sustainable and Resilient Challenge. Across the event, 266 students, from 45 schools participated. Eight student teams were invited to the final competition in Golden Colorado. Students from the final competition teams, Vanderbilt University, Purdue University, University of Nebraska, and University of Louisiana Lafayette, received ten-week paid internships at the three National Laboratories (ORNL, NREL, PNNL). Liane Hancock, Associate Professor, Contractors Educational Trust Fund/BORSF Professorship in Art & Architecture, acted as faculty mentor to the student team. The 2022-23 Challenge Series Topics were: Curb Your Carbon, It’s Electric, and Sustainable and Resilient. The UL Lafayette Team competed in the Sustainable and Resilient Challenge.

Press release from JUMPintoSTEM:

https://jumpintostem.org/news/winners-of-2022-2023-jump-into-stems-final-competition/
https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/articles/bto-announces-winners-jump-stems-final-competition-0

Event Photos National Renewable Energy Laboratory Flicker:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAqPCx

Photo credit Werner Slocum, National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Article about Zack Trahan's internship
https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2023/building-sustainable-energy-careers-through-summer-internships.html

Article about Parker Vice's internship

https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/students-jump-stem-building-science-internships