Dana Groner, 3rd-year Embedded Systems Engineering (ESE) student, is doing an internship at CERN in Switzerland. “In the first year, HAN had organised a ‘Study Abroad’ presentation, which told that HAN once sent a student to CERN. And then I immediately thought, if I get the chance I’ll go there!”

Dana got that chance and seized it. Now she is carrying out a challenging internship assignment at CERN! This is what Dana would like to talk about.

What image did you have of CERN before you started your internship?

“Before I started, my image was that everyone here would be super smart in a high-tech and modern working environment. And now that I am interning here, that image turns out to be true! Everyone is super smart, but also incredibly nice and they like to explain what they are doing. The buildings are not modern at all, they really look like they are from the 1980s. I think all the money has gone to the equipment and not the infrastructure.”

Briefly, what is your internship assignment?

“To automate a test setup. In this test setup, they take measurements on silicon sensors. These measurements are meant to gather more information about the characteristic ‘annealing’ that silicone has. Physicists don’t fully understand this characteristic. I need to ensure that all components (temperature, humidity sensors, oscilloscope, laser) are implemented in python and can be managed via computer.”

What do you have to do to find the answers you want?

“It’s a lot of self-study. Many people are working on this project, but I am the only one who is doing automation. Anything I don’t understand I have to figure out myself. no problem, I actually like this because it makes it more challenging!”

How far along are you with your internship?

“I have now completed a month and a half (started on 1 September) and still have 3.5 months to go (until 31 January). With my assignment, I’m almost halfway through.”

What is it like working with staff and/or researchers at CERN?

“The people I meet here pretty much meet my expectations. I’m in the ‘Experimental Physics department’ so I deal with physicists a lot. And often they have conversations that I think ‘what are you talking about’. Still, I’m learning more and more about physics and that’s just fun. And it is really instructive to work with a lot of people from other countries/cultures. New insight about life, I also find that instructive.”

What did you learn from your internship that you couldn’t have imagined beforehand?

“I didn’t expect to be able to understand so much of physics. I am now at the point where I could tell almost everything about the test setup and how it works. This is mainly due to my supervisor, who is very talented at explaining complex concepts to someone with little physics background.”

What do you really like about your internship?

“I think my internship assignment is super top notch. The perfect balance between what I already know and what I can’t do yet. It’s also just nice that I work independently on my assignment. I keep in touch with my supervisor every day and tell him about what I’m working on. I appreciate the confidence he gives me to be able to solve my task myself.”

Is there also something you don’t like so much?

“Well, the social aspect is a bit less. Therefore, I have to show more initiative to meet up with people and socialise. Sometimes quite difficult, because I also live in a small French village where there is little to do. It is also harder to find people my age, because everyone I have met is already completing a master’s or PhD.”

Can you recommend an internship at CERN to other students, or another internship abroad?

“Definitely! At CERN, just about everything is well organised and you get help with everything where you need it. My internship is not a quiet or simple one. But if you’re looking for a more challenging project, you should definitely do it. Also, it’s the perfect opportunity to build foreign experience in an incredibly beautiful environment.”

Where are your ambitions for the future?

“Big ambitions for the future? To be honest, I have no idea. Because if you make plans for life, they will change 9 times out of 10. I do know that I want to go in the direction of Machine Learning and AI. Combining that with ESE seems like a really good idea. And because I’ve already taken a step into this world, it will be easier to work at CERN later on. I would also like to do my graduate internship at CERN, like a project towards ML/AI. That way I will build a good portfolio, and then enter the working field.”

Anything else you would like to share that is nice to know for other (ESE) students?

“I would like to let ESE students know how valuable ESE is for companies if you handle the course properly. By that I don’t mean the classes. Because of course those are important and you still have to pass them. I am referring to the projects that ESE offers every semester. Those projects are really the chance to learn so much more and expand your knowledge. I have to thank a lot of my ‘problem solving and organisation skills’ to projects like the Robot Car, Smart Greenhouse and the S3/S4 projects.”

Thank you Dana for this fun interview and good luck with your further career!

Source: HAN
Photography: Dana Groner