Yash Parikh is a Ph.D. student in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering. He attended Research Labs Day in 2017, and he said the event helped prepare him to intern at Oak Ridge National Lab this past summer. We recently sat down with him to discuss his experience working at a national lab.
Q: When you attended Research Labs Day, what did you learn and how did that benefit you when you were applying for internships at national labs?
A: I participated in the inaugural edition of the Research Labs Day in 2017. It was a one-of-a-kind event that brought representatives from different national labs under the same roof. During this event, I presented a poster with my preliminary research work. It was indeed an enjoyable experience to interact and receive feedback from different lab representatives on my project, which further opened up new directions for my research. One important take-away from this experience was about getting an overview of the breadth of research taking place at these labs. The career fair and networking events in particular provided much needed insights about the available internship opportunities, which proved to be very beneficial during the internship application phase.
Q: Why would you recommend other grad students attend Research Labs Day?
A: Networking is the key here. I would recommend all the graduate students to attend Research Labs Day to get first-hand insight about the research work and corresponding opportunities available at these labs. Most often, it is during such events the lab representatives get to meet their future candidates and discuss the research work and their candidate preferences.
One may assume that internship or fulltime positions may be restricted to US citizenship requirements, but most often that is not the case. These labs do have post-master and post-doctorate research opportunities for graduate and Ph.D. students, respectively. Such vital insight is gained from attending the informational sessions and interacting with the lab representatives. Further, there is no harm in collecting some of the cool freebies with the national labs’ endorsements.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your time interning at Oak Ridge National Lab?
A: As an Advanced Short-Term Research Opportunity (ASTRO) participant at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) in summer 2019, I was assigned multiple projects involving metal additive manufacturing. Apart from learning, I also gained insight into the world-renowned facilities at ORNL, which includes visiting the fastest supercomputer in the world — Summit. While interning, I also had an opportunity to give back to the community by providing informational tours to the visitors and high-school students about the facilities and the research work carried out at MDF.
Q: What is the most exciting aspect of working at a national lab?
A: The most exciting aspect of working at ORNL was collaborating with multidisciplinary teams of scientists and technical personnel at state-of-the-art research facilities to conduct basic and applied research. With employees from over 100 countries, ORNL had a welcoming, inclusive, and co-operative work culture.
Q: Would you have considered working at a national lab before attending Research Labs Day?
A: Before attending the Research Labs Day, I was considering research opportunities only in an industrial setting. But with the distinct information and networking experience offered during Research Labs Day, my career horizons have broadened. I can now firmly say that this event proves to be a helpful platform not only for graduate students but also for faculty members to interact and learn about potential collaborative opportunities.