The Office of Enterprise Research and Innovation, Virginia Modeling, Analysis, & Simulation Center, and the Virginia Digital Maritime Center would like to welcome five interns who are spending their summer with us.

Jessica Melton is attending Tidewater Community College as a sophomore and plans to transfer to ODU next fall. As a computer science and data student, Jessica is working with Dr. Erika Frydenlund on a project regarding misinformation and disinformation detection and analysis. This internship is through the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), which funds research opportunities for undergraduate students. Jessica is hoping to work with data analytic tools and better her research and teamwork skills over the summer.

Emily Ebalo is a rising senior at William and Mary, studying data science and public policy. Emily plans to pursue a master’s degree in data science after she completes her undergraduate career. Emily is an intern at OERI this summer through the NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. Dr. Faryaneh Poursardar is her faculty mentor and advisor on a research project using data science to detect misinformation and fake news. Over the summer, Emily wants to learn more about natural language processing and get an inside look at what conducting research looks like as a graduate student.

Ashley Buczkowski is a junior at Old Dominion University, majoring in Game Studies and Design, as Ashley enjoys video games, art, design, and coding. Over the summer, Ashley will be creating 3D models for an educational VR game under the direction of BaTo Cvijetic, Dr. Jessica Johnson, and John Shull. Ashley is hoping to learn the communication side of working at a company, how to work on a team, and how to communicate to get things done in a quick and appropriate manner during her internship.

Noah Boucher is a senior at Old Dominion University, majoring in Game Development and Criticism. Noah also has an associate’s degree from Tidewater Community College in computer science. During his internship, Noah is working with Dr. Jessica Johnson and John Shull on a virtual reality educational game. He is also looking to learn more about networking programming, which is how to get two devices to connect and talk to each other.

Austin Connolly just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in game design and development and a minor in business management from Old Dominion University. Austin is working with Dr. Jessica Johnson and John Shull over the summer on a virtual reality educational game, as well as a language learning game. Austin would like to work in the video game field and is hoping to learn about the field and other specialties geared towards education, as well as gain as much knowledge during his time here as possible.