STEMMING from SVC

STORY

Courtney Cecere

There is something to be said about women in STEM, but there is something to be shouted when you have three women participating in nationally recognized STEM-related internships. Summer 2023 proved to be an exciting opportunity for senior math majors Rachel Andreola, Grace Luikart, and Olivia Persin. Each spending their time in different states, the trio shared similar experiences working in the realm of mathematics and returning to Latrobe eager to continue to learn. 

  • Rachel Andreola

    Rachel Andreola spent her summer at the University of Michigan-Dearborn participating in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), learning alongside several other undergraduate students and mentors. Focusing on studying the Berezin Range in comparison to the Numerical Range, Andreola used the opportunity to experience research and open the door of potentially attending graduate school upon graduation.

    “I enjoyed participating in the research,” said Andreola. “I learned a lot and I really liked the overall challenge of the experience. My biggest takeaway from the opportunity is to keep challenging myself and doing things outside of my comfort zone because I will learn from it in some way.”

  • Grace Luikart

    A familial tie with Marshall University ultimately led Grace Luikart to spend her summer in Huntingdon, West Virginia, where she worked within a melting pot of majors at her own REU. She implemented her knowledge taken from her graph theory class at Saint Vincent, condensing a magnitude of information regarding supply chain into a single graph before generating a mixed integer linear programming model to detail costs of materials from the beginning to the end of the supply chain.

    “At this internship, every other person I get to work with is a different major,” remarked Luikart. “It’s been really cool to meet new people also in STEM-related areas who are not math. It’s been really interesting to see the real world and math collide.”

  • Olivia Persin

    Much like Andreola and Luikart, Olivia Persin participated in an extraordinary internship with the guidance of Dr. Daniele Arcara, professor of mathematics. She spent her summer in Catonsville, Maryland, at the National Security Agency (NSA) participating in the 2023 Future Computing Summer Internship. While the opportunity was exceptional for her education, Persin was exposed to the various career opportunities and mission of the NSA.

    “This internship allowed me to investigate other STEM-related interests and research opportunities presented,” said Persin. “It opened my eyes to the various career paths and development programs the NSA has to offer.”