When Julia Ye, a junior at Johns Hopkins University, signed on for her summer internship, she never imagined that she'd be interviewing candidates for a manager position at her company. But, after shadowing interviews with her supervisor, she'll soon have the chance to lead some on her own.
"I've been able to be more hands-on than I ever expected," Ye said of her experience at the World Trade Center Institute's human resources department in downtown Baltimore.
Ye matched with the institute through the InBaltimore Internship Program, which is part of Johns Hopkins' Life Design Lab. The program is designed to increase undergrads' involvement in Baltimore City and help strengthen the local community. For 10 weeks this summer, 13 students worked 40 hours a week at nonprofits, government agencies, and companies around the city. Integrative Learning and Life Design provides a $4,000 stipend and professional development.
We introduce a few of this summer's InBaltimore interns here.
Julia Ye, Class of 2026
Major: Psychology and cognitive science with a minor in business
Internship site: The World Trade Center Institute, a global business network that helps existing and emerging leaders develop skills, knowledge, and connections to create a healthy economy, environment, and society in the Mid-Atlantic and globally.
Role: As a human resources intern, Ye analyzes data and helps with revising the employee manual, preparing onboarding materials, and analyzing results of the team performance survey. Shadowing her manager, the director of HR, she sits in on meetings with other leaders, and assists with the process of hiring new employees.
Takeaways: "The cool thing about HR is that it's the applied side of psychology. I always knew that HR was like psychology but applied to the workplace, but I can really feel that now. When I'm in the office and we're talking about things that I've talked about in classes, it's a really fascinating experience for me."
Image caption: Jennifer Izaguirre Martinez
Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University
Jennifer Izaguirre Martinez, Class of 2026
Major: Molecular and cellular biology
Internship site: Baltimore City Health Department Immunization Program
Role: As a clinical assistant intern, Izaguirre Martinez does medical translation between Spanish-speaking patients and non-Spanish-speaking providers. She also schedules appointments and updates and reconciles medical records that may come from other countries or contain outdated information; a patient may have multiple records with different versions of their name. She also organizes back-to-school immunization clinics, cross-referencing school immunization records with the state database.
Takeaways: "I'm really seeing what it takes to run a clinic. A lot of care has to happen when you're with the patient but also when you're doing paperwork behind the scenes. Connecting with people who share a little bit of my culture is very important; when you can't communicate with your provider and you can't be understood, that needs to be addressed. The way you connect with a patient is very important to the care that they receive and how they feel throughout their entire experience."
Image caption: Grace Noh
Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University
Grace Noh, Class of 2026
Major: Biomedical engineering, with a focus on imaging and medical devices
Internship site: CoapTech, a medical device company that created the PUMA System, the first FDA-cleared, ultrasound-based solution for bedside feeding tube placement
Role: Noh is a product-engineering intern working on in-house production, paperwork for regulatory (FDA/ISO guidelines), and editing CAD drawings and sketches. Additionally, she is working on the "PUMA NG project," which involves research and development of a nasogastric feeding tube, and the "GI Joe Project," which aims to develop a biorealistic training model that reduces the overall cost and weight.
Takeaways: "Through my internship experience, I have felt that I have a firmer understanding of what kind of environment I would like to work in. I realized I love working in a fast-paced environment with a small, tight-knit group of engineers and clinicians. I believe that this experience is shaping my perspective on what I want for my future career."
Image caption: Akshat Sinha
Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University
Akshat Sinha, Class of 2026
Major: International studies and economics
Internship site: Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs
Role: Sinha is an outreach and policy intern. He is researching and developing materials about housing, health care, public benefits, employment, citizenship, and language interpretation services for the "Know Your Rights" section of the office's welcome guide. He is also creating one-pagers about citizenship, health insurance, and accessing services, and helps at outreach events.
Takeaways: "There are plenty of resources, but the problem is that people aren't always able to find them or don't know where to look to find them. There's also often a language barrier if someone recently immigrated. It's nice to actually help people and see your work make a positive difference in the community."
Image caption: Marvin Larweh
Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University
Marvin Larweh, Class of 2025
Major: Biomedical engineering, with a focus on biomedical data science
Internship site: Infinite Biomedical Technologies (IBT) a medical device company that focuses on making technology for upper-limb amputees. This company was founded in 1997 out of the lab of Nitish Thakor, professor of biomedical engineering at JHU. Their products include form-fitting batteries, electrodes, and advanced control systems to drive myoelectric upper limb prosthesis for those with limb loss.
Role: Larweh is designing research test protocols and setups to compare prosthetic control strategies using hardware circuitry and Python software. He uses the data collected from experiments to generate relevant statistical analysis and metrics that give initial insight as to how each control strategy compares with the others and informs next steps for the project
Takeaways: "This experience has allowed me to apply a lot of what I learned through Design Team in a practical sense. I got a lot of experience with designing test protocols, which has been quite helpful when doing so for IBT. My Design Team project was heavily focused on electronics, which helps with the hardware setups I do for testing. I've even found myself pulling up some old Arduino codes I helped work on to inform the new ones I design for IBT. The internship has challenged me to be more independent in my work while also collaborating with others. I'm especially grateful knowing that the work I'm doing contributes to bettering people's lives, starting right here in Baltimore."
Image caption: Alina Pan
Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University
Alina Pan, Class of 2027
Major: Cognitive science and computer science
Internship site: Clymb, an emotional wellness software company
Role: As a marketing intern, Pan researches pediatric hospitals as potential new clients, compiles information, and conducts interviews. She is learning how to build an ideal customer profile, and she designs website landing pages and writes content for various audiences.
Takeaways: "I'm really interested in emotional wellness software because it's not often discussed how it can be helpful in the school or hospital space. Also, child life specialists in hospitals are really passionate about their position, they empathize with children and parents, and help normalize the kids' hospital stays. I've also gotten to know how a pediatric hospital works, and how to work in a startup company."
Image caption: Lizzie Suber
Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University
Lizzie Suber, Class of 2025
Major: Cognitive science and computer science
Internship site: The Afro-American newspaper
Role: Suber is an editorial intern. She does man-on-the-street interviews, asking passersby about climate change or advice for Father's Day, for example. She edits, writes captions, and reformats text.
Takeaways: "When I look at the way I approach my majors, I have questions about what is it like to be another person, trying to understand the uniqueness of each person's experience. Journalism is another way to get insight into that. It's also a good way to be more integrated into the Black community. The biggest thing that I'm taking away is seeing how journalists think about things and work through things, which is very different from either of my majors."
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Tagged krieger school, integrative learning and life design, whiting school
