West Virginia University’s Cameron Whitelam, a doctoral student at the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering, earned a prestigious internship out of a competitive pool of 5,000 applicants. Whitelam was accepted to the Office of Naval Research through the Naval Research Enterprise Internship program at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, in Philadelphia.

The NREIP provides an opportunity for students to participate in research at a Department of the Navy laboratory during the summer. The internship encourages students to pursue science and engineering careers by offering laboratory mentors and various laboratory research opportunities.

“When my advisor, Dr. Thirimachos Bourlai, told me that ONR was doing a research internship program, I thought it would be a great experience to see how projects on the government side of things work as opposed to the academic side,” explained Whitelam, majoring in computer engineering with an emphasis on biometric systems.

“This internship will give me the knowledge and experience to come back to WVU and be more of an asset to my advisor, professors and peers,” Whitelam said.
NREIP provides competitive research internships to approximately 238 college students each year. Participating students typically spend 10 weeks during the summer conducting research at one of 19 DoN laboratories.

“I would really like to thank my advisor as well as Dr. Bojan Cukic for their letters of recommendation and their support of my application,” Whitelam said. “I encourage other WVU students to apply for this internship, and others like it, to progress their career in their chosen fields.”

The ONR internships are available to sophomores through doctoral students.

“When less than 5 percent of the applicants received the internship, you understand how big of an achievement this is,” said Bourlai. “Cameron is a model student, not only for the multi-spectral imaging lab that I am directing, but also for WVU. I suggest other students communicate with their professors to discuss similar opportunities that can enrich their lives and create history for our university.”

-WVU-

dar/4/18/12

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CONTACT: Mary C. Dillon, CEMR
304-293-4086; mary.dillon@mail.wvu.edu