Applied Software Engineering Research (ASER)

Thinking about the experience at ORNL

Yanjun Zhao

8/16/2008

Dear Cathy:

It’s really a very great experience for me as a summer intern advised by you. I didn’t expect three months of summer internship passed so fast and I wish today could be the start day of my intern. Honestly speaking, what I studied in this period is far more than I expected, on both research skills and life attitudes. I’m not good at writing but what I said is what I am thinking.

Here are some things I think great:

1. Not matter my research progress is great or bad; you always encouraged me and said “Great, it’s so great, I’m so proud of you”. When I did great job, I felt happy to hear it; when I did bad job, I felt warm in my heart; when I didn’t work hard, I shamed on myself.

2. Every meeting is efficient and valuable. You can always sit down and take pains to discuss the details.

3. I like the visits in the weekend very much. Visits make us be familiar with each other. You also told me so many important life experiences, which is an invaluable fortune that nobody gave me before. Your optimism and diligence also gave me very deep impression, and I also want to be a person like that.

Here are some suggestions I think maybe useful:

1. Sometimes you can give me more pressure, I think I’m a student that works better with pressure. Of course, every student is different.

2. Tell me directly when you think I’m doing wrong things, criticism makes people progress.

3. None. Actually I think you are really very good as an advisor.

Finally, thank you again, dear Cathy!


	More photos...
	Eric Wilhite Junior, Tennessee Governor's Academy Internship: 09/2007 - 08/2008 Mentor: Dr. Robert M. Patton So I have no idea where to start... Coming into my internship with Robert most of my "research" experience came from middle school science projects. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. Robert pitied me none, and pretty much threw me in headfirst. At the time I thought he was absolutely crazy. How could I learn computer programming by doing all the complicated stuff first?!? What in the world is text analysis?!? I didn't even know the basics! Turns out there was a method to what I thought was his madness. I came out with a working knowledge of Java as well as a mind for problem-solving. Robert's teaching didn't stop at the computer keyboard. He was always there and ready to provide advice on anything from college choices to summer vacations (He is quite the globetrotter himself...). The ASER team was extremely nice and I became good friends with everyone. To sum up: Robert is an awesome mentor, the ASER team is absolutely amazing, I wouldn't change a thing. Anyone with the chance to work with these guys should never pass it up.
	Xin Sun Ph.D. Candidate, Georgia Tech Internship: 06/2008 - 08/2008 Mentor: Dr. Yu (Cathy) Jiao Final Poster My mentor, Cathy, is a professional researcher at work and a warm person in life. She is very energetic and enthusiastic, which I would like to learn the most from her. She is always willing to discuss my project whenever I have any questions. She helped me to go through my presentation slides several times, and provided me a large amount of insightful suggestions. From her demonstration, I learned how to formalize the ideas and show them to people in a clear and organized way. Moreover, she helped me to overcome my anxiety before and during the presentation. In life, he treats us as her friends more than her students. She invited me and her other students to her house for dinner several times, and talked about life, her dancing classes and what she has learned from life these years, which were surely amazing and beneficial to me. Her experiences touched me so much, which led me to retrospect my way of life and face any difficulty bravely in the future. To summarize, it was my pleasure working with Cathy this summer. I learned a lot not only from the research experience, but also from her attitude towards life. I look forward to working with her again in the future.
	Yanjun Zhao Ph.D. Candidate, Georgia Tech Internship: 05/2008 - 08/2008 Mentor: Dr. Yu (Cathy) Jiao Final Poster Thinking about the experience at ORNL Yanjun Zhao 8/16/2008 Dear Cathy: It’s really a very great experience for me as a summer intern advised by you. I didn’t expect three months of summer internship passed so fast and I wish today could be the start day of my intern. Honestly speaking, what I studied in this period is far more than I expected, on both research skills and life attitudes. I’m not good at writing but what I said is what I am thinking. Here are some things I think great: 1. Not matter my research progress is great or bad; you always encouraged me and said “Great, it’s so great, I’m so proud of you”. When I did great job, I felt happy to hear it; when I did bad job, I felt warm in my heart; when I didn’t work hard, I shamed on myself. 2. Every meeting is efficient and valuable. You can always sit down and take pains to discuss the details. 3. I like the visits in the weekend very much. Visits make us be familiar with each other. You also told me so many important life experiences, which is an invaluable fortune that nobody gave me before. Your optimism and diligence also gave me very deep impression, and I also want to be a person like that. Here are some suggestions I think maybe useful: 1. Sometimes you can give me more pressure, I think I’m a student that works better with pressure. Of course, every student is different. 2. Tell me directly when you think I’m doing wrong things, criticism makes people progress. 3. None. Actually I think you are really very good as an advisor. Finally, thank you again, dear Cathy!
	Whitney St. Charles B.S. Candidate, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga Internship: 05/2007 - 08/2007 Mentor: Dr. Yu (Cathy) Jiao Final Presentation Final Poster Robert and co. requested that I write up a little review of my experience… so here we go! As far as I’m concerned, this summer was a phenomenal success. I came into this experience with one goal: To have a quintessential research experience. Luckily, because my mentor was so incredibly accommodating, that was made into a reality for me. I really like that I was able to explore the research process largely on my own, with the occasional, light nudging in one direction or another. Because I was allowed to do this, I feel a lot more capable… that whole process is very much ingrained in me now, and I feel like I could do it again. The project itself had its ups and downs, which was as it should be. I’m lucky that I had some adversity with this, actually, because a completely pain-free experience may have left the whole thing a little too sugary for comfort; that is, I would find myself doubting the picture-perfectness of my experience as I was considering this kind of research as a career. From what I observed around me, however, I feel very comfortable looking at my experience as an authentic window into that existence. I will absolutely recommend the experience to all my little IEEE underlings when I get back to school. Check out my RAMS website if you like! http://www.csm.ornl.gov/Internships/rams_07/websites/w_stcharles/
	Jesse St. Charles B.S. Candidate, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga Internship: 06/2007 - 08/2007 Mentor: Dr. Xiaohui Cui Final Presentation