Internships have long been a cornerstone of personal and professional development, and with each new intern who graces our company, we are reminded of the endless possibilities that lie ahead. As advocates of fostering growth and embracing fresh perspectives, we take immense pride in providing young professionals with the opportunity to explore their potential and ignite their careers.
Our new intern Elaine Famutimi began working with Disaster Tech about a month ago and has been a pleasure to have on our team ever since. Our Marketing and Media Manager, Jaclyn, sat down with Elaine to learn more about her and how Disaster Tech has impacted her career.
J: Tell us a little about yourself.
E: I recently graduated with a Master's in Environmental Engineering from the City College of New York. My graduate research was on using the extra trees machine learning algorithm to forecast solar radiation over Puerto Rico in 1-to-3-hour forecasts. The model I developed did better than an existing model in 1-and 3-hour forecasts. My background is mostly on water quality, and I like to combine tech with water resources since I like both.
J: How did you come across your internship with Disaster Tech?
E: I first heard about the internship when Disaster Tech send me an email regarding the opportunity. I have been on their mailing list for some time, and was excited to see the internship opportunity drop in my inbox.
J: How have your skills and experience been a good fit at Disaster Tech?
E: I have a few skills and experiences that have helped with my seamless transition into Disaster Tech. I know how to code and use QGIS, which is a free and open-source cross-platform geographic information system application. This supports viewing, editing, printing, and analysis of geospatial data. Lastly, I have experience in machine learning, which I believe has been beneficial to Disaster Tech.
J: What is the most interesting thing you have learned with your internship so far?
E: The most interesting thing I learned in my internship is the number of variables that are needed to predict power outages. I am to working with a ton of different variables (30+) for machine learning models, but power outage models seem to stick with a few features and mostly focus on wind related features.
J: Where do you see opportunities for advancing science and technology at Disaster Tech?
E: I really like the company's role in AI, and their forward thinking. I believe that Disaster Tech can go further into different types of disaster predictions through AI, and look forward to seeing that come to fruition.
J: How do you anticipate this experience will help your career?
E: I believe this internship will help provide me with more machine learning experience, since I want to continue my career within machine learning and data science roles.
J: What other interests or non-work hobbies do you have?
E: I like to do art in my free time, and can work with a variety of mediums such as watercolor, oil pastel, acrylics, etc. I also like to cook and bake, when I have the time.
Thank you, Elaine, for sharing your story with us. As you continue to pursue their dreams beyond our company, we have no doubt that you will leave a lasting impact wherever you go. We here at Disaster Tech are excited to see the possibilities that lie ahead for both our interns and our company.
To learn more about our full team, visit www.disastertech.com/about-us. To learn more about interning with Disaster Tech, visit https://share.hsforms.com/1kVd4aaOORtKLc2HEzgM2hg3zh9m.
About Disaster Tech
Disaster Tech, a veteran-owned public benefit company, offers data science and decision science technologies for situational awareness, operational coordination, and risk management before, during, and after disasters. Disaster Tech's goal is to save lives, protect the environment, and build resilient communities by providing the most sophisticated, advanced analytics and distributed high-performance computing platform on the planet. Find more at http://www.disastertech.com/.
Disaster Tech Media Contact
Jaclyn Silvestri
Jaclyn@disastertech.com