Spotlighting the experiences of the 2023 IIP Virtual Poster Winners
Applications are currently open for the 2025 Summer International Internship Program (IIP)! This incredible program connects 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year students with an international institution for ~8 weeks to pursue a project that allows them to explore different careers, cultures, and workplace environments. Many of these projects empower students to take on various research endeavors, learn new research skills, and apply their research findings to make an impact on global communities. Here are several spotlights of Princeton students who shared their internship experiences and were winners of the 2023 IIP Virtual Posters. You can also view all of the poster reflections.
Reflections Category
Kareem Jaber: Chumbaka
Kareem worked with Chumbaka, a Malaysia-based social enterprise that works to bring engineering education to primary and secondary schools and build a “maker movement”. He co-taught Chumbaka’s curriculum in after school programs, helping students learn coding and electronics through tools such as Scratch, MBlock, and Arduino. Kareem also assisted in training teachers to mentor their students for the ‘Junior Innovate’ and ‘Young Innovators Challenge’ nationwide competitions. He mentored three secondary students to create a device to help track important hemorrhagic shock treatment information in a hospital environment. Their work won first prize in the Emergency Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting innovation competition. He also assisted in adapting Chumbaka’s “Coding and Algorithm” course to an offline setting and hosting the material on a Raspberry Pi, so that schools in more rural areas could have access to Chumbaka’s teaching materials. During his time in Kuching, Malaysia, Kareem explored their cuisine, hiking spots, rock climbing, and community workshops.
Say-Yeon Olivia Kwon: KenSAP
Olivia worked with KenSAP, a Kenyan-based college access program that helps bright, unprivileged Kenyan high school graduates apply to top US colleges. She planned and taught SAT Math and Calculus lessons to KenSAP students to prepare them for US college education. Olivia is proud of designing and teaching a differential calculus class with her fellow IIP intern because calculus is not part of the Kenyan High School curriculum and was an essential skill for KenSAP students to succeed in US colleges. Reflecting on her experience being discriminated against based on her racial identity in Chepkanga, she described that she built insight into the challenges faced by minorities. Olivia developed empathy for her students and strong relationships with them while hiking together and learning their local language.
Aaliska Sapkota: Child Family Health International
Aaliska worked with Child Family Health International (CHI), a NGO that provides students with the opportunity to observe and learn about global health through observation in clinics and hospitals to inspire them to pursue a career in medicine. While visiting clinics and hospitals in Bolivia, she got to see the everyday jobs of staff from all different specialties and got to learn about the differences in the different levels of treatment. Aaliska enjoyed her stay with her host family and learning Spanish to immerse herself in La Paz and Tarija. She was particularly interested in observing clinics treating Chagas, a disease endemic to Bolivia.
Creativity Category
Lasha Giorgi Shamugia: Max Planck Institute for Dynamics & Self-Organization
Lasha worked under the supervision of Dr. Claudia Elizabeth Brunner in the Max Planck Institute in Germany to capture the cellulose particles’ behavior in the airflow with the Particle Image Velocimetry system in his experiment-based personal project. He was grateful for the challenging learning opportunities to construct an experimental apparatus and collaborate with colleagues to run his experiment.
Melissa Ruiz: Sisma Mujer
Melissa worked with Sisma Mujer, a Columbia-based NGO advocating for women who face gender-based and armed violence. She sat in on women’s support group meetings, where she was inspired by how each woman was resilient despite the countless setbacks they faced. Melissa read many books and articles about gender-based violence and gender in spaces. She enjoyed the vibrant and welcoming city very much.
Austria Meritt: The City Palace Museum
Austria worked in the The Cíty Palace Museum in India to prepare an exhibition on maps named Picturing Place: Painted and Printed Maps at the Udaipur Court. She was able to contribute to object research and exhibit panel design. Austria also proposed and created an educational map brochure on how to read maps and architectural drawings for visitors to read while going through the exhibit. She created a series of drawings relevant to iconic locations in the city palace complex and a visitor’s map for the museum, as well as researched architectural drawings in the museum’s collection and origins of architectural representation in India. Austria enjoyed exploring the intersection of design and architecture during her internship.
Cultural Engagement Category
Darren Alexis: NashTech Global
Darren worked as a software engineer intern at NashTech Global in Vietnam, which designs digital solutions for businesses. He worked on a project to develop a user-friendly web application that would simulate banking system software. Darren designed a user-friendly interface, implemented robust security measures, and ensured seamless transaction processing for enhanced customer experience. In his project, he had the opportunity to work closely with a talented team of engineers, project managers, and designers to think creatively while developing unfamiliar software. Darren also enjoyed learning about the rich history of Vietnam by visiting the Vietnam War Museum, learning about different religions, traveling through the countryside, exploring street art exhibitions, enjoying local markets and street food, visiting the coasts, and immersing themselves in the cultural festivals.
Samantha Handwerk: Ibis Reproductive Health
Samantha worked with Ibis Reproductive Health (IRH), which leads several programs serving the sexual and reproductive needs of the South African community through their in-depth research on topics including abortion access, HIV transmission, and contraception availability. Collaborating with the research and communication teams, she assisted with their current research on abortion access, specifically through data management tasks and the drafting of code summaries. Samantha designed marketing material for IRH to present at the 2023 South African AIDS Conference and engaged with educators, government officials, and experts in the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) field at the conference as an invited representative of IRH.
Apply to 2025 IIP
You can RSVP for an information session on the 2025 IIP and find more information on how to apply for the 2025 IIP. Also, make sure to take a look at all the wonderful internships offered this summer. You can also schedule an appointment with an IIP advisor. We hope you are able to explore this incredible opportunity!
— Yubi Mamiya, Engineering Correspondent
