CHAMPAIGN – Research Park’s most influential and valuable interns were honored on Thursday, July 27, 2017 at the Research Park Summer Intern Picnic. Almost 600 highly skilled students work for Research Park tenant companies, where they gain valuable work experience and make significant contributions to internal corporate research and development programs. They also are able to work on valuable projects and build their professional networks and personal skillsets with by being exposed to scenarios that cannot be learned in the classroom. The interns nominated for this year’s intern awards represent a wide range of skills and backgrounds, and are all students at the University of Illinois. A team of Research Park professionals evaluated all nominations and determined the finalists and winners.
During the event, 6 outstanding students won awards from categories that included: Best Entrepreneurial Leadership in a Startup, Most Advanced Marketing/Business Development, Best Technological Innovation, Most Competent and Collaborative Team, Most Valuable Undergraduate, and Most Valuable Graduate student employees. The selected students each received a trophy commemorating their achievement and a small gift from the Research Park.
The Department of Statistics is proud to announce two Statistics students were recognized for their excellence during the Research Park Most Valuable Interns of 2017.
The honorees are as follows:
Roshen Samuel:
Award Won: Most Outstanding Undergraduate Intern
Description of Award: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers. Treats people with respect and inspires the trust of others. Works with a high level of integrity and is proactive in building relationships. Keeps confidence. Admits mistakes. Can find common ground and get cooperation with minimum noise. Works well as a member of a team - both in leader and member role.
About Roshen: Interned for AbbVie: Earning a degree in Economics and Statistics.
Manager Comments: “Roshen exemplified an ability to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Roshen went above and beyond typical efforts to produce quality deliverables that delighted his clients. Beyond the specific efforts and outcomes, Roshen's overall impact to the organization is difficult to understate. Previously, AbbVie almost exclusively utilized our Innovation Center to augment some of our computer programming efforts. Nearly 100% of the students in the Center were pursuing Computer Science, Bioengineering, or similar studies. Roshen was the first student to join a new market research team and initiative that was seeking to utilize students to do market analysis on vendors and technologies that may be of interest to different organizations within AbbVie"-Masha Trenhaile
Wanxin Bai (Finalist)
Award: Best Technological Innovation
About the Award: Any intern who has helped with, independently created, or lead a team in developing solutions for the betterment of projects, process & tools / automation. Any Tasks that are self-driven like improving the processes, cost savings, improved efficiencies, out of the box thinking to solve business problems demonstrated through thought leadership.
About Wanxin: Intern at Gartner. Wanxin is a graduate student who is getting her masters in Statistics.
Manager Comments: "Wanxin’s superior technical abilities and good work attitude have helped us deliver high-quality products to our stakeholders. During our acquisition with Gartner, we were able to demonstrate some of the capabilities that Wanxin has created. Wanxin never backed off from taking new responsibilities and challenges. She has been very approachable to her junior interns and has been able to mentor them very effectively. Over all Wanxin has been an asset to our organization and we are super happy to have her as part of our team” –Imran Khan
Congratulations to all of the 2017 Research Park Honorees! For additional information and a complete list of winners, please see: Research Park 2017 Most Valuable Interns