College sophomore thrives in electrical engineering through internship with the Army Educational Outreach Program

Scientific jargon may boggle the minds of many individuals, but phrases and words such as “cryostat window” and “indium gallium arsenide” come to Maya Rigor with ease. After all, it’s what the college sophomore thrives on after finding a pathway in electrical engineering, with complementary research experiences to help bolster her passion of the subject.

Rigor, an honors student at the University of Delaware, joined the Army Educational Outreach Program last year, having completed a project with faculty from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The undergraduate AEOP Apprenticeships experience at Delaware, now known as AEOP Internships, provided students with research opportunities in electrical and computer engineering through work with short-wavelength infrared detectors and semiconductor alloys, and focused on the measurement, analysis and modeling of carrier transport and recombination mechanisms.

Rigor said she learned about AEOP through a professor, which led to last summer’s research experience to analyze the characteristics of semiconductor materials by comparing the optical properties of Bismuth (Bi) incorporated InGaAs (Indium Gallium Arsenide) with InGaAs samples.

“Working with AEOP has helped me with my STEM journey in education by providing me with many opportunities to learn about, and from different STEM professionals and careers,” she said. “Every week, AEOP had many guests talk during their speaker series. AEOP also provided access to different workshops. One workshop gave advice about professionalism in a STEM career, another workshop helped modify resumes.”

AEOP Internships and Fellowships, formerly known as Apprenticeships and Fellowships, provides U.S. Army-funded opportunities for high school through postdoctoral individuals to work in paid experiences at labs across the country, with renowned scientists and engineers in STEM fields that complement their interests and areas of study. The K-12 University Center at Rochester Institute of Technology administers the program on behalf of the Army, and provides a myriad of resources to help in a participant’s success.

It also provides mentorship from career professionals, with in-person and virtual assets.

“When I worked on my summer research project, I was mentored closely by Dr. Nuha Ahmed-Babikir,” Rigor said. “Nuha guided (me) immensely and introduced me to the process of working through my first research experience. Together, she taught me how to analyze temperature-dependent transmission characteristics of materials, how to process data, and make presentations for group meetings.”

That, she added, culminated into weekly readings that benefited research, and topic exploration for better understanding, while learning insights into the life of an electrical engineer. Rigor also found online mentorship with the AEOP team at RIT via its web-based workshops; webinars; speaker series; and other professional development options, such as the Learning Hub.

Rigor plans to finish her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and explore interests within the field, including working on the design and development of electronic components and devices.