What's it like Being an ORISE STEM Researcher?

The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education administers science education programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy and other federal agencies. The diversity of these programs enables individuals—whether undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral or faculty—to conduct collaborative research with national laboratories and partners of federal agencies.

From robotics research to improving the national wastewater infrastructure, ORISE researchers apply their talents and interests to advance research of national interest. Through ORISE internships, fellowships, and research appointments, participants get one step closer to reaching their STEM career goals.

Below are just a few of our interns, fellows, and former researchers, and these are their stories.

  • Vivian Egan

    Vivian Egan

    AFRL Research Participation Program

    Discover Vivian Egan's inspiring journey from a fascination with STEM to groundbreaking research in human performance. Learn how her academic achievements and participation in the AFRL Research Participation Program through ORISE shaped her career in industrial and human factors engineering.

  • Erik Head

    Erik Head

    ORNL Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI)

    As a participant in the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Erik Head conducted research on denitrification methods of refining crude biofuels.

  • Animal researcher studies Influenza A virus in swine

    Giovana Ciacci Zanella

    USDA ARS Research Participation Program

    Giovana Ciacci Zanella is studying pathogens that infect production animals and humans through an ORISE fellowship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.

  • USDA fellow researches mitigating fungal infections in Texas corn

    Connel Ching’anda

    USDA ARS Research Participation Program

    The research project of Connel Ching’anda, Ph.D, is focused on comparing the performance of different commercial biocontrol products that mitigate aflatoxin contamination of Texas corn. A native of the Republic of Malawi, a country in Southeastern Africa, Ching’anda saw firsthand the struggle of farmers to produce crops.

  • Rebecca Masline

    Rebecca Masline

    DOE FES

    Rebecca Masline, Ph.D., is a participant with the Department of Energy's Fusion Energy Sciences Postdoctoral Research Program. Masline's research focuses on fuel efficiency and helium enrichment in exhaust systems in nuclear fusion devices using high-fidelity computer simulations.

  • Meagan Roberts

    Meagan Roberts

    NNSA Minority Serving Institutions Internship Program

    Meagan Roberts, MPH, is a former ORISE participant of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Minority Serving Institutions Internship Program (NNSA-MSIIP). Her internship focused on nuclear incident response policy and capacity building for nuclear and radiological emergency preparedness.

  • The rings of a tree: a dendrochronologist’s tale

    Daniel “Donny” Perret

    USDA Forest Service Research Participation Program

    Daniel Perret, Ph.D., is an ecologist conducting research as a fellow with the USDA Forest Service focusing on tree species’ responses to climate change.

  • EPA fellow researches PFAS toxicity levels in migratory fish populations

    Izak Hill

    EPA Research Participation Program

    Izak Hill is an ORISE fellow with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Atlantic Coastal Environmental Sciences Division (ACESD). His fellowship focuses on the growing environmental concern of PFAS and their accumulation in wildlife fish species.

  • FDA fellow contributes to gene therapy research

    Susana Najera

    Research Participation Program at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

    Susana Najera is an ORISE fellow at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Her research aims to develop safer and more efficacious therapies for patients.

  • Matt Comins

    Matt Comins

    DOE Scholars Program

    Matt Comins, Ph.D., turned his aspirations to collaborate with the Actinide Chemistry and Repository Science Program into an achievement by securing an appointment with the Department of Energy in 2021.

  • ORISE fellow alum recounts her life-changing opportunity with the USDA-ARS

    Indrani Kakati Baruah

    USDA ARS Research Participation Program

    Indrani Kakati Baruah, Ph.D., is an alumni ORISE fellow with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) who researched various fungal pathogens that were responsible for various devastating diseases on cacao trees, commonly known as the chocolate plant.

  • ORISE fellow at U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense shares her journey to success

    Zoe Vaughn

    ORISE Research Participation Program at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

    Zoe Vaughn, Ph.D., is an ORISE fellow with The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) researching organophosphate (OP) nerve agents to find a reactivation of the acetylcholinesterase that could help farmers, average Americans and the military.

  • CDC Bioinformatics fellow bridging gaps between laboratory research and public health implementation

    Grace Nabakooza

    CDC Research Participation Program

    Grace Nabakooza, Ph.D., is an alumni ORISE fellow with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with a background in medical research in infectious diseases, immunology, molecular biology and bioinformatics in Africa and the United Kingdom.

  • CDC fellowship lets Christie Kim explore new disciplines

    Christie Kim

    CDC Research Participation Program

    Christie Kim, MPH, stepped outside of her comfort zone to learn a new discipline of data analytics and data science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

  • Luis Caicedo Torres

    Luis Caicedo Torres

    NNSA Minority Serving Institutions Internship Program

    Luis Caicedo Torres, Ph.D., is an ORISE National Nuclear Security Administration Minority Serving Institutions Internship Program (NNSA-MSIIP) fellow with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division. Through his research, Caicedo Torres hopes to leverage tools from mathematics to create a world with sustainable energy for everyday uses.

  • Robby Phillips

    Robby Phillips

    U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Science, Technology and Policy (STP) Program

    Robby Phillips is an ORISE participant with the Department of Energy (DOE) Science, Technology and Policy (STP) Program. With a passion for addressing climate change, Phillips’ research is used to uplift communities left behind by the energy transition through streamlining information and navigating challenges.

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MentorIMPACT

ORISE recognizes the crucial role that mentors play in the personal and professional development of the next generation of STEM. These videos feature a few of our mentors across the federal departments and agencies that offer internships and fellowships through ORISE who were gracious enough to talk about their experiences and expertise. The stories they tell offer a glimpse of the inspiration they instill, their commitment to life-long learning, and their passion for “shaping the future of science.”

Watch the series

ORISE Featurecast logo

ORISE Featurecast spotlights all things ORISE

The ORISE Featurecast is a podcast about all things ORISE. Hear from ORISE research program participants and their mentors about their experiences and how they are helping shape the future of science.

Listen to the ORISE Featurecast