With a significant percentage of employees eligible for retirement in the next decade, the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and its contractor UCOR are focused on initiatives that will bring interns and graduates into the workforce to learn from experienced personnel before they retire.
As part of this effort, UCOR expanded its internship program this year to 40 participants from 14 colleges across the country.
Born into a family of medical professionals from Mexico, Mauro Perez was expected to follow in family footsteps by becoming a doctor. However, while growing up, he gravitated to Legos and was more interested in building structures.
“After participating in my high school’s STEM program, where I took basic concepts and mechatronics classes, I knew I wanted to spend my future designing buildings and bridges,” Perez said.
Now, his internship has introduced him to a new interest — tearing down structures. One of his assignments includes a project that’s preparing the Alpha-2 facility for demolition at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
The intern program also provides opportunities for students like Andrew Tomassetti.
After spending more than a decade in the U.S. Army, Tomassetti began thinking about his next career while recovering from an injury at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He thought about the impact of safety on performance operations and decided to pursue a career in quality assurance.
“I was on track to start college courses when a deployment to Afghanistan changed my original plans,” he said.
After receiving medical retirement from the military in 2021, Tomassetti returned to college. He always knew he wanted to spend his civilian life in Tennessee after falling in love with the area during his seven years at Fort Campbell.
In his internship with UCOR, Tomassetti noted the safety culture in which everyone looks after each other.
“My previous experience in aviation, automotive and military all go together in quality assurance where I can put my skills and experience together,” he said.
UCOR’s growing university partnerships have also enabled the company to recruit students to the program more easily.
Avery Newman, a chemical engineering major from Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, UCOR’s newest university partner, was familiar with EM’s ongoing environmental cleanup work near her hometown.
“I chose UCOR for my first internship because it provides a diverse opportunity where my values would be aligned with what I want to do while also allowing me to be home for the summer,” said Newman.
She is splitting time between engineering and nuclear safety, which was her goal entering the internship. While classes prepared her for solving calculations, Newman says her position with UCOR provides the experience of a more holistic engineer.
UCOR also expanded intern opportunities into new fields and disciplines this year.
Makayla Hammons, a biomedical engineering major from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, is the first intern assigned to support the health services team in UCOR’s medical clinic.
A Mentorship for Environmental Scholars Program intern undertaking her first internship within DOE, Hammons wanted to learn how the medical world and the environment can intertwine. She’s getting exactly that working with a team that helps the workforce with all work-related injuries, illnesses or medical-related safety issues.
UCOR’s summer internship program pairs college students with mentors in their respective departments, and its proving successful. Several participants have already pursued careers at UCOR after completing their internships. Eleven students from the 2022 class returned for the 2023 session, while eight students joined the UCOR team full time upon graduation.
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