Stephanie Hernandez, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, has received the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP) internship, co-sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Office (ARO) and Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP).
The URAP internship helps undergraduate students develop skills in Army critical science and engineering research areas in a university lab setting, while preparing them for the next steps of their educational and professional career.
The internship will support Hernandez as she pursues summer research at the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute. Hernandez joined the laboratory of Tim Weihs, professor of materials science and engineering, as a member of the MEDE project in Fall 2017. The goal of the MEDE project is to create a strong lightweight material for use in body armor applications for the Army.
Hernandez’s research focuses on testing magnesium alloys under uniaxial tensile testing. Through tensile testing, she is able to gather information regarding how the material deforms along with values of strength. Hernandez recently presented her research at the Women in Whiting’s First Annual “Women in STEM” Symposium.
Hernandez says she is eager to focus more energy on her research this summer. She is also excited to continue working under the guidance of Prof. Weihs and PhD candidate Suhas Eswarappa Prameela.
“I am greatly honored to have received this opportunity. I’m able to do minimal research during the semester because of my heavy workload, but I hope that this internship will allow me to invest more time in my research. Working on this project has provided me the opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary team, with people from different departments and with unique skill sets, to solve challenging and exciting problems,” said Hernandez.