Summer Internship Program Returns This Year, Continuing a Tradition of Success

Dennis Klinman, M.D., Ph.D., says science is like the surface of a sphere—there are thousands of possible connections between different points. It is fitting, therefore, that on the eve of his retirement, the senior investigator has helped a young scientist connect with her passion.

It’s half an hour to showtime in the spacious, sun-filled atrium. Glance upward and you can’t miss the painted five-foot-tall black paw print and the inscription “Panther Pride” along the open staircase’s tallest yellow wall. Clustered around the lobby, 20 presenters are steeling their nerves as best they can: pacing, fidgeting, rehearsing. Pressure to perform aside, it’s a decidedly casual event, evidenced by several shoelaces that need tying.

When Joshua Yu became a semifinalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, he continued a tradition he didn’t even know existed. A Werner H. Kirsten (WHK) intern, Yu is the latest in a long line of students hailing from Nadya Tarasova, Ph.D.’s lab to make the semifinals in the Regeneron competition, which bills itself as the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.

Ben Orsburn, Ph.D., stood in the middle of a 180-square-foot laboratory, speaking over the white noise that flooded the room. The source of the din—large, desk-sized objects called mass spectrometers—filled nearby rows of lab benches. Orsburn pointed to one along the periphery of the room, a white-and-black box with the words “Orbitrap Fusion” emblazoned on the front in small blue text.

Technology transfer at national laboratories presents challenges, and the Frederick National Laboratory is no exception. But that hasn’t stopped Claudia Haywood, Tom Sova, and Candice Garner-Groves from notching a series of accomplishments that span their tenure at FNL.