Impressions from Supervisors of their Professional Development
Supervisors feel they benefit from being involved with the internships. The interns have provided them with fresh perspectives, technical expertise and dedicated time on a project, which has helped accelerate software development, explore new research directions and produce tangible outputs, including software, publications and potential grant applications.
Supervisors have also valued the opportunity to develop their leadership and supervision skills, learn new technical approaches and work more closely with RSE colleagues.
“It was valuable to have somebody solely focused on research software development, a task which it is often difficult to have dedicated time and effort towards.”
“It provided me with an opportunity to gain experience as a lead supervisor on a project. The student acted as a catalyst for a new avenue of development of the research. His ideas and work have accelerated software development across the wider team.”
"I learnt a lot from my student about the numerical techniques he was using, and how to access HPC resources."
“Listening to their perspectives and how they approach a problem, and the realisation that they could reach the outcome they so sought from our engagements was satisfying.”
“This was my first time working with an undergraduate intern, so the experience was extremely beneficial for me. Understanding the gaps in documentation, trying to explain the concepts they needed to understand, and working alongside them to debug scripts and understand how the program worked was a very fun experience.”
“It developed a line of research which will be continued in the future, showing real-world potential for the work.”
"The intern was very skilled and his input has helped me write a high impact factor publication. We are also planning to submit a new grant proposal."
"The link to an RSE was helpful for everyone--the intern learned about job opportunities and the group identified new software approaches."
Supervisors' Impression of the Research Quality
Supervisors generally feel that students exceeded their initial expectations. They praise the interns for their professionalism, commitment and ability to quickly develop new technical skills, including programming, HPC and specialist research methods. Several supervisors have been particularly impressed by students’ ability to grasp complex concepts, contribute their own ideas and deliver high-quality outputs within a relatively short timeframe.
"I was very happy with the intern's work. They were very dedicated to the position and worked diligently. I kept my expectations limited as it can be difficult for a novice to learn a coding language. Nonetheless, they showed a great commitment and were able to devote time to more advanced parts of the analysis."
“The software developed is of a high standard, and the focus was on building a software framework that was flexible and extendable in the future for related research work. It was pleasing to see this developed to a high standard.”
"I was not only happy with their work, but I was very happy with their attitude to work. Both met expectations.”
"I was very impressed with the student; they were hardworking and dedicated. I did not know what to expect, as they had no prior experience working with HPC. They took on the challenge and did their best within the limited time frame. I was particularly impressed by their grasping complex concepts very quickly, and the fact that they were not intimidated by all the tasks."