Connecting Coursework with Industry
7 CDS Students Share their Summer 2024 Internship Experiences
Acquiring an internship and developing professional skills are an important part of the undergraduate and graduate educational experience. As an intern, students are able to hone in on areas of interest, network with data science professionals, develop soft skills, gain practical experience, and build a resume.
"(An internship) is a great opportunity to meet new people and get real-world experience on how a company operates on a global scale," says Vincent Sun (CDS'27), a global clinical supply data science intern with Pfizer. "Being able to speak to and interact with professionals and data scientists taught me how to look at things from a larger perspective, focusing on what really matters as well as what data can accomplish when used optimally."
An internship also enables students to apply the practical knowledge gained in the classroom to real-world professional experiences.
"I've applied many of the database design concepts I learned in the DS310 "Data Mechanics" course when working with unstructured datasets," says Sam Offsey (CDS‘26), a compensation analyst intern with Textron. "The DS587 "Data Science in Human Contexts" class has also helped me take a people-centered approach to using data in the human resources field."
Araba Aidoo (CDS‘26), a data science intern with Givelify, credits Professor Kevin Gold and DS110 for providing her with the necessary skills to work for the mobile giving app.
"Introduction to Data Science with Python" with Professor Gold has helped me incredibly for this role," Aidoo says. "Being proficient in not only Python but also SQL is extremely helpful for the workplace. Additionally, our final was a group project using machine learning, which directly translated into working with the data science team at Givelify."
CDS News connected with seven data science students, including Sun and Aidoo, and discussed their summer internship experiences. Read about their roles and responsibilities, the CDS courses that prepared them for success, and some tips and tools they offer for securing an internship.
Profile quick links:
- Oluwaseun Ademiloye (CDS‘26), Global Risk Solutions (GRS) Data Governance for GRS Data Office, Liberty Mutual Insurance
- Araba Aidoo (CDS‘26), Data Science Intern, Givelify
- Vijay Fisch (CDS‘26), US Countrywide Risk Analytics for Personal Lines Auto, Liberty Mutual Insurance
- Dominic Laiosa (CDS‘26), Billing Operations (Finance Department), Liberty Mutual Insurance
- Sam Offsey (CDS‘26), Compensation Analyst Intern, Textron
- Max Schultz (CGS'24, CDS'26), Research Assistant at Boston University Summer Institute in Biostatistics and Data Science; Data Science Intern at Groundwork DFW
- Vincent Sun (CDS'27), Global Clinical Supply Data Science Intern, Pfizer
Oluwaseun Ademiloye (CDS‘26)
Title: Global Risk Solutions (GRS) Data Governance for GRS Data Office, Liberty Mutual Insurance
Tell us about your internship.
In my role as an analyst intern at Liberty Mutual, I focus on data governance and strategy. I am analyzing data roadmaps, improving Excel data, and creating informative dashboards and reference pages in PowerBI.
What are you enjoying most about this experience?
This summer, my project involves analyzing the current state of a data roadmap and the accompanying Excel data for areas of improvement and creating dashboards and reference pages in PowerBI. These tools help users understand how to define and correctly input data into the roadmap.
What CDS courses prepared you for the internship role? Please explain.
When I first walked into Liberty Mutual’s headquarters, I anticipated my role as an analyst intern would revolve around numbers, graphs, and coding — typical analyst tasks, right? To my surprise, I discovered another side of data science that I'm excited to learn about every day. My work predominantly falls into the realms of data governance and strategy. I was first introduced to data governance in my DS310 "Data Mechanics" course with Professor Seferlis, where we discussed the critical aspects of ensuring data quality, security, and other governance attributes.
How did you find and obtain this internship?
I attended Liberty Mutual’s Unite Summit last summer, where I was introduced to the ADP internship. Participating in that summit fast-tracked my application past screening and prepared me for the interview rounds.
What tips would you offer other CDS majors to help with the internship search?
If you're uncertain about your future in academics or your career, the best advice I can offer is to explore a variety of opportunities. As someone fascinated by both the technical aspects of data science and the communication skills required in project management, this approach led me to apply for Liberty Mutual's internship program. Their diverse placements cater to different interests and skill levels, making it an ideal fit for me.
Any other comments about the internship and your experiences?
Explore a variety of opportunities, and don't limit yourself to predefined roles. Look for internships and programs that offer diverse placements and align with your interests and skills. Bonus: Apply to and attend those day summit programs!
Araba Aidoo (CDS‘26)
Title: Data Science Intern, Givelify
Tell us about your internship.
Since Givelify is a financial technology company I have the ability to do a lot of tasks. I work a lot in Excel, create dashboards, run tests, and run real-life experiments. I also get the chance to work with the fraud team as well as API and PCI.
What are you enjoying most about this experience?
Although my internship is remote, I really enjoy being able to connect with so many people who have incredible knowledge and a background in the tech field. I often schedule coffee chats with my mentor and managers to learn about their paths, including the many startups and software projects that they have created.
What CDS courses prepared you for the internship role? Please explain.
DS110 "Introduction to Data Science with Python" with Professor Kevin Gold has helped me incredibly for this role. Being proficient in not only Python but also SQL is extremely helpful for the workplace. Additionally, our final was a group project using machine learning, which directly translated into working with the data science team at Givelify.
How did you find and obtain this internship?
I applied to many internships over my winter break and had interviews during my spring semester. After many callbacks and a few coding assessments, Givelify offered me a position.
What tips would you offer other CDS majors to help with the internship search?
Definitely prepare for coding assessments. Most data science jobs will require you to take a test as part of the interview process. Some websites I found helpful were LeetCode and Topcoder for practice questions. As long as you prepare, you will be fine!
Any other comments about the internship and your experiences?
Don’t be afraid to try new things! The data science world is vast and there are many different directions you could go.
Vijay Fisch (CDS‘26)
Title: US Countrywide Risk Analytics for Personal Lines Auto, Liberty Mutual Insurance
Tell us about your internship.
I am spending this summer delving into large complex datasets on Liberty’s nationwide trends, asking questions about the frequency and severity of accidents nationwide, our appetite for different types of customers (high vs low risk, AKA good vs bad drivers), and other macro-level economic indicators of profit.
What are you enjoying most about this experience?
Before my time here at Liberty Mutual, I didn’t realize how fascinating the world of car insurance is (I know, hard to believe). As someone passionate about the intersection of economics and data science, the highly competitive insurance market has a lot to offer; the volatile supply and cost of car parts, climate-induced weather events and other catastrophes, and an increase in accidents post-Covid require data-driven problem solving to maintain profit levels.
I am also enjoying the huge availability of data at the company. Car insurance is a data-driven industry, and I have access to a tremendous trove of datasets on everything from company finances to accident statistics to car repair costs nationwide. My dataset for my main project is over 200 million rows and nearly 40 columns, which I have loved exploring in Power BI!
What CDS courses prepared you for the internship role? Please explain.
My first project in this team was a proof of concept: My manager asked me to transfer a set of Excel charts into a large Power BI slide deck. Thankfully, the final homework in my DS310 "Data Mechanics" course was the exact same assignment with different data — thank you very much, Professor Seferlis! I feel incredibly prepared to move on to my larger project: an analysis of the impact of new car safety features like lane assist and brake assist on the frequency of accidents and cost of car repairs. In my opinion, the data visualization and statistical analysis skills taught by the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences have prepared me well to work at Liberty!
How did you find and obtain this internship?
I found it online and applied through the regular application on the website. The process consisted of submitting my resume and cover letter, followed by a 15-minute recruiter interview, followed by a larger two- to three-hour interview with a one-hour behavioral interview, a one-hour case test, and a 30-minute Q&A with a recent hire.
What tips would you offer other CDS majors to help with the internship search?
Broaden your search! There are so many industries in which data scientists can enter with little to no expertise, from pharma to energy to finance. I know nothing about car insurance but am succeeding in this internship due to my data skills.
Dominic Laiosa (CDS‘26)
Title: Billing Operations (Finance Department), Liberty Mutual Insurance
Tell us about your internship.
As a Data Analyst intern at Liberty Mutual on the Billing Operations team, I am responsible for analyzing customer support chat data to pinpoint the most frequently asked questions and identify areas where representatives need additional training. I have spent the majority of my time finding ways to automate labeling these conversations. This mainly involves creating functions to manipulate data frames in python and also experimenting with Natural Language Processing.
What are you enjoying most about this experience?
Seeing how much data an enormous, global company like Liberty Mutual has and how they are utilizing it to guide their business has been extremely interesting to me. Data science drives numerous parts of the business, and it has been very exciting to see. I’ve also really enjoyed working on a team, learning more about the business, and gaining industry experience.
What CDS courses prepared you for the internship role? Please explain.
Courses like DS110 "Introduction to Data Science with Python" and the DS120-122 "Foundations of Data Science" progression have been instrumental in preparing me for my role at Liberty. They provided me with foundational coding skills in Python and introduced me to several machine learning concepts that I am now applying in my internship. Working with PowerBI in DS310 has also helped me understand and develop dashboards that my team will hopefully use in the future.
How did you find and obtain this internship?
I believe I found this internship on LinkedIn or Handshake. I applied through one of those websites and then got a call from a recruiter a couple weeks later where he asked me broad questions about myself and my resume. A week or so after that, I had a more intense three-hour-long interview, which consisted of three different parts: a behavioral interview, a case interview, and then a one-on-one with an employee who is currently in the rotational program that the internship feeds to.
What tips would you offer other CDS majors to help with the internship search?
I would advise other CDS majors to apply anywhere and everywhere in their internship search, regardless of whether it is a specific position they want. All experience is good experience, and where you work now does not directly translate to the position you may hold in five to 10 years.
Aside from that, I would say reach out to people whom you have a relationship with and see how they can help or if they know of certain programs you should apply to. There is no harm in asking, and the worst that can happen is they say, “No, I don’t know of any data science programs,” and then you continue to apply as you have been.
And if you don’t feel like you have relationships with someone who could potentially help, then start trying to build them. Ask one of your professors or someone in the data science department to talk about what they did before coming to Boston University. The majority of them have worked in industry and could tell you a ton about what their job entailed, what they have learned, and what drives their success.
But make sure you reach out to these people with intention and with a desire to learn. If you go in with the attitude that if you talk to this person then you can ask him for a referral or you can apply to this job, then chances are it won’t work out or your intentions will be obvious to the person you are talking to. Reach out to learn and develop, and naturally the referrals and job opportunities will follow.
Any other comments about the internship and your experiences?
Thus far, my internship has been both challenging and rewarding, helping me bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world application. Each day brings new learning opportunities, and I’m continually impressed by how much data these companies possess.
There seems to be a statistic for every part of the business, and it has been extremely interesting learning how Liberty utilizes these stats to drive performance. Overall, my time at Liberty Mutual has been awesome so far, and I am super excited to see what the remainder of the summer has in store!
Sam Offsey (CDS‘26)
Title: Compensation Analyst Intern, Textron
Tell us about your internship.
I utilize data and analytics to help develop effective and rewarding pay programs for our workforce. This includes leveraging salary surveys to design market aligned pay structures and machine learning models to evaluate the effectiveness of compensation initiatives.
What are you enjoying most about this experience?
It's been rewarding to apply my data science skills to projects that directly benefit individuals across the organization. I'm also enjoying the sense of community we have within the intern class.
What CDS courses prepared you for the internship role? Please explain.
The DS310 "Data Mechanics" course has been vary useful in my role. I have needed to apply many of the database design concepts I learned in the course when working with unstructured datasets. In addition, the human contexts class, DS587 "Data Science in Human Contexts", has helped me take a people centered approach to using data in the human resources field.
How did you find and obtain this internship?
I had the opportunity to meet a senior Textron leader at a Questrom event. Our conversation inspired me to apply to the company's internship program.
What tips would you offer other CDS majors to help with the internship search?
For roles you are most interested in, try to connect with someone in the hiring decision pipeline. This can be as simple as sending a LinkedIn message or cold email so they can know you as a person and not just a resume.
Max Schultz (CGS'24, CDS'26)
Title: Research Assistant at Boston University Summer Institute in Biostatistics and Data Science Program; Data Science Intern at Groundwork DFW
Tell us about your two summer internships.
Boston University Summer Institute of Biostatistics and Data Science is an NIH funded program that strives to introduce undergrads to the field of biostatistics. I was a receiver of a full scholarship to this program through the Boston University School of Public Health, and engaged in a five week, in-person, training program at BU which culminated in an asynchronous research assistantship/group project.
I am also a Data Science Intern for Groundwork DFW, a nonprofit in DFW (Texas) working with international school district to enroll underrepresented kids in preschool. I am working as an analyst to improve neighborhood polling efficacy — using traditional data science pipelines and techniques.
What are you enjoying most about this experience?
I thoroughly enjoy learning about biostatistics and its intersection with data science. During this program, we visited the Framingham Heart Study in Framingham, Massachusetts, and had the chance to work with some raw data that was collected via their processes. It was very cool working with real data as well as learning some of the behind-the-scenes information about data collection, cleaning, and analysis.
Again, I really enjoyed working with real data. This truly differs from the often clean theoretical data that we use in school. I also enjoyed working in a team environment — conversing about and applying the appropriate statistical techniques that we learn in class.
What CDS courses prepared you for the internship role? Please explain.
Definitely DS110, DS120, and DS121. DS110 provided me with the Python coding experience needed, and DS120 and 121 provided the mathematical background.
How did you find and obtain this internship?
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and reaching out to different companies in Dallas, Texas.
What tips would you offer other CDS majors to help with the internship search?
Don't be afraid to cold email people. Remember that career professionals are people, too. That being said, make sure you are still being respectful and succinct in your emails.
Vincent Sun (CDS'27)
Title: Global Clinical Supply Data Science Intern, Pfizer
Tell us about your internship.
At Pfizer, I work within its Clinical Supply sector but more specifically within innovative solution development. My role requires me to learn and map ways to streamline the delivery of investigational products to Pfizer’s many clinical sites all throughout the world. I use data on a daily basis to create reports, dashboards, and predictive models to forecast profitability of drug shipments based on a variety of parameters such as drug type and a country's import tax.
What are you enjoying most about this experience?
It is a great opportunity to meet new people and get real-world experience of how a company operates on a global scale. Being able to speak to and interact with professionals and data scientists taught me how to look at things from a larger perspective, focusing on what really matters as well as what data can accomplish when used optimally.
What CDS courses prepared you for the internship role? Please explain.
I was surprised when I could navigate many of Pfizer’s data science tools using the knowledge I gained from DS110. One of my tasks required me to clean and extract data from a centralized database, so knowing what type of joins to use and how to use Python to group based on conditions were integral to my role.
How did you find and obtain this internship?
A big reason why I was able to obtain this opportunity was because of prior research. I was aware of Pfizer’s Internship program during my senior year of high school, so structuring my undergraduate classes to fit the skills I would need at the internship, such as web development (CS103) and dataset manipulation using Python (DS110), gave me project experiences to talk about during the interview.
What tips would you offer other CDS majors to help with the internship search?
Do your research and know your projects well. Look into the job description and familiarize yourself with the software before the interview, envision how the tool might help the department, and don’t be afraid to speak up about your findings during the interview. Also, connect the fundamentals of your projects, such as data cleaning, regressions, and graphing, to the job description but also describe your project as a starting point for your future ambitions.