LOCK HAVEN – For the first time in Lock Haven University’s history, a student has secured a grant, which resulted in a paid internship with the National Institute in Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Md. This paid internship included housing and travel, as well as the generous stipend.
While it is not uncommon for students to get internships, it is uncommon to have a paid internship, especially one offering housing and travel, as well. For Kyle Leber, a May graduate of Lock Haven University, co-writing a paper titled “Web Based 3D Visualization and Interaction for Whole Body Laser Scans” was a result of his the internship.
The paper was published in the Proceedings of International Conferences on 3D Body Scanning Technologies in Long Beach, Calif. The primary author of the paper was Sandy Ressler, a computer scientist in the High Performance Computing and Visualization Group. The contents of the paper entailed a web application in which Leber was the lead developer.
“Lock Haven has provided me with the necessary skills and fundamental knowledge to apply myself in a real world setting, and be successful at it,” said Leber “The faculty understand the importance of being able to apply these skills in order to be competitive in the job market today.”
Leber graduated with a Bachelors of Science in applied computer science. His future plans are to work as a web application developer in industry for a few years, and then pursue a Master’s degree in human computer interaction. Human computer interaction is essentially the interaction between people and computers or technology, and how people react to certain interface.
“Each person will react differently to an interface system or design, so being able to design an application to be suitable to the majority of users is ideal,” said Leber. “The areas in which I want to be part of are the actual development of user interfaces, as well as the psychological aspect.”
