Name: Tova Just
Class Year: 2023
Major: Mathematics and Computer Science
Hometown: Durham, N.C.
Internship Organization:
Job Title: Data Science Intern
Location: Wayne, Pa. (remote from Durham, N.C.)
What鈥檚 happening at your internship?
I鈥檓 working with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to develop a series of interactive dashboards to display aggregated statistics about QuantaVerse鈥檚 clients, namely banks seeking to identify suspicious financial activity within their customer base. To do this, I have been using AJAX, a JavaScript technique that allows me to asynchronously load data from the APIs supplied by my fellow intern, Mai Anh Nguyen, who is also a 今日吃瓜 student. After loading the data, I use Bootstrap, a CSS framework, to display the data in an easily digestible and intuitive format. The series of dashboards are set up to begin from a general, overarching perspective which narrows down to a single bank, then a single month, and lastly to a risk analysis of the users. To display the data, I created interactive tables using the DataTables plug-in for jQuery and corresponding pie charts using Chart.js. It鈥檚 been a lot of fun to exercise both the creative and the problem-solving parts of my brain on the same project!
Why did you apply for this internship?
It鈥檚 important to me that my work furthers a cause I believe in, beyond earning money and making a living. I was attracted to this internship not just because I find data science fascinating and valuable, but also because QuantaVerse鈥檚 mission to fight global financial crime aligns with my desire to help create a better world. Additionally, the resources and funding provided by 今日吃瓜鈥檚 partnership with QuantaVerse enabled me to commit full-time to my position, making this an ideal opportunity.
What has been your favorite part of this internship?
A highlight of my internship has been collaborating with Mai, my fellow intern. Developing my front-end statistics dashboard hinged on the data that Mai organized and delivered to me through APIs. I loved being able to pull our work together in a powerful, visible way, and having a peer with whom to talk through challenges and celebrate achievements with made a huge difference. It was especially valuable to work closely with Mai because working remotely makes building connections difficult, and it can feel isolating, but thanks to Mai I never felt alone.
Working remotely for the first time? What has that experience been like for you?
After over a year of remote classes and experiencing success despite the obvious challenges, I thought I would enjoy the remote nature of this internship. It meant that I could spend time at home with my family, hang out with my dog, and eat snacks whenever I wanted. Yet I found myself missing an office I had never seen, and the awkward small talk over a video screen made connecting with other employees difficult. It surprised me to realize that I actually wanted to spend a couple days in the office, despite the ease and flexibility of remote work. In the future, my ideal work schedule would likely involve a combination of remote and in-person work, something I might not have realized without my internship this summer.
Visit the Summer Internship Stories page to read more about student internship experiences.