Cañada College Student Chosen for Prestigious Internship at Brookhaven National Lab

Fidel Salgado will be working in the computer technology department this summer.

Cañada College student Fidel Salgado has been chosen to participate in a summer internship at Brookhaven National Lab. He’ll be working in the lab’s Engineering Technology – Computer Department but his exact duties have yet to be defined.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security.

Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

“I heard about the possibility of internships with the Department of Energy from Cathy Lipe (program coordinator for Cañada’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics Center),” Salgado said. “I started reading about the internship opportunities at different Department of Energy laboratories. When I read about Brookhaven National Lab, I was amazed by their work. I knew that being able to work in a lab like Brookhaven would enhance my research and technical skills.”

Salgado is studying electrical engineering and computer science at Cañada and plans to transfer to a four-year university next fall. He eventually wants to attend graduate school and possibly work in the high-tech industry or in a lab that conducts research. He credits Professors Amelito Enriquez and Professor Akilles Speliotopoulos for pushing him to pursue a degree in engineering.

Salgado moved to the Bay Area from El Salvador in 2011. “I did not know how lucky I was to start studying at Cañada until the middle of my first semester,” he said. “I was really surprised at how much support Cañada gives STEM students. I knew I had to take advantage of the opportunity.”

In the summer of 2012, Salgado participated in an internship at Stanford University’s Microsystems Laboratory and he has worked at Cañada as a physics tutor since spring, 2012.

“Cañada is definitely the best community college to pursue a career in STEM,” he said. “There is tremendous support for students. People are always trying to help you so it’s really up to individual students to take advantage of all the opportunities."