Six student interns enrolled in the Office of Naval Research’s Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program had the opportunity to present their research to mentors, scientists and staff assigned to Naval Medical Research Unit San Antonio at the Battlefield Health and Trauma Research Institute.

Gabriella Alessio, an Arizona State University graduate and Scottsdale native, is one of the six students who took part in the 10-week program which places college and university students in Department of Navy laboratories where they take part in real Naval research during the summer, according to a press release.

NREIP gives academically talented college students, graduating seniors, and graduate students pursuing STEM careers the opportunity to learn about Naval research and technology while receiving first-class mentoring by top scientists and engineers.

Dr. William D’Angelo assigned to NAMRU San Antonio’s Biomedical Systems Engineering and Evaluation Department, said NREIP is a valuable program that exposes NAMRU investigators to motivated and intelligent students.

“This program is important because we can introduce very high-caliber students to our current projects every year,” D’Angelo said in the release. “The students are able to make incredible progress in a short amount of time and really contribute to the NAMRU San Antonio mission in a meaningful way.”

As NAMRU San Antonio’s student outreach coordinator, D’Angelo organizes the NREIP summer programs.

“In many cases, the mentors and interns establish a long-term relationship which benefits them both,” said D’Angelo. “The Navy developed this program so that promising bright students can potentially come back to the laboratories when they have finished their education. For NAMRU San Antonio, we often have interns who are interested in the medical field and gain valuable experience for medical school.”

To be eligible for NREIP, applicants must be United States citizens currently enrolled at a four-year U.S. college or university accredited by the U.S. Department of Education and must have completed 31 or more college credits. Interested students can apply for NREIP at https://navalsteminterns.us/nreip/.

NAMRU San Antonio is one of the leading research and development laboratories for the U.S. Navy under the Department of Defense and is one of eight subordinate research commands in the global network of laboratories operating under the Naval Medical Research Command in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Its mission is to conduct gap-driven combat casualty care, craniofacial and directed energy research to improve survival, operational readiness and safety of DOD personnel engaged in routine and expeditionary operations.