Cogen 2023 Summer interns get hands-on experience with local companies and labs
By Theresa Barosh
August 1, 2023
CSU undergraduate and graduate students learned to make a difference in clean-tech ventures and research during this summer’s Cogen Internships. The CSU Energy Institute partnered with local companies to form the internships, supporting 16 students who gained real-world experience.
Three Cogen fellows, including Diana Morales-Martinez, Amanda Gin, and Mandy Mohrlang, are also participating in She’s In Power this summer working with Prieto Battery and Save Energy Coalition. She’s in Power advances women who will be tomorrow’s clean energy leaders. The program pairs women with a work experience and a professional mentor to build their skills and community.
Some participants below shared their experience with their internships and what they learned.
“I worked on The Prieto battery cathode optimization project this summer. I learned tons and tons about batteries, battery technology, and all the infrastructure. I also had a lot of mentors from the company, and they taught me all sorts of things about their careers and confirmed for me what I want to do with my life and the career aspects and projection that I have for myself. I’ve learned lots about experimental procedures, how to do data analysis, analytics, and statistical modeling for battery projects, as well as business aspects of a small-scale company that’s getting larger,” said Mandy Mohrlang, She’s In Power participant.
“I worked on some engineering projects with Solas Energy Consulting. I did a lot of high-level project management, some data reassurance, some market research, and that sort of scope of work,” said Gabriel Castro. “This summer I learned a lot about the renewables industry. I learned about the inner workings, some of the technical pieces, and also just the management that goes behind it. There’s a lot of different pieces that play into that and so it’s a really great opportunity to learn about all that.”
“I worked on plasma assisted combustion with Dr. Dumitrache. This summer I learned about programming languages, how to work with Fortran, and how to add plasma kinetics to my combustion model,” said Mozhdeh Hooshyar.
“This summer I worked with the methane emission and technology evaluation center, that’s METEC. This group is concerned with methane emission detection, quantification, and modeling. I learned vital skills that I take with me as a software engineer,” said Al-Bashir Muhammad.
“This summer I learned how to use AutoCAD to draw schematics. I also learned more about microinverters, inverters, and power systems,” said Austin Bostwick, working with Moser Energy Systems.
“I’m working on the METEC project at the CSU Powerhouse, and this summer I have learned a ton of things about the intersection between programming and coding and engineering applications. So doing that involves a lot of data visualization and processing, and that’s what I’ve been all about this summer,” said Ethan Rimelman.
About the Cogen Internship Program
The Cogen Internship Program provides opportunities to Colorado State University students to learn about clean energy and decarbonization. Students work towards becoming future leaders alongside innovators in energy research and solutions.
Collaborating companies and research labs include Atmos Zero, Montava, Moser Energy Systems, Solas Energy, Northern Colorado Clean Cities, Prieto Battery, Save Energy Coalition, Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center, and Powerhouse Energy Campus labs.
