Amelia Halloran, right, writes code with assistance from Saim Siddiqui, left, and John Ohrn, center/UMass Lowell photo

LOWELL – Amelia Halloran is combining her passion for coding and admiration for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) into a meaningful career-connected experience.

The computer engineering major is one of 13 UMass Lowell undergraduate students participating in a paid summer internship program with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a global leader in technology integration.

Over eight weeks, the students will gain cloud computing skills through their support of Cloud One, a secure cloud platform managed by the U.S. Air Force and used by the DoD to develop, deploy and scale mission-critical digital applications that leverage the latest commercial technologies.

“We’re incredibly proud to see 13 of our students interning with SAIC this summer,” said Greg Denon, associate dean of student affairs for career development at UMass Lowell. “These kinds of opportunities are essential for bridging classroom learning with real-world application, especially in areas as critical as national defense and cybersecurity. Partnerships like this demonstrate the impact of connecting student talent with meaningful, mission-driven work.”

Interns Viktor Akhonen and Rohan Paranjape display a UMass Lowell flag/UMass Lowell photo

At the UMass Lowell Applied Research Corporation’s Northstar Campus, located near Hanscom Air Force Base in Lincoln, Massachusetts, the interns are working alongside experts from SAIC and the U.S. Air Force on projects that help modernize DoD systems through the Cloud One ecosystem. Their work is contributing directly to technological advancements that support the safety and operational readiness of the nation.

“I’m really proud of the work that I’ll be doing because it has the potential to help our country,” said Halloran, a rising senior from Lowell. “My grandfather served in the Navy, and my brother is currently in the Navy, so I was drawn to the defense aspect of the internship. I also want to gain more computing experience and am excited to get my hands on a computer program and code.”

Sam DeLap ’21, an Amazon Web Services lead engineer at SAIC, understands the journey that the UMass Lowell interns are on: He once participated in the company’s summer internship program. DeLap now serves as a mentor to the current group of interns.

“Giving back and helping out in the community has been a passion of mine, so it’s a great feeling to take the skills I’ve learned and share that with other UMass Lowell students who are in the same spot I was,” said DeLap, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with a concentration in bioinformatics from UMass Lowell. He is completing a master’s degree in biology from the university.

UMass Lowell’s partnership with SAIC extends beyond the internship program. The institutions have had a longstanding partnership and recently announced they are working together to establish the UML Cyber Center within the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor (LINC), a 1.2-million-square-foot mixed-use development project designed to foster a thriving innovation ecosystem and help build the future cyber workforce to address the nation’s mission-critical programs.

“Our partnership with UMass Lowell reflects a shared commitment to advancing innovation and cybersecurity in the region,” said Jesse Jaramillo, senior manager of the UML Cyber Center for SAIC. “The new UML Cyber Center will serve as a collaborative space where academic and industry expertise converge to tackle evolving cyber threats, drive technological advancement and prepare future leaders in the field. Programs like our summer internship with UMass Lowell are an essential part of this vision, offering students meaningful, hands-on experience while strengthening the talent pipeline for the defense industry.”

SAIC Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer Lauren Knausenberger, center. Front row, from left, Viktor Akhonen, Rutvik Tarikere ’21, Lauren Knausenberger, John Ohrn, Rohan Paranjape and Patrick Tran. Middle row, from left, Sam DeLap ’21, Ronan Chota, Liam Cummings, Michael Bracken ’21, Nicholas Bottari, Doulos Wynn, Aum Patel, Jonathan Kang and Amelia Halloran. Back row, from left, Mehdi Zidar and Saim Siddiqui. /courtesy photo