Muhlenberg cross country and track & field runner Pat Smurla, a rising junior computer science major, is an information security intern at Nasdaq this summer. Nasdaq, a stock exchange based in Manhattan, is conducting its Futures Internship Program virtually. The following is an interview with Smurla by Lyanne Alfaro that was published on the Nasdaq website.

Tell us a little more about your role at Nasdaq.
I am an information security intern here at Nasdaq. I have been gathering a lot of research about Python and how to gather data across servers. My internship project is to compare the company's whitelist, or a list of websites that are allowed to be used, to actual requests that people are making across the servers.

Why were you eager to do an internship at Nasdaq?
While in college I have learned that I really like coding, but it can be applied to many different fields and I was not sure what field I wanted to go into. Nasdaq is such a big and well-known company and I knew that if I had an internship here, I would be able to work on a project that would challenge me but still be interesting to me.

What's the most interesting thing you've learned about working here and on your team? I think the most interesting thing that I learned from working at Nasdaq was learning about the internship experience from people who currently work for Nasdaq. There are so many people who were in the same shoes as me, even CEO Adena Friedman! It was super interesting to learn about their journey with Nasdaq and how they are passing down their knowledge to us interns.

Tell us about the most exciting project you've worked on so far.
For me, trying to figure out how to compare the company's whitelist to the actual server requests has been very challenging but exciting since I am learning a ton of new skills. Before coming into this internship I did not have much knowledge on how to deal with large sets of data from within a company. Now I am confident in pulling data from servers.

What do you hope to accomplish by the end of your time here?
By the end of my time here I hope to have a strong understanding of what I learned from Nasdaq from my department and from the futures program. I also hope to continue to build on the network that I have created from working here.

Your advice for interns next year.
My biggest advice for the future interns is to get to know as many people as you can, whether they are in your department or not. You never know who will be able to teach you the most during your time here. It may even be one of your fellow interns.

Although this summer is different from any in the past, that has not stopped Mule athletes from enjoying fantastic experiences. If you would like to tell the story of your summer, please fill out our Summer Check-In form!