UCO Computer Science Student Selected for Prestigious Department of Energy Research Internship
July 3, 2025
University of Central Oklahoma College of Mathematics and Science student Mohammad Aariz, a junior computer science major from Oklahoma City, has been selected for a prestigious 10-week summer research internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Under the mentorship of UCO faculty advisor Junghwan “John” Rhee, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science at UCO, Aariz will work on a cutting-edge project exploring vulnerability in quantum computing through system simulation at multiple levels. ORNL is home to Frontier, the world’s second most powerful supercomputer, providing a remarkable environment for hands-on research in emerging STEM fields.
“This opportunity at Oak Ridge is a testament to Mohammad’s dedication and talent. We’re proud to see our students contributing to groundbreaking research on a national level,” Rhee said.
Aariz is a multi-year recipient of the John Taylor Beresford Endowed Scholarship. His prior research, “Depth Camera Assisted Traffic Light Detection,” was completed under the guidance of Shuai Zhang, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science at UCO, and supported by UCO’s Research, Creative and Scholarly Activities grant.
His selection for the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program, a nationally competitive initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, marks a significant achievement and highlights UCO’s ongoing commitment to providing transformative undergraduate research experiences.
For more information, contact the UCO Department of Computer Science at cms@uco.edu or call 405-974-5019.
For more information on UCO’s computer science program, visit go.uco.edu/CompScience.
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