I really enjoyed the variety of tasks that I was assigned throughout my experience with the Functional Food Center. These tasks ranged from editing scientific journals to creating website pages to writing review articles for the publications. I found that this diversity of tasks really helped to challenge me and push me outside of my comfort zone to widen my knowledge of functional foods and writing. Another aspect of the internship that I really enjoyed was the balance of independence and cooperation with my supervisor, Dr. Martirosyan. We had a lot of productive correspondence over Skype about the importance and direction of the projects I was doing, but I still did the bulk of my work independently which allowed me to learn from experience. Dr. Martirosyan was a very knowledgable, patient, and understanding supervisor and throughout the duration of my internship, I was very grateful to have his guidance and teachings. I will most definitely carry the lessons and skills that I learned at the FFC with me throughout my career.
What I wish was different
I wish there had been more collaboration with other interns or group discussions about certain projects. There were instances where, for instance, another intern was handling the publishing and I was handing the editing and formatting and I felt that the process could have been a lot smoother had we been able to contact each other directly.
Advice
I would advise that you not get too comfortable doing any one task. One of the greatest parts of this internship involves the diversity of things you will learn and be in charge of doing and in order to fully take advantage of this, it is necessary to keep an open mind. Additionally, this is definitely not an internship where you will exclusively be give instructions and told what to do. Dr. Martirosyan very much values the input, experiences, and ideas of interns and I found that it was very important to give my honest opinions about projects and events.
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Food Science Intern
October - December 2020 • East Lansing, MI
What I liked
I liked how flexible the hours could be to accommodate my very demanding class schedule. I also enjoyed learning new skills and sharpening old skills. This includes editing, writing article summaries, working on LinkedIn, and writing an article that is now published in a journal.
What I wish was different
I wished I could have had more projects that involved other interns.
Advice
This is a very fast paced and mostly independent internship after the first few weeks. Be prepared to learn a lot in a short amount of time and having to change things on the fly.
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Functional Food and Nutrition Intern
September 2021 - April 2022 • Dallas, TX
What I liked
I appreciated the collaborative aspect as well as the individualism associated with tasks. There was a great balance, allowing for both freedom to operate in a way that was comfortable to me and stringent guidelines to anchor me to the task. Furthermore, the staff promoted learning, offering extra opportunities that could benefit both me and my work with them. The open lines of communication were great and allowed me to feel like I was being listened to. This really helped whenever I was confused about a task.
What I wish was different
At some points expectations were vague. The freedom was nice but more structure may help with mitigating confusion. It is important to note that my role was remote, meaning some of this was likely due to communicating online instead of in person.
Advice
This experience helps you to become a more self-reliant academic. The freedom provided to the intern helps you to grow as a person and get a feel for managing yourself in situations where you are the primary source of accountability. Without such, it is easy to fall behind.
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Functional Food and Nutrition Intern
May - August 2022 • Dallas, TX
What I liked
I enjoyed the variety of tasks involved in this internship and the array of skills I learned and improved on throughout. Reading, editing, drafting, formatting, and writing were all aspects involved in this internship, and I can definitely say that a lot of the skills utilized during this experience helped me to strengthen certain areas that I know I will be using down the road. I liked the way the internship was set up, as lots of it was independent work, yet still collaborative with your boss so you can get some supervision and so you have an outlet to ask about any questions or problems you may run into. I also thoroughly enjoyed the informative aspect of this internship, as lots of the papers and articles I worked with were written by professors around the world and contained a surplus of information about topics I happen to find very interesting. Overall, I would say this was a great experience because I met new people, improved various important skills, and gained personal knowledge along the way.
What I wish was different
I will say it would have been nice to collaborate with other interns a little bit more, as most of my interactions were with my boss. A lot of the work is independent, with a "pass it down the line" type of feel, so some sort of collaborative group project would have been a nice change up and a good chance to meet other college students interested in the same field I am.
Advice
I would advise you to be ready to step out of your comfort zone, because some of this work will push you to do things you haven't necessarily done before. But be ready to embrace it because you really can get a lot out of this internship if you put the time and dedication in, and if you do, you'll have a very valuable experience.
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Intern in Functional Food and Nutrition
December 2020 - August 2021 • San Diego, CA
What I liked
I liked what the company stands for and what they are striving towards.
What I wish was different
I wish it had been in person and paid, as I did important work for the company and due to the time difference it was difficult to get in contact with my boss.
Advice
Advocate for yourself in your position.
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Health and Disease Journal Internship
July - September 2021 • San Diego, CA
What I liked
I appreciated having a say in my tasks; Dr. Martirosyan regularly asked for my input and was open to any ideas. He was also very flexible whenever I needed time off. I enjoyed being able to write research articles that will be submitted to (and hopefully published in) one of FFC’s peer reviewed academic journals. I also got to edit articles submitted to their journals.
What I wish was different
Would have been nice to see past intern projects/tasks to get an idea of the sort of tasks possible at FFC. I didn’t know having my own research project or assisting with one was possible until I saw other interns did that.
Advice
Be open as you learn to work with new people and personalities. Manage your time and schedule carefully, efficient work is expected. Since it’s remote, it’s also expected for your Skype to say “active” whenever working (if you work on multiple devices, know it will not show “active” if the device with Skype signed in is asleep). Most work is done in google drive, so it’s similarly expected for the last edited time to be recent during your work hours.
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Functional Food Intern
May - August 2023 • San Diego, CA
What I liked
I liked that I was able to work on a variety of projects and have the opportunity to author one article and collaborate with others to author another. I was able to refine my editing skills and learn how to publish an article. I enjoyed editing other authors' work before submission and creating presentations based on some of these articles because I could learn new information as I worked on them and improve my skills with feedback.
What I wish was different
I believe it could have been beneficial to have had a more structured mentorship program in place, in addition to the valuable feedback and task assignments provided by Dr. Danik. Having a dedicated advisor or mentor specifically assigned to work with interns, under Dr. Danik's guidance, might have enhanced the learning experience. Recognizing Dr. Danik's diverse responsibilities within FFC, it's clear that he upholds rigorous standards and thorough evaluation. In hindsight, I feel that additional support in the form of more comprehensive guidance or clearer instructions would have contributed to an even more productive and enriching internship.
Advice
One piece of advice that I would give is to be prepared to be flexible to work on various tasks and learn how to effectively communicate since it is remote over skype and you will need to video call and message the other interns if you work with them and with Dr. Danik.
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Web and Graphic Design Internship
April - June 2023 • San Diego, CA
What I liked
I learned so much more than I had hoped to and was met with a hands-on remote internship experience that gave me the skills needed to function in a professional work environment in which I could make changes to my work in accordance with my employer's feedback.
What I wish was different
There is not much that I wish would have changed as the internship experience was pretty straight forward with me receiving my tasks and communicating my tasks with my employer until they were completed
Advice
I was picked up relatively quickly. The internship hours were highly flexible and communication with employers was very smooth. All tasks given to me here were very insightful in terms of gaining experience relating to design work and prepared me for what may await when doing this kind of work.
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Summer Intern
May - August 2023 • San Diego, CA
What I liked
I enjoyed the tasks that Dr. Martirosyan assigned me. Specifically, I enjoyed having the opportunity to write my own academic journal articles on topics of my choice, as well as revising and formatting other journal articles. It was exciting to be exposed to the journal publishing world and to learn the behind-the-scenes, such as how to format according to FFC's specific instructions. I also enjoyed the independent, flexible nature of the internship. I felt as though I could work at my own pace, which I appreciated.
What I wish was different
I wished that there were more tasks or more variety of tasks, as some days were quite slow. While I enjoyed the independence of the internship, it would have been nice to occasionally communicate with other interns, as I often wasn't talking to anyone during my shift.
Advice
One piece of advice I would like to share about this experience is to ask questions if you need clarification. Dr. Martirosyan appreciates when students ask for help if needed, and he will also take the time to clarify and explain further.
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Nutrition and Functional Food Intern
January - June 2022 • Dallas, TX
What I liked
I had a wonderful experience as a Nutrition and Functional Food intern at Functional Food Center/Functional Food Institute. Dr. Martirosyan, editor-in-chief and founder of FFC, oversaw my internship and provided great guidance and mentorship. The opportunity was remote and I could arrange my own schedule, allowing me to perfectly manage with my academic and personal commitments. Throughout my internship, I gained a lot of knowledge and skills which has been really useful in participating in the projects I completed. I am happy with this experience and truly recommend it to those who are interested in nutrition, public health, and biology.
