CITRIS’s former student technology writer, a UC Berkeley chemical engineering major, was selected for a 2025 CITRIS Workforce Innovation internship. In her own words, here’s what she learned from the program.
My name is Anna Linn. I’m a chemical engineering major in my fourth year at UC Berkeley. This past summer I interned for Roca Water, an early-stage water treatment startup based in Alameda, California.
I’ve been drawn to solving complex problems my whole life. In high school, a series of chemistry classes made me interested in how the most fundamental processes of our world — the interactions of molecules — influence our everyday lives. I chose to study chemical engineering at university because it seemed like a rewarding field where I could channel this curiosity.
One application I discovered at Berkeley was engineered materials, from the polymers that structure our plastics to the semiconductors that support rapid and powerful computation in electronics. I became more fascinated the more I learned, and I knew it was something I was interested in pursuing professionally.
I initially felt unsure how to navigate the wealth of opportunities at Berkeley to eventually reach a job where I could engineer materials myself. I knew I wanted to get hands-on experience working on real-world challenges, and to learn how to do so more resourcefully.
During my third year, I was accepted to the CITRIS Workforce Innovation Program, which turned out to be my opportunity to do just this.
CITRIS Workforce Innovation offers UC students eight-week internships in emerging areas of technology innovation. I interviewed with Roca Water, a startup that recovers valuable resources from wastewater at the level of individual ions.
The company’s electrochemistry-based technology, which uptakes and releases ions in cycles like a battery discharging and charging, enables the removal of contaminants from ocean-bound water streams and closes industry production loops. For example, ammonium found in agricultural runoff may be separated, purified and placed back in the hands of fertilizer manufacturers to generate more fertilizer rather than reaching a water body, where it will contribute to the formation of toxic algae blooms.
When I was selected as a Roca Water intern, my project focused on the specialized electrode material Roca uses to selectively remove impurities, and I was tasked with developing and optimizing the chemical synthesis procedure of a prospective material that, if successful, would enable the company to remove ions faster and with more precision.
I soon became immersed in the rhythm of going into the lab, working with each member of the team in their area of expertise, and learning to collaborate on challenges in a way that school presents few opportunities for. Another intern and I benefited from a highly supportive mentorship team, who not only allowed us to suggest what we hoped to learn in the formulation of the projects, but also allowed us to largely pilot the projects ourselves.
I would recommend the following ways for other interns to get the most out of their experiences:
Keep a journal.
Maintaining a written record of your day-to-day tasks, thoughts and feelings is an easy way to track your achievements and reflect on areas you want to improve.
At the midpoint of my internship, I was running multiple days-long experiments at once, each with unique conditions. When my responsibilities picked up, these daily notes helped me keep everything manageable.
Come prepared.
When going to a meeting with your supervisor, it is important to do your own preparation first, even if you don’t come up with the perfect solution on your own. This way, you’ve started to figure out the pieces of the puzzle.
Exploring a material that was unfamiliar to both me and the company, I made an effort to both analyze the data I collected and reference published papers after each round of experiments in order to propose a next step. From there, I would work with my supervisor, who offered in-depth expertise and advice, to make a final decision.
Push forward, despite setbacks.
The best way to remedy a mistake is learning not to repeat it. Even if you don’t know whether your next attempt will lead to the perfect result, it is important to try again.
Partway through my internship, I discovered that one of my core assumptions about my material was incorrect: Rather than demonstrating stability in aqueous environments, the material broke down, affecting my ability to optimize its ion-extraction performance. Even though I didn’t know exactly what to do next, conducting a set of exploratory experiments on the material’s stability allowed me to pinpoint the issue and gain a deeper understanding of the relationships between multiple properties within one material, a key aspect of materials science.
Ask questions and restate answers.
Make a conscious effort to clarify concepts and instructions you don’t understand, even if you believe it is a minor point of confusion. Question what you are told and what you see: Why is it done this way? What if it were done that way? Once you receive the answer, it also helps to repeat the information to your supervisor in your own words, as this reinforces the concept, ensures that you will complete the task correctly and improves communication on the team.
My final takeway: Learning experiences like internships are rarely straightforward summits to climb — so don’t discredit efforts that you believe were unsuccessful. Knowledge returns to you, and when you do succeed, you can thank the effort you invested even when your outcome wasn’t assured.
Looking forward to graduation and planning my career, I feel more confident in pursuing the field of materials science after my time with Roca Water as a CITRIS Workforce Innovation intern.