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My summer internship at LMI
Rachel Seo, a third-year data science major at the University of Virginia, spent her summer interning with LMI in Tysons, Va. The opportunity came about in an unexpected way: while exploring the upcoming 2025 Data Entrepreneurship Challenge cohosted by LMI and the School of Data Science, Rachel reached out to Brant Horio, LMI vice president of applied research and partnerships. Her timing was perfect.
“Rachel took the initiative at just the right moment, and we were thrilled to be able to respond,” Horio said. “She helped LMI advance real-world [large-language-model] applications for government and national security — exactly the kind of meaningful engagement we envisioned as a longtime partner of UVA’s School of Data Science.” LMI is an industry partner of the UVA School of Data Science.
At UVA, Seo plans to concentrate in analytics and design within the data science major, with academic interests spanning the ethics of data analytics and AI development, the intersection of data science and design, and business psychology. She expects to graduate in 2026.
Seo recounts her experience in her own words below.
"When you’re a student at UVA’s School of Data Science, you know about LMI. Maybe you're not exactly sure what they do, but the name is familiar, and you've heard of the Data Entrepreneurship Challenge they host annually because Professor Brian Wright mentioned it in class. That was exactly the situation I was in before this past summer.
My first contact with LMI was when I reached out to Brant Horio about the Data Entrepreneurship Challenge because I was curious about how my team and I could best move forward with our proposal. Unfortunately, we didn't compete last year due to other circumstances, but Mr. Horio’s patience and understanding sparked my curiosity about LMI—its values, work, and culture.
Fast forward to this past summer, I had the incredible opportunity to intern at LMI, a technology and management consulting firm based in Tysons, Va. I worked on one project throughout the summer as an AI Engineer Intern in the Applied Research and Partnerships division with Mr. Horio and data scientist Samuel Liu, who is also a UVA graduate. Over the summer, I learned to navigate the workplace by improving both my technical skills and my soft skills. Technically, my fellow interns and I had the chance to experiment with LMI’s GenAI platform, LIGER, for research and workflow setup. I spent most of my time prompt engineering on LIGER and understanding how to improve our experiments. I also analyzed datasets using different APIs, applying what I learned in my Systems I: Intro to Computing class.
Beyond technical learning, the most valuable lesson I absorbed was the importance of storytelling. At the School of Data Science, storytelling is embedded in our classes in various ways, and through this internship, I realized why it’s so emphasized in our curriculum. A project is only as effective as how you present it. Earlier in the internship, I listened to my project manager and coworkers present our work to both internal and external stakeholders, noticing how they crafted the story. When it was my turn to present my contributions — whether in weekly stand-ups, to internal stakeholders for feedback, or to leadership at the internship's end — it truly became a summer of storytelling.
My first internship experience at LMI was amazing, not just because of my team, but also because of the culture of ongoing learning and community focus. The HR team leading our internship was exceptionally welcoming, and we had many amazing mentors along the way. Thank you, LMI, for investing in your interns and in me!"
