Skip to main content
University of Nebraska Omaha logo University of Nebraska Omaha
APPLY MY UNO DIRECTORY

Students Faculty Staff Community
APPLY MY UNO DIRECTORY
Students Faculty Staff Community
  • About
    About UNO
    • Leadership
    • Mission and Strategic Plan
    • Accreditation
    • Our City: Omaha
    • Facts & Figures
    • News
    • Events
    • Organizational Units
    • Campus Safety
    • Buildings and Maps
    Get Started
    • Apply
    • Campus Visit
    • Contact Us
    Front view of UNO's ASH building
    Get Started Today

    Apply Now
  • Academics
    Majors and Programs
    • Undergraduate Programs
    • Master's Programs
    • Doctoral Programs
    • International Programs
    • Online Programs
    • Class Search
    Colleges
    • College of Arts and Sciences
    • College of Business Administration
    • College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media
    • College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences
    • College of Information Science & Technology
    • College of Public Affairs and Community Service
    • Graduate Studies
    Resources
    • Catalogs
    • Academic Calendar
    • Library
    • Advising
    • Academic Affairs
    • Registrar
    • Academic Support
    • Request Transcript
    Top view glance of calendar showing August 2024
    Deadlines Are Approaching

    View year-at-a-glance calendars that include term start and end dates, and school holidays.

    Academic Calendar
  • Cost & Aid Backback to Main menu
    • Undergraduate Tuition
    • Graduate Tuition
    • Financial Support
    • Cost of Attendance
    • Undergraduate Scholarships
    • All Scholarship Information
    • Military and Veterans Benefits
    • Consumer Information
  • Admissions
    Get Started
    • Apply
    • Complete Your FAFSA
    • Schedule a Campus Visit
    • Request Info
    Admitted Students
    • Orientation
    • Enrollment Deposit
    • Transcripts
    • UNO 101
    • New Student & Family Events
    Cost & Aid
    • Undergraduate Tuition
    • Graduate Tuition
    • Financial Aid
    • Cost of Attendance
    • Scholarships
    • Military and Veterans Benefits
    • Consumer Information
    Admissions
    • Undergraduate Admissions
    • Transfer Students
    • Graduate Admissions
    Students walking together on campus for a tour
    Visit UNO's Campus

    Schedule a Tour
  • Student Life
    Campus Life
    • Event Calendar
    • Athletics
    • Campus Dining
    • Student Housing
    • Campus Recreation
    • Milo Bail Student Center
    • Parking and Transportation
    • Campus Safety
    Involvement and Leadership
    • Student Organizations
    • Student Government
    • Career Services and Internships
    • Spirit and Tradition
    • Student Leadership, Involvement, and Inclusion
    Support
    • Academic Support
    • Maverick Advising Center
    • Accessibility
    • Durango's Advancement & Support Hub (DASH)
    • Student Service
    • Student Safety
    Resources
    • Health Services
    • Military-Connected Resources
    • Student Conduct and Community Standards
    • Division of Student Life and Wellbeing
    Students participating in a beading craft activity
    Get Involved on Campus

    See Events Calendar
  • Engagement
    Students
    • Student Service and Leadership Collaborative
    • Find Volunteer Opportunities
    • Maverick Food Pantry
    • Voter Information
    • Internship Opportunities
    • Career Services
    • Student Resources
    • Become an Engaged Scholar
    Faculty and Staff
    • Faculty Senate
    • Center for Faculty Excellence
    • Staff Advisory Council
    • Faculty Resources
    • Engaged Research
    • Service Learning Academy
    • Community-Based Learning Courses
    Community
    • Campus Resources
    • Service Learning Academy
    • Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center
    • Promote Volunteer Opportunities
    • Promote Internship Opportunities
    • Rent Office Space
    • Senior Passport Program
    • Community Engagement Partnership Initiative
    Office of Engagement
    • Connect to Campus
    • Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center
    • Service Learning Academy
    • Rent Office Space
    • Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center
    • Partner With Us
    • Senior Passport Program
    • Nebraska Business Development Center
    • Community Partners on Campus
    Student volunteering with a food bank
    Connect with Us

    Contact the Office of Engagement
  • Research
    Student
    • Research and Creative Activity Fair
    • Graduate Research (GRACA)
    • Student Conference Travel Fund
    • Undergraduate Scholarly Experience (FUSE) Fund
    Faculty
    • Grant Databases
    • External Funding
    • Awards and Committees
    • Office of Sponsored Programs
    Research at UNO
    • Office of Research and Creative Activity
    • Research News
    • Centers and Institutes
    Students giving presentations on research projects
    UNO Pushes Innovation Forward

    Read UNO Research News
  • Athletics
    Men's Teams
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Golf
    • Hockey
    • Soccer
    • Swimming & Diving
    • Tennis
    Women's Teams
    • Basketball
    • Cross Country
    • Golf
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Swimming & Diving
    • Tennis
    • Track & Field
    • Volleyball
    Game Day Resources
    • Purchase Tickets
    • Team Schedules
    • Buy Maverick Gear
    Baxter Arena
    • Calendar
    • Tickets
    • Directions & Parking
    • Clear Bag Policy
    • Public Skating
    Hockey player walking out on the ice arena
    Cheer on our Mavericks!

    Buy Tickets
  • Alumni Backback to Main menu
    • Alumni
    • Transcripts
    • Thompson Center
  1. UNO
  2. News
  3. 2021
  4. 09
  5. 'Scott Scholars Design Studio' Internship Helps Students Solve Real World Problems

'Scott Scholars Design Studio' Internship Helps Students Solve Real World Problems

Two teams of students were tasked with solving a particular design challenge: one to analyze how U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) handles system updates, and the other to solve the problem of language barriers in the Nebraska Medicine emergency department.

  • published: 2021/09/30
  • contact: Tavion Davis - University Communications
  • email: unonews@unomaha.edu
  • search keywords:
  • Scott Scholars
  • Internship
  • USSTRATCOMM
  • Nebraska Medicine
image

Students in the Scott Scholars program spent their summer gaining real-world experience and solving issues faced by the military and area healthcare providers.

Two teams of students were tasked with solving a particular design challenge. One team was tasked with analyzing how U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) handles system updates. The other team was challenged to solve the problem of language barriers in the Nebraska Medicine emergency department. Their findings were shared with the Suzanne & Walter Scott Foundation as well as these individual agencies.

Jackson Haselhorst, a junior majoring in mathematics, led a team assigned to analyze how USSTRATCOM handles system updates for both software and hardware.

“There’s a lot of different tensions between finances, between timing between technology, between different priorities,” Haselhorst said. “Our ideation has reflected how broad the problem is. We ideated on how we get individuals to feel more involved and more empowered in the system.”

Haselhorst said that people at the ground level don’t necessarily care about the newest technology. They would rather hang onto something that works, which is especially the case when the cost to pay for that new technology comes out of their own [department’s] pocket. He also said that higher-ups don’t always have the authority to require their reports to update their systems.

“They asked us to look at how they handle those updates and find ways to incentivize it, make it more efficient, make it less costly,” Haselhorst said. “Ultimately, it’s a national security thing. When you’re in the middle of fielding technologies, that’s a weakness. So, the less time we can spend between updates the better it’ll be security-wise.”

USSTRATCOM

One such situation involved the development and implementation of a new satellite system for USSTRATCOM. Haselhorst said the project began over a decade ago and continues to need support as new and updated software is needed to properly use them.

“There’s a difference between having the new satellites up and having the new technology on the ground so they can use those satellites to their full extent,” Haselhorst said.

He said that there’s not going to be a single solution because upgrades take multiple years, especially on this scale. Haselhorst and his team wanted to create a solution that would tackle multiple problems at the same time even if it doesn’t fix everything.

Their proposal was a documentation system, because when projects take years the upgrade tends to outlast the people involved in it. Therefore, his team proposed USSTRATCOM implement a system of monthly documents that would be filled out by people in charge of upgrading systems.

The documents would include questions about something that’s been useful for them to do their job or a point of contact that’s been really beneficial for them.

“Filling out this documentation shows why they’re making decisions and how they’re problem-solving for their job specifically. The documentation can then be handed off to the person that replaces them, inevitably,” Haselhorst said. “Then that [next] person gets a head start on their job because now there’s a bit of a smoother transition of information between the two.”

Nebraska Medicine

Zander Gibney, a junior majoring in IT innovation, is a lead for a team of three incoming freshmen assigned to Nebraska Medicine to help its emergency department share critical medical information despite language barriers between patients and medical staff.

“The initial statements Nebraska Medicine pitched us had a lot to do with the language barriers they were facing everywhere in the hospital, but more specifically, the emergency department was where they wanted us to focus for the project,” Gibney said.

Gibney said that there were instances of patients receiving discharge instructions in English despite not understanding English themselves. Oftentimes, the speed required to provide medical care in the emergency department did not allow time for ensuring medical information was presented in the proper language.

“It’s the emergency department so everything is super fast-paced and quick-moving, and they need to make those kinds of decisions about what language this is and what culture they’re working with,” Gibney said.

This resulted in patients not understanding when to come in for their appointments and missing them altogether because they’d have no way of knowing about it. These communication issues would often lead to much worse situations such as patient ailments not being treated and often a decline in overall health.

Coming up with potential solutions required Gibney’s team to speak with those on the front lines including doctors, nurses, and pharmacy techs. It all led to an idea: What if there was an area set apart from the fast-moving emergency department where healthcare providers and patients could slow down and ensure that nothing was lost in translation, ultimately leading to the best outcomes?

Drawing on inspiration from the video game Super Mario Maker, which allows players to design their own levels of the game by adding obstacles and enemies using drag and drop tools, Gibney said they were thinking about a drag and drop template for discharge instructions with a strong focus on graphics. This would allow for a much easier process on both ends (patient and physician) for making sure communication is being prioritized.

“Some of our leading ideas came from our concepts from Nebraska Medicine Mario Maker, aka Beyond Language, particularly the stuffed animal room,” Gibney said. “It sounds ridiculous, but the stuffed animal room lead us to think about what if we had translation services be an entirely different section.”

This separate section for translation services would prevent communication issues from slowing down the emergency department while also ensuring patient comfortability. In addition, Gibney said their “stuffed animal room” idea is a codename for a waiting room area that could be an addition to the separate translation service office. The idea was to create an open, welcoming, and comfortable environment for families of different ethnic backgrounds.

Valuable Experience

Haselhorst and Gibney, and their respective teams, gained experiences that will be invaluable throughout their college career. As a member of this program Haselhorst has reevaluated his college path and allowed him to realize he’s a creative problem-solver.

“This internship was very intentional for me and lines up with a lot of changes in how I think about my own future,” Haselhorst said. “I care about creativity and problem solving more and I found that naturally in math in high school. I want a creative and problem-solving job. Even if it doesn't line up with math or computer science directly, it has those underlying skills that I want to develop and turn into a career.”

Internships are an important step in the life of a college student because it’s where you get to start applying the skills you develop in the classroom in a professional setting. When asked about how he sees this experience impacting him in the future, Gibney talked about how he prefers being a team leader.

“This experience has very much solidified my aspiration of wanting to become a team leader in the future, especially in the design field,” he said. “These topics that we’re talking about affect a ton of people, and being able to talk about this in the future by saying ‘Yeah, I've done this,’ whether or not it’s successful, is an amazing experience.”

Haselhorst and Gibney both led teams of first-year students as part of this process. Stone-Connor Hoffman, William Harr, Carter Brehm, and Davis Hill joined Haselhorst’s team. Gibney’s team also included Toby Heinemann, Jackson Ward, and Esther Samuel.


About the University of Nebraska at Omaha

Located in one of America’s best cities to live, work and learn, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska’s premier metropolitan university. With more than 15,000 students enrolled in 200-plus programs of study, UNO is recognized nationally for its online education, graduate education, military friendliness and community engagement efforts. Founded in 1908, UNO has served learners of all backgrounds for more than 100 years and is dedicated to another century of excellence both in the classroom and in the community.

Follow UNO on Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

  • News Sections:
  • UNO News Center
  • Maverick Daily
  • The Bullseye
  • Campus Events

News Sections

  • News Center
  • Maverick Daily
  • The Bullseye
  • Campus Events

Featured Stories

  • Smart Start Program Builds School Readiness One Backpack at a Time
  • Omaha Softball Wins First-Ever Summit League Regular Season Championship
  • UNO, Baxter Auto Extend Naming Rights Partnership for Baxter Arena
  • Dr. Tara Richards Joins Statewide Effort to Prevent Domestic Abuse Deaths

Contact Us

If you have a story idea, news tip, or other question, please email the UNO News team at unonews@unomaha.edu.

About the Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications (MarComm)

Next Steps

  • Visit UNO
  • Request Information
  • Apply for Admission
  • The UNO Advantage
  • Our City (Omaha)

Just For You

  • Future Students
  • Current Students
  • Work at UNO
  • Faculty and Staff
  • A-Z List

Popular Services and Resources

  • my.unomaha.edu
  • Academic Calendar
  • Campus Buildings & Maps
  • Library
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Course Catalogs
  • Internships & Career Development
  • The Maverick Store
  • MavCARD Services
  • Military-Connected Resource Center
  • Speech Center
  • Writing Center
  • Human Resources
  • Center for Faculty Excellence

Affiliates

  • University of Nebraska System
  • NU Foundation
  • Buffett Early Childhood Institute
  • Daugherty Water for Food Institute
  • National Strategic Research Institute
  • Peter Kiewit Institute
  • Rural Prosperity Nebraska
  1. University Policies
  2. Privacy Statement
  3. Accessibility
  1. 402.554.2800

University of Nebraska Omaha
University of Nebraska Omaha, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68182
  • ©  
  • Emergency Information Alert
  • MavsReport

Social Media


Omaha Skyline

Our Campus. Otherwise Known as Omaha.

The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/or political affiliation in its education programs or activities, including admissions and employment. The University prohibits any form of retaliation taken against anyone for reporting discrimination, harassment, or retaliation for otherwise engaging in protected activity. Read the full statement.