When Campbell Domres began her summer internship at the Digital Transformation Center in Dayton, she anticipated building her resume with communication and marketing experience. Along the way, she discovered how to make complex ideas accessible to others and take initiative as a leader.
Domres, a senior communication major from Traverse City, Michigan, interned at the DTC through the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community’s Ethics and Leadership Initiative, which offers students ethics-focused placements across professional fields with a parallel curricular component to prepare them to meet ethical challenges in their future professional lives.
Emily McWilliams, director of the Ethics and Leadership Initiative, said organizations like the DTC represent the kind of collaborative, mission-driven work the program strives to provide for students.
“The DTC is fundamentally about problem-solving that serves a larger purpose,” McWilliams said. “They bring together industry, academia and government. This gives students direct experience with how different sectors actually work together. Working at all of these intersections is where so much meaningful progress happens in the world.”
Domres said the opportunity appealed to her because it brought together students from different majors and universities to work on a single project.
“I really wanted to be involved in a cross-disciplinary team on a student-led project,” Domres said. “As a communication major and marketing minor, I feel like I can be used in many different fields, so it was exciting to apply my skills in a technology environment.”
Her main role was serving as the AeroPrint marketing intern. The AeroPrint project was developed by students and uses a drone to scan an object and send the data to a 3D printer, which then produces a small-scale replica. Domres designed the exhibit materials for the project’s final presentation, including a 7-foot banner and brochure explaining the process.
Domres said the Ethics and Leadership Initiative gave her a foundation for approaching her work. She learned to take responsibility not just for her actions but also for the impact her decisions had on her team.
“Leadership played a big part in my internship,” she said. “For two weeks, I mentored high school students who were under my wing. We worked almost like partners, but I was responsible for creating their schedule, guiding them through tasks and being the person they came to for advice.”
Domres was also expected to set her own deadlines and hold herself accountable for her work, an approach that reflects the initiative’s goal of building students’ confidence and sense of agency through meaningful, hands-on work.
McWilliams said instead of performing routine internship tasks, students take on experiences where they collaborate across generations and professions, learn to advocate for their ideas and reflect on their growth.
The internship aligned closely with Domres’ goal to pursue a career in sales. The project required her to translate technical jargon from her interviews with engineers into clear and understandable content for the exhibit’s audience.
“I realized for the first time this summer there’s a need for people to take really complex ideas and make them into simpler terms,” she said. “That’s an important skill in any field, especially sales.”
Kristy Fairfax, DTC’s workforce development director and Domres’ supervisor, said Domres’ background in communication and marketing added important value to a technology-focused environment.
“Teams that work at the UD Research Institute on technology often have a communications-specific team member,” Fairfax said. “A new discovery or improvements in technology may happen, but they are no good if no one knows about them. Bringing in Campbell’s communication and marketing skills helped ensure our materials conveyed the right message for our audience.”
Top photo: Campbell Domres at the Digital Transformation Center
Middle photo: Campbell Domres with UD President Eric Spina