Meet Our 2021-2022 Interns

Colonel Powers' internship allows the University of Chicago to use his extensive training and experience in emergency management, strategic planning and leadership to improve the Facilities Services emergency operating procedures. Colonel Powers works closely with each of the six business line leads in Facilities Services Operations to understand their business processes, mission and unique challenges.

Colonel Kevin Powers has spent more than 27 years as both an Active Duty and Reserve US Army officer.  He has held numerous aviation leadership positions throughout the world implementing and managing helicopter, airplane, maintenance and air traffic control assets.  His stateside experiences include providing aviation support to the residents of the United States during man-made and natural disasters, to include forest fires, mountain rescues and Hurricane Harvey. Most recently, he assisted with the COVID treatment and vaccination efforts as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Chicago.   

Joseph Quinn is a Staff Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. He enlisted and has served in the Marine Corps for over eight years since graduating high school in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He earned several military occupational specialties in the fields of signals intelligence and cyber operations. He supported the National Security Agency while stationed with the Marine Corps Cryptologic Support Battalion at Fort Meade, Maryland. While at Fort Meade, he served as an exploitation analyst, supporting tactical and strategic intelligence operations which included a deployment to Qatar and Afghanistan where he supported intelligence operations and training. He also spent several years working as an instructor on Goodfellow AFB, TX, where he taught several courses in the fields of signals intelligence and information technology. He also served as an equal opportunity representative, martial arts instructor, among other leadership and staff positions. He has a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Maryland Global Campus and two associate's degrees from the Community College of the Air Force in intelligence studies and as an instructor of military science and technology. Joseph intends to pursue graduate studies in economics, and is passionate about helping others, learning, research, and effective public policy.

He will be interning with the Center For The Economics Of Human Development (CEHD), gaining skills on economics, research, and database management.  

In addition to being accepted into the OMAC Skillbridge Program, Staff Sergeant Quinn has been accepted to the University of Chicago's Graduate Student At-Large (GSAL) program and the Harris School of Public Polcy, and began taking courses in the Spring 2022 quarter. He is expected to graduate from the Harris School of Public Policy in 2024 and proceed onto his doctoral studies shortly after. 

First Lieutenant Nicolas Macius is an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. He has served for nearly four years, and is currently stationed in Camp Pendleton, CA. First Lieutenant Macius serves with 1st Battalion, 4th Marines and deployed with 1/4 on the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from 2020 - 2021. During his time with 1/4, he has led in various capacities: as a rifle platoon commander, company executive officer, and assistant operations officer. 

First Lieutenant Macius completed his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago, in June of 2018. He grew up in Palatine, IL, and competed on the track and cross country teams at Fremd High School. He is interested in pursuing an MBA upon completion of his time in service.

Capt Gustafson has served in the Marine Corps for 8 years, primarily as a MV-22B Osprey pilot.

After completing The Basic School in 2014, he proceeded to Introductory Flight Screening and Aviation Preflight Indoctrination in Pensacola, Florida. He then completed Primary Flight Training aboard NAS Corpus Christi and selected the MV-22B Osprey pipeline. Capt Gustafson then completed Intermediate Helicopter Training and Advanced Multi-Engine Training to earn his Wings of Gold before proceeding to VMMT-204 aboard MCAS New River.

Capt Gustafson's first fleet duty station was MCAS Miramar where he was part of VMM-163 and the 11th MEU in 2019. Capt Gustafson's ground roles in the squadron included Current Operations Officer and Cyber Security Officer. During his time with the unit, Capt Gustafson attended the Aviation Safety Officer's Course.

Most recently, Capt Gustafson lived in Bahrain where he worked as a part of the Task Force 51/5 staff. During this time, Capt Gustafson served as an Air Planner. Additionally, he was selected to serve as his unit's liaison to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he was the primary interface between the Royal Saudi Naval Forces and the US Naval and Marine Corps forces during Exercise Indigo Defender.

He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Nuclear Engineering.

Mike completed his internship with the Summer Business Startup Program at the Polsky Center and Chicago Booth School of Business. It is here where he assisted in the support of other persons desiring to be entrepreneurs. Capt Gustafson began pursuing his MBA at the Chicago Booth School of Business in autumn 2022. During his first year at Chicago Booth, Mike's team won second place in the New Venture Challenge with the creation of his organization reOrbital -- a logistical innovation to be the first company to mass produce products in microgravity at scale. By unlocking microgravity manufacturing, reOrbital enables improvements in optics, nanomaterials, and semiconductors, accelerating the growth of quantum.