Harper Calhoun

Internship

SW assembly of the heater box

1. My project was a mechanical engineering co-op at MSA Safety in Cranberry Township, PA. My main project was to design a box to hold a heater that is used for testing in the environmental chamber. When I wasn’t working on the heater box design, I performed tests on various new products.

2. By participating in this co-op, I now know what kind of engineering I want to do after I graduate. I still want to be a biomedical engineer, but now I know I want to work with the mechanical side of biomedical engineering. I also learned that I want to work in new product development. I enjoyed seeing the development and the creation of new products and how much effort was put into it. There were multiple different designs, each of which were modeled and tested. It was interesting to see the progress and advancement of each design that led up to the final product.This project also changed my view of what an engineering job in the industry looks like. I assumed the engineer would only be testing products. But in new product development, there is a lot of research and designing involved. The engineers have meetings discussing the pros and cons of the different designs and the results of the tests performed on the prototype. When I was working on my project, I had to do a lot of research to determine the best way to design and build the heater box. I had meeting with my project mentor discussing different methods of building the heater box and he helped me chose the best option. Because of this interaction, I learned that even though there may be a lead engineer on the project, that engineer goes to their coworkers to help brainstorm and ask for feedback.

3. Designing and building the heater box taught me how the engineering design process works and how engineers have to depend on others to help get their projects done. I relied on the support and help from my project mentor to help me complete my project. Once I designed my heater box, I had the machine shop build my parts. Because of this, my project was at a standstill until the machinist made my parts. Through this, I learned that even if there is only one engineer working on a project, the engineer still depends on other people, making almost all engineering projects a team project.

I also learned that engineers work on multiple projects at the same time and they change priority during the lifetime of the project. One of my mentors was putting a lot time designing a new product when he had to switch to a new project because his became less of a priority. This showed me that engineers have to prioritize projects and have good time management skills. Time management is something I have improved upon through this co-op. I would be working on multiple projects at the same time and I would have to prioritize which one to complete first. There were times when I had to drop everything I was doing and work on a different project or do a different task because its priority was so high. I learned how to be flexible in accomplishing tasks and manage all my work and projects.

This was the first time I rented an apartment and had to live on my own, so that was a big adjustment. I had to find the apartment by myself and set up all of the utilities. I had to make a budget for groceries, entertainment, and bills. I had a studio apartment, so I was living alone. I had to learn on my own how to budget and live on my own, a skill I will use for the rest of my life.

4. This change and development matters because I now have an idea of what I want my career to be. I know I want to work in industry, especially in new product development. Before this project, I didn’t know what I wanted to do once I graduate, but now I do. I also plan on taking courses that focus more on the mechanical aspect of biomedical engineering. I also made some great friendships with the other co-ops at MSA Safety. We are all on the same rotation schedule, so I will see a friendly face when I go back in the summer. Overall, I am grateful for this experience and it has made me a better engineer.