The Summer Internship: There’s Always More to Learn

I’m only in the second week of my internship and I’ve already been shown the limits of my knowledge. 

My first assignment given to me by my stress lead (the guy who I would report to and would double-check all of my work) was to perform a series of structural analyses on a part that would be on Boeing’s Commercial Crew Space Transportation System. I was told to use a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) program called Patran for pre & post-processing of the analysis, and MSC Nastran as a solver. Patran is used to prepare the model of the object you are trying to analyze (this is the pre-processing stage), and then display the results after you’ve ran the solver to solve the set of partial differential equations which are determined by the parameters/geometry/solution sequence/etc (the post-processing stage). MSC Nastran is used to solve the complicated matrix of partial differential equations using finite element method techniques.

Boeing's Commercial Crew Transportation System. Carrying our precious human cargo to the International Space Station! 

Now, I’ve had experience using these FEA programs before from my last summer internship, but the part that my stress lead charged me with analyzing was orders of magnitude more complex than the objects I had worked on before in Patran & MSC Nastran. Thankfully, my stress lead has been absolutely great in guiding me through the basic steps – importing the part geometry into Patran, simplifying the model in order to make it easier to model, setting up the mesh, etc. His guidance was extremely important in setting up the initial model – I got to understand the reasoning behind the general assumptions he makes as well as seeing his intuition on display in order to analyze a part he had not seen before. Also, one of the younger stress analysts in the workplace who’s cubicle is right next to me has been helpful in comprehending the immediate nuances of the commands I was performing in Patran. My deliverable seemed to be in reach - building a reasonable model that could accurately simulate the structural dynamics of the original part under external loads.

An example of what goes on in using Patran, a pre/post-processor for finite element analysis applications. 

Note: This is not the part I'm working on. 

After their initial help, they left me to go at the analysis alone. As I tried to progress performing the structural analysis on my own, I found significant gaps within my knowledge of advanced structural theory in order to successfully produce proper results. Although I had gaps within my knowledge and intuition to perform the analysis on my own from start to finish, my stress lead and fellow entry-level stress analyst filled in the holes with their expertise.

Funny enough, I’m still working on this part due to some changes to the original object I was working on. Most interns would be stressed (see what I did there?) that they would have to start over from scratch! I looked at the restart as another opportunity to take everything I’ve learned from my two co-workers and see whether I could apply it myself.

Although I had gaps within my knowledge and intuition to perform the analysis on my own from start to finish, my stress lead and fellow entry-level stress analyst filled in the holes with their expertise.

Amazingly, I was able to rebuild most of the model of the updated part on my own (with a couple of errors, of course, I’m just an intern after all) using what I had learned previously. You don’t know how confident that made me feel that I was able to put what I learn into practice almost immediately. My stress-lead was pleased with my progress and urged me to go on. As I’ve continued to work diligently to complete my analysis of this part on my own, I’m thankful for the help my co-workers have given me, but I’m even more grateful for my peers to allow me to figure things out on my own.

As much as I’ve learned in academia, I’m happy to report that there is still plenty to learn working in industry!

 #StudentVoices

Frederick Daso is a rising senior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is interested in learning more about or exploring opportunities in the engineering, technology, management consulting, and/or journalism fields. Feel free to contact him if interested.

If you enjoyed this piece, I recommend checking out my previous post on my goals for my summer internship: Making The Most of a Summer Internship.

The Summer Internship Post Series:

Making The Most of a Summer Internship

The Summer Internship: The Benefits of Having A Young Mentor