The Importance of Internship by Tanya Coupland

engineering in my spare time with an old mini 

In the summer between my third and fourth year studying Mechanical Engineering I was offered an internship at a Tribosonics in Sheffield. The company was set up by a former PhD student from the University of Sheffield and employs a handful of graduates from the university.

Tribosonics provide a variety of ultrasonic monitoring systems for a wide range of things. Their motto is that they have solutions looking for problems. It was because of this that I think I gained so much more from the six weeks I spent there than I ever could have imagined.

Far from the stereotypical intern (there to do everything other people didn’t want to do and make the tea) I was given my own project so was hands on at every stage. From conducting research and literature reviews to designing and carrying out experiments, it was my responsibility to decide the next step in getting a new product off the ground. This was a very steep learning curve to what I had been used to during my time at university when you are given specific tasks to do and a specific set of requirements.

Although it was a big responsibility and hard work, it was much more rewarding when I collected and presented results knowing that this was something I had set up and worked on; and knowing that it could be a solution to a real life problem. This was a different experience to uni lab classes when you collect data simply to discover something you always knew was going to happen. 

I have always believed that the best way to learn is by doing things, not by reading about them or being told about them. I would encourage anyone to take the opportunity to do an internship or work experience if they get are offered it. 

Working as an intern broadens your experience of engineering. As there were never more than three placement students in the office at once I learned far more than I would have done in a class of over 100 people with one lecturer. It gave me the opportunity to pick the brains of experts in the field of ultrasonic measurement every day. It also meant I had the chance to learn skills such as machining that there simply isn’t time to fit into the packed schedule of an engineering undergraduate.

I have always believed that the best way to learn is by doing things, not by reading about them or being told about them. I would encourage anyone to take the opportunity to do an internship or work experience if they get are offered it. Not only do you learn so much I had such good fun at Tribosonics! I met some great people and decided to stay involved with the company by working with them on my final year project. I think it showed how much all the interns enjoyed it when one morning the three of us were all stood outside the office waiting for someone to let us in! I feel privileged to have been able to study a subject that allowed me to work somewhere which made me happy to get up and go to work every day.

I am a fourth year student in the department of mechanical engineering. My degree course is Motorsport Engineering Management and my interest in engineering is in the automotive industry, particularly engine technology.

Imagination Can Take You Anywhere - National Women in Engineering Day Monday 23rd June - Celebrate With UoS

Date: Monday 23rd June 2014
Time: 4pm – 8pm
Venue: Mappin Hall, Sir Frederick Mappin Building, Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD

Imagination, curiosity and creativity has given us electricity, steam engines, cars, planes, medicine and mobile phones. Somebody had to dream of these things before they were made real. An imaginative child will become an imaginative adult, likely to create, to invent. Likely to change the world.

To celebrate National Women in Engineering Day we’re opening our doors and inviting you to join us for loads of activities that explore science, engineering and most of all imagination.

Amongst many other activities there will be sumo-fighting robots; a giant tetrahedron; exploding coca-cola and you can also watch our excellent academics duke it out to prove which engineering discipline is the best!

All activities and events are free!

Engineering Imagination - where will it take you?

Composite Materials with Professor Alma Hodzic

We've been a bit quiet of late at EngineeringUS - let's break that silence by listening to an interview that Professor Alma Hodzic from Mechanical Engineering gave all the way in Austria to FM4 Radio (ORF) about composite materials.

Professor Alma Hodzic

Listen here.

Abigail Hathway on the 'Hidden' Engineering Role: Building Services Engineer

Dr Abigail Hathway, Lecturer in Architectural Technologies, throws light on how important engineers are in bringing the buildings we inhabit to life and that more young people are needed to take up this vital role.

With buildings contributing over 40% of carbon dioxide emissions in this country it is essential we change the way we design and build. However, buildings are so much more than a shell and an energy meter. We spend on average 90% of our time in buildings; good light, good temperature and good ventilation can all contribute towards us having a good day. Get these wrong and our ability to think and learn can rapidly deteriorate, gets these badly wrong and we can get sick. To get these things right, to achieve the architect’s vision, to create a wonderful space and not screw up the planet in the process takes excellent engineers.

Yr4 AED trip

Unfortunately we don’t have enough talented young people wanting to enter this area of engineering (or knowing the route to take to do so), and particularly not females. It isn’t surprising when the role of the building services engineer is so unknown outside the profession. Do you think about how much engineering has gone into making you feel good in a building? It is after-all the engineering you can’t directly see and can merely feel.

The reason I applied for my Lectureship at Sheffield University was for the chance to deliver the degree programme in Architectural Engineering Design to engage more young people in this profession. This is one of a growing number of courses to provide the skills for graduates to engineer low impact buildings, and the only course in the country to be dual accredited by both the Institution of Civil Engineers and Mechanical Engineers. The degree programme spans the traditional disciplines of Structural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Architecture in order to educate students with both hard engineering skills relevant to building performance alongside a social awareness and an understanding of Architectural design. This provides an understanding of the underlying physics of a building, enabling our graduates to help Architects achieve their vision with limited environmental impact. 

Do you think about how much engineering has gone into 

making you feel good in a building?

Students also learn about Architecture history and theory, studying alongside Architecture students. This is important because it means that when they graduate these students can communicate with Architects to understand their vision, and work alongside the architect to create a beautiful and well-functioning building. Maths and Physics is important for building design, but it isn’t the only component, the ability to communicate and work well in a broad team is also crucial.

Part of my role is running a one year Masters programme in Architectural Engineering Design. This is a conversion course allowing students from a variety of backgrounds to gain the skills in this area. Many of our students come from a Civil Engineering background who are keen to use their knowledge of maths and physics to create better buildings. Many of them tell me they wish they had known about this area when they were seventeen. We also have girls coming from outside of engineering, such as Architects looking to change career direction to a more technical field. We have had architects take our MSc who are now working out in industry carrying out complex energy modelling of buildings, then liaising with clients and architectures about achieving their visions for the building in a low impact way.

Dr Abigail Hathway

We run an undergraduate programme in Architectural Engineering Design too which spans all three departments of Civil and Structural, Mechanical Engineering and Architecture. Our graduates work in a variety of fields related to the engineering of buildings: mechanical engineering, sustainability consulting, structural engineering, project management and research. The passion the students show for their degree, and the final year students desire to help mentor younger students and make the course grow makes me very proud. It also shows it isn’t just me that finds this such an exciting and important area to work. The innovation they show in integrating the fabric and systems in a building to reduce the total impact is incredible and continually demonstrates to me why it is so important to develop new programmes crossing the traditional disciplines to educate young engineers in the skills needed for tomorrow. Now we just need to raise the awareness of this area of engineering to attract more young people into this profession.

Links

Royal Academy report on Building Engineering Physics

Website for Architectural Engineering Design

UG pages for Architectural Engineering Design

PG pages for Architectural Engineering Design

International Women's Day 2014

We have been recently involved in organising the celebration of International Women’s Day at Sheffield Town Hall, together with other organizations, all put together by Councillor Jacqueline Drayton.

The structure of the morning was very simple: firstly we listened to Kathleen Roberts, one of the Women of Steel. She discussed her experience during the Second World War when the men were called up to war and the women had to work in the steel industry. It was a moving story where she explained that there was not a choice, it was hard work and she did not like it. The only bit that she liked was the actual engineering behind her manual work: she loved tearing the machine apart to understand a problem or to change the roll. She fell in love with engineering but she did not have the opportunity to pursue an engineering career as the men retook the women’s places in the steel industry, once the war was finished.

‘I loved every minute of dismantling a machine, a bit of engineering involved there! I wish I had the chance to do engineering but we didn’t get the change to do it!’
Kathleen Roberts

Afterwards, the women present chose specific workshops to attend. As a society, we volunteered to organise a workshop regarding ‘Gender Traps’ in the work place. Attendees read a brief biography of successful business person and then they discussed the likeability and abilities of these characters. 

The story was the same but the gender of the main character changed. People who read the story where the main character was male, described him as a nice guy, approachable, skilled and focused. People that read the female version, described her as an opportunist, career-focused and bossy person, not very friendly. Good discussions followed to reflect on the barriers that we, as women, put in front to ourselves in the workplace. Different generations and various work environments present different challenges and the feedback that we received was very mind opening.

The morning was concluded by five amazing women that talked about their journeys from their home countries to Sheffield, UK. Journeys caused by various reasons, from escaping the nazists during the Second World War to seeking political asylum or to start a Master degree. They were inspirational and it was useful to remember how privileged and protected we are to grow up in Europe.

Ultimately, Councillor Drayton auctioned a Jessica Ennis signed poster to raise money to build a statue of the women of steel, just outside Sheffield Town Hall. They are short 20k and need all the help that they can get! Prof. Rodriguez-Falcon won the auction and the poster will be in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Sheffield. 

The prototype of the statue is as the picture:

To help fund the statue,University of Sheffield Enterprise are running a unique fundraising challenge: Can you turn a tenner in to 100 quid? If 200 staff or students in the Faculty can do it, the Women of Steel fund will reach the final twenty thousand pound target for their campaign. 
If you  think you can do it, test your mettle and find out more about how to sign up and get enterprising here: 
http://enterprise.shef.ac.uk/event/women-steel-university-challenge

If you want to know more about the Women of Steel:

https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/planning-and-city-development/urban-design--conservation/public-art/women-of-steel.html

http://www.storyingsheffield.com/project/women-of-steel/

http://www.justgiving.com/womenofsteel

Trip to the Jaguar Land Rover Plant

Aekta is a Master Student in Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Sheffield and she, along with other members of the Women in Engineering Student Society visited Jaguar Land Rover Plant.

It was a bright, sunny morning on 4th March and thank heavens for that! The last thing any of us would have wanted was for the weather to dampen both the skies and our spirits.

I had signed up to the Women in Engineering Student Society at the beginning of the year. A society that represented the disproportionately low numbers of women and encouraged more women to take up a career in engineering sounded appealing and I had always intended to go to one of their meetings but never found the time or the inclination – that is until I saw an email titled “Trip to the Jaguar-Land Rover plant”. They had me at the subject line itself!


I have been a car aficionado for as long as I can remember, in fact, one day I hope to have enough money to buy a Range Rover (a decision I am deliberating over ever since I saw the jaguar F-type manufactured). After an hour and half, we arrived at the Castle Bromwich assembly plant of Jaguar. I was taken aback! Their plant was colossal, almost the size of Manchester Airport! (A quick Google search revealed that the plant covered a massive 1.6 million square feet).


We were taken into a seating area where we were shown a small presentation on how the operations of the company have progressed over the years and all the cars they manufactured. We were also shown some of the swanky custom made vehicles they have made for the rich and the famous. My personal favourite was the Land Rover Evoque that they did for Victoria Beckham, complete with gold leaf on the tyre rims and oak wood panelling on the insides.


After a subsequent question and answer session, we wore high visibility vests and we were ready for the plant tour (no pictures were allowed once inside the plant)! We were divided into two groups and we each had a tour guide. Ours was a nice, retired chap who had spent a large part of his working life at Jaguar and knew the ins and outs of the company well. We were shown around the entire workings of the plant, right from how they fit the engines to the final painting process. Unlike other large car manufacturers, Jaguar only starts assembling a car once an order has been placed at any one of their retailers across the globe. The customer picks almost all of the parts that go into their car. This means that no two Jaguar cars are effectively the same. Unsurprisingly, most orders for the F-type Jaguar (the most extravagant of the lot) came from China.


Walking around the factory really gave me an insight into how cars are brought to life. Rarely do we imagine how many processes, people and parts are involved in building a safe, comfortable ride. Jaguar has collaborated with some world renowned companies to really ensure a satisfying customer experience. For instance, their engines are made by Ford, their wheels by Pirelli.


This trip was not only informative but also a whole lot of fun! I am never going to look at a car the same way again. Each time I now look at a vehicle I am going to know and appreciate the amount of hard work, care, concern and engineering that has been put into its making.