I'll get right to it: my internship with Medtronic. I've been working there for almost six weeks now, which means I'm already halfway done! I remember thinking in April of my Disney internship last year that a twelve-week internship would feel very short, and now that I'm experiencing a twelve-week internship, that notion is even more cemented in my mind.
It's been a great first half, though. I was brought on as a mechanical engineering intern into Medtronic's Product Analysis Lab, where they perform failure analysis on the hybrids that either didn't pass testing or failed in the field. (Hybrids are circuit boards, and Medtronic Tempe Campus manufactures the hybrids that go into all their pacemakers and other cardiovascular devices.) It's a really neat place to work because the lab has some seriously high-tech equipment that they use for their failure analysis: scanning electron microscopes, x-ray machines, plasma etchers, vapor deposition machines... You get the idea. I'm surrounded by equipment that costs more money than I'm likely to make in a lifetime.
In terms of why I like my internship, though, the equipment is just the superficial tip of the iceberg. First of all, I'm learning a TON. Probably because I'm working in a lab of almost exclusively electrical engineers and chemists. Oh yeah, and there's one geologist. But no mechanical engineers! Consequently, I've been building lots of great cross-disciplinary knowledge, in addition to skills that will serve me well even in a mechanical engineering career.
So what exactly have I been doing? Well, to put it one way, I'm the PAL's wire bond fairy - I'm here to make all their wire bonding troubles go away. Wire bonding is a way of electrically connecting integrated circuits (ICs) to the substrates they're mounted to. Normally it's easy to do, but when the PAL gets failed products, they have to use some very destructive techniques to extract the ICs, and these techniques tend to make the ICs very hard to wire bond. I'm working on developing new means of extracting the ICs in order to curtail the gray hair syndrome that appears to be spreading through the department as a result of wire bonding. It's slow going, but my mentor says I've been doing well, so I guess I'll take his word for it!
Most of all, though, I like my internship because of the company itself. All companies have mission statements, but in most cases, it seems like the missions are just words on paper, meant to improve the company's credibility. But at Medtronic, I feel like the mission is something I see employees consistently living out in their work. It's something that guides business decisions and inspires people to strive for continuous improvement. It's easier to get up for work each morning knowing I'm helping "alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life." And beyond that, the company seems genuinely focused on my own development as an engineer. The internship feels like a two-way street.
Sorry, that was pretty much a whole essay on my internship. In fact, that was probably enough words for an entire blog post... So I think I'll tell the rest of the story of the past few weeks primarily through pictures!
MY Fourth of July, spent on "A" Mountain with Nathan and Kevin. It's no lake house, but it was a good time!
Dbacks game with Nathan and Dad
Laser tag at Main Event with the interns (14 of us in total). We also went tubing down the Salt River last weekend! It's been lots of fun getting to know everyone. They're a great group of people.
Themed going-away party for two of our best friends, Kyle and Stephanie. Wishing them luck as they begin a new chapter of their lives in Wichita, Kansas! We're gonna miss them here in Arizona.
Date night at The Cheesecake Factory to reward ourselves for 1 week of no processed sugar + 1 week of no saturated fat. It was a long 14 days. But this made it all worth it!
Movie date with my two favorite gals. We saw Inside Out and loved it! Yet another creative and entertaining Disney Pixar film.
Other miscellaneous shenanigans with the Warren/Lucas babies. Life is rough ;)
Alright, Hannah, ball's in your court - which musical are you gonna quote next?
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