Nick Freed wrapped up his spring semester at St. Louis University last May. At that point, he had to decide how to spend his summer before returning to school in the Fall.

The options for a young college student are many. Two months backpacking through Europe? Studying abroad at the University of Pimpleton? Sitting at home in pajamas eating pizza and playing video games?

Nick knew a summer internship would be the most beneficial option in the long run. As an aerospace engineering student, he also knew applying one of the many associated engineering fields would help as well. So when he saw the ad for an engineering position at STC, Nick felt his stomach tighten and his spirits swell. After throwing away the pizza boxes and taking some antacid, Nick contacted STC.

To Nick, aerospace engineering is the perfect combination of all the engineering fields that pique his interest. It encompasses everything from fluid dynamics (an aircraft’s movement through air) to chemical engineering (materials used to fuel a rocket). But would an internship at STC provide experience in any of the associated engineering fields?

In short, yes it would.

Take, for example, the simple task of getting a cup of coffee for a senior staff member (me). This task incorporates Fluid Dynamics (“Nick, get me some coffee!”), Thermodynamics (“Make sure it’s hot, but not too hot.”), Materials Engineering, (“Oh, and put it in my favorite mug.”), Chemical Engineering (“Remember to use the pink sweetener.”), and even Physics (“Whoops, I spilled it in your lap, boss.”). I can’t be sure, but that last remark seemed just a bit sarcastic.

“The QA testing was beneficial because I was sort of the company’s promise to the customer that our products would work as advertised.”

In truth, Nick (a.k.a. “Nick the Intern”) hasn’t retrieved so much as one cup of coffee for anyone at the plant. However, he has been very helpful with some important projects. He was our turn-to guy when we purchased a new Watlow F4D Controller, which is used to run test profiles for our environmental chamber. He performed numerous quality assurance tests and helped write procedures for these tests.

As crazy as it sounds, Nick says those QA tests may have been the most enjoyable part of his time at STC.

“The QA testing was beneficial because I was sort of the company’s promise to the customer that our products would work as advertised.”

Nick recently returned to work at STC during his Christmas break, and will be leaving us again soon. The Watlow controller is still running environmental tests and the QA tests are still being conducted as designed. Thanks Nick, and best of luck!