For many engineering students at the University of Rhode Island, learning doesn’t end when the academic year comes to a close. Here are just a few examples of internships students conducted this past summer in laboratories and at companies.
Aidan Kindopp
Major: Chemical Engineering and French (IEP*)
Hometown: Keene, New Hampshire
Internship: Nanobio Engineering Laboratory
Aidan Kindopp worked closely with Assistant Professor Daniel Roxbury in URI’s Nanobio Engineering Lab. His internship was sponsored by the Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (RI-INBRE SURF).
“I learned a lot about the research process and how to collect data toward a manuscript for publication,” said Kindopp. “Because I worked in this lab for the 2020-2021 academic year, I was able to skip the training and go straight into data collection and analysis. I researched the effects that the state of aggregation of single-walled carbon nanotubes have on uptake and cytotoxicity in mammalian cells.”
Kindopp plans to finish his studies at URI in 2023, before studying in France for his fifth year in 2023-2024.
Jessica McLaughlin
Major: Ocean Engineering
Hometown: Dix Hills, New York
Internship: Woods Hole Partnership Education Program
Jessica McLaughlin conducted an internship in a lab at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution through the Woods Hole Partnership Education Program.
“I took an oceanography course which featured guest speakers from around the world, as well as projects that I presented using real data from the Ocean Observatories Initiative,” said McLaughlin. “As a research assistant, I worked on rapidly prototyping the ‘Sipper,’ an autonomous water sampler for a robotic platform.
Despite being mostly virtual, my research project was very hands-on and I gained irreplaceable engineering experience and technical skills, from 3D modeling to microcontrollers to soldering. My internship finished in person, where we shared our presentations, deployed instruments on the research vessel Tioga, and toured different facilities in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.”
McLaughlin plans on graduating from URI this spring.
Nicole Mendoza
Major: Chemical Engineering and Spanish (IEP*)
Hometown: North Providence, Rhode Island
Internship: Blount Fine Foods in Fall River, Massachusetts
Nicole Mendoza worked as a research and development intern to further the product development process at Blount Fine Foods.
“I connected with the process engineering team to improve cycle efficiencies to effectively thaw frozen products,” said Mendoza. “I am continuing my internship this fall, as I work on improving thermal distribution for cooking methods and applying thermodynamic principles to real-world heat transfer applications.”
Mendoza expects to study in Spain in her fifth year at URI and graduate in 2024.
Mycarthy Newton
Major: Mechanical Engineering and German (IEP*)
Hometown: North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Internship: Toray Plastics America in Quonset Point
During Mycarthy Newton’s 10-week internship at Toray, she worked on many projects that focused on safety, machine improvement and process efficiency.
“I designed parts on Autodesk Inventor that were then manufactured, assembled and used in the plant,” said Newton. “These CAD projects included improving the design of existing parts and adapting machinery to updated components, such as new motors or load cells. I also did a project with reverse engineering technology, where I scanned assembly parts and pulled their measurements from the resulting 3D model.
I learned valuable industry insights, such as conventional manufacturing materials and methods, professional project procedures, common machine terms and processes, 3D printing, and finite element analysis. One of the projects that I designed, ordered, assembled and tested was a hydraulic cylinder assembly that made lifting a six-ton casting drum much safer and more efficient.”
Newton expects to graduate from URI in 2024.
Demetrios Petrou
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Hometown: North Smithfield, Rhode Island
Internship: Biosensing Laboratory
Demetrios Petrou worked as a research intern in URI’s Biosensing Lab.
“I collaborated with a great team of researchers to design a next-generation therapy device for patients with motor disability,” said Petrou. “Our new design included sensors to track user data, 3D-printed parts to house components and a touch-screen user interface. This experience allowed me to apply my programming skills and work on electronics.”
Petrou plans on graduating in 2024.
Mark Schwarzer
Major: Ocean Engineering
Hometown: Bradford, Rhode Island
Internship: Thielsch Engineering in Cranston, Rhode Island
“I performed sieve analyses of various soil contents for clients,” said Schwarzer. “I also learned and tested compressive strengths of concrete, mortar and grout. Additionally, I used hydrometers for soil suspensions.”
Schwarzer will graduate from URI this spring.
Quinn Toro
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Hometown: Exeter
Internship: Millstone Medical Outsourcing in Fall River, Massachusetts
Quinn Toro worked as a validation engineering intern at Millstone Medical Outsourcing.
“I worked closely with the technical services engineering team to assist people on the operating floor to make processes more efficient,” said Toro. “We worked on a cleaning validation to increase production throughput by 12,000% to ultimately package, sterilize and put into peoples’ bodies.
I learned to work quickly and concisely on a team to achieve a common goal while also having fun. At Millstone, they not only support growth within the company, but personal growth as well.”
Toro plans to graduate from URI this May.
Gianna Wadowski
Major: Industrial & Systems Engineering and Italian (IEP*)
Hometown: Southington, Connecticut
Internship: Triumph Group in West Hartford, Connecticut
Gianna Wadowski worked in the product support hydromechanical engineering department at the Triumph Group.
“I worked on trouble shooting issues on aftermarket products,” said Wadowski. “My largest projects were developing a testing fixture from the ground up and creating an interactive dashboard to display data on different testing configurations. The fixture was 3D-printed and was implemented into inspection. The dashboard could be manipulated to show exactly what the user wants to see instead of combing through hundreds of rows in an Excel spreadsheet.
It was incredible to witness the engineering design process and to collaborate with other departments at Triumph. I learned how diverse and exceptional the engineering profession is and I’m humbled to have this experience so early in my college career.”
Wadowski expects to graduate from URI in 2025.