{"id":77328,"date":"2023-08-07T12:22:58","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T16:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/?p=77328"},"modified":"2024-01-31T13:49:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T18:49:11","slug":"iep-student-prints-her-career-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/iep-student-prints-her-career-path\/","title":{"rendered":"IEP Student Prints Her Career Path"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mention the term 3D printing to the average person, and it\u2019s fair to say many would think of a smallish, home use machine programmed to create dragons or orcs like those from fantasy gameplay. However, mention it to mechanical engineering major Sofia Lanzi<\/strong> and the term means much, much more. It means a year of study and work in France, learning a new language, and helping to create a special attachment for a machine large enough to 3D print entire buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lanzi wound up in France through the International Engineering Program (IEP)<\/a>, a five-year course of studies that includes spending a year in a different country. Although she had previously only been in France once (and only for a short while), Lanzi had no issues becoming accustomed to European culture. \u201cIn high school my mom and I traveled every summer. For me, there was no culture shock. I know that every culture is different, and it\u2019s just a matter of internalizing it. I learned to just roll with the differences because I had already traveled a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a semester of studies, Lanzi found herself interning at a company that would allow her to put both her technical knowledge and her travel experience into action. \u201cConstructions-3D is a very international company,\u201d Lanzi said of her internship firm. \u201cTo them, having a non-native speaker isn\u2019t a big deal. I went to visit them before I accepted the internship offer.\u201d The employees made Lanzi feel welcome, and she thought that this company, with 30 employees, would be a \u201cjust-right\u201d size for the experiences she was searching for. \u201cIt was very impressive. I got to talk with some of the employees, and I felt like I would fit in well here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Constructions-3D<\/a> manufactures machines that can print concrete structures automatically using custom programmed information. Lanzi is designing and prototyping a new print head for their largest printer, which is powerful enough to create a building. The printer is partially comprised of a large arm that ends in a head. Following programmed instructions, the printer will move that arm and extrude layers of concrete that can form the walls of a building, for example. The process looks a bit like a soft ice cream dispenser reaching out to fill ice cream cones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another appeal of working at Constructions 3-D was the prospect of going beyond CAD software as part of her internship. \u201cI had the opportunity to build what I was designing, which I love. One of my hobbies is building; that\u2019s why I went into mechanical engineering. It\u2019s really something I enjoy.\u201d Lanzi\u2019s print head will allow the machine to do finer detail work not possible with the current iteration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what does someone with a full-time job building things do in their free time? \u201cI like to build models, like the spaceships from Star Wars,\u201d Lanzi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lanzi is effusive about her experience with the International Engineering Program (IEP). \u201cTo be perfectly honest, it\u2019s the only reason I went to URI. I like the program a lot. It gave me the opportunity to work with the construction company I like. It\u2019s an amazing internship and it\u2019s in an industry that\u2019s growing. After working in Constructions 3-D, I feel that in the future I can either work in France or implement my background somewhere at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Hugh Markey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mechanical engineering major Sofia Lanzi spent a year studying and working in France as an intern at Constructions-3D, a company that manufactures 3D printing machines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4861,"featured_media":78184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77328"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78199,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77328\/revisions\/78199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/mcise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}