Materials Engineering Internship Story: Naval Air Warfare Center

Hannah Ostermann

Materials Engineering

What company did you intern with and where are they located?

Naval Air Warfare Center; China Lake, California  

How did you identify and apply for your internship? Are there any specific resources you used to find the opportunity (i.e. Handshake, career fairs, other recruitment events)?

I used connections through my hometown’s high school STEM program with engineers from the naval base adjacent to my hometown to identify the internship. I applied through USA Jobs

What was the application process like?

The application process through USA jobs was fairly straight forward.  It included completion of a questionnaire and ssubmitting my resume.

Tell us about your internship experience. What types of tasks and projects did you engage in? Was there a particular project or part of the experience you learned the most from?

I learned how to operate micro-hardness testers, scanning electron microscopes, and cutting/polishing machines and assisted the full-time staff with various tasks.  I learned the most by working through failure analysis reports to experience the process from start to finish.

In what ways did this internship help you prepare for your next destination after Auburn?

The internship showed me how my Materials Engineering major actually applies in a real-world work environment.

In what ways did your coursework or other experiences at Auburn prepare you for your internships? Are there specific topics or skills you learned from classes that you put into practice on the job?

I understood how to use programs like MATLAB, which helped me analyze big sets of data. My classes taught me about how different compositions and structures of materials affect their properties. These skills were used in the internship.

Do you have any advice for other students looking for internships like yours?

Try to network as much as possible, even at school.  Don’t be afraid to reach out to people you know in private or Government positions about internships.