The first full week of my 2016 summer internship at the Indium Corporation has already come and gone. I can’t believe how fast the first full week went by; the remaining 9 weeks will probably go by even quicker. I have been so busy with the projects I am working on that the day goes by in a blink of an eye. One of the projects I am working on is analyzing the diffusion between indium and copper. I will be collecting data at various temperatures and with different indium alloys. In preparation, have researched a lot of information and should be starting my tests next week! I know that there has been a lot of interest in this subject so I hope the data I collect will be useful.
Another big project I will be working on over the next 9 weeks is updating the e-commerce website to make it more user friendly. I've looked over the sales data from the past couple of years and have also have reviewed other websites to compare to Indium Corporation's current platform. I know this project is not related to my major (chemical engineering) but I like the fact I am working on projects outside of my expertise because it requires that I develop new skills as well as work with many different people; people that I normally wouldn’t be working with. I’m excited to see the other projects I will be working on as my time here at Indium continues.
Every Wednesday we interns have a lunch-and-learn. Last week, the session was about mentoring, and finding a mentor. This week’s session was a Dale Carnegie training. I found both sessions to be very helpful and interesting. Many people don’t realize how beneficial mentors are. I have a mentor at school who is one of my professors. She gives me advice about school, my career, and life. I always go to her for advice about any problems I may be having, whether they are big or small. She is always there to help me in any way she can. From the Dale Carnegie training I learned a lot about effective communication and creating connections with others. We did a lot of group activities that involved external awareness and how it can affect our relationships in the work place. It was interesting to see the various things I was doing that were preventing me from connecting with others; this training has made me aware of them. The most interesting thing I learned was the top 9 principles involved in becoming a friendlier person. The exercise we did on these principles showed how important it was to apply them every day at work to improve relationships with co-workers and making the work environment better. I hope next week is just as eventful as this past week and a half was!
Until next time,
Lindsay