Christian Franco Martinez
Name: Christian Franco Martinez Name of lab and location where you interned:Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico Lab where I interned:Research Park and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Description of summer assignment:Developing strain sensing techniques for the structural health monitoring of high pulsed magnets. Using strain sensing techniques, the task was to identify structural anomalies in the high pulsed magnets in an attempt to structurally pinpoint failure within the magnet and prevent catastrophic failure. What did you like about the assignment?The assignment was a topic out of my element and it challenged me to learn material that I would normally not be exposed to. Did you have a mentor? If so, describe your interactions with your mentor.My mentor was Kevin Farinholt and he helped out with the understanding of the testing process as well as providing supplemental information regarding the magnets. In addition, his interaction with me throughout the process was essential in completing the assignment. Any obstacle that was faced throughout the project was helped to be overcome by him. What did you learn? (both technical and professional skills)I definitely acquired multiple technical skills in terms of dealing with large equipment and working with cryogenics, but the most important was the professional and soft skills gained from the experience. The reason I say that these skills are the most important are because they are the base of any communicative relationship. If I wanted anything done correctly and quickly by others, the manner in which the task was presented definitely guided the end result. Advice for other students about interning:Keep your mind open to new ideas and different materials. As a mechanical engineer, I would say that mechanics of solids and structural mechanics are my safe zone, but by implementing these two into a system which requires a much broader spectrum of knowledge such as physics and electrical engineering, I was able to challenge myself, learn and increase my engineering toolbox to take on future engineering endeavors. Describe the hiring process you used to get this internship:The hiring process was straightforward and easy, at least in my experience. I applied to AHETEMS and selected a couple f labs in the USA. A couple of weeks later, I received a call from Los Alamos Labs asking if I wanted to do research there. What was your biggest challenge and how did you handle it?The biggest obstacle I encountered was my project. I was unfamiliar with the mechanics of these high pulsed magnets and how they operated; therefore I had to do extensive research on them before I started my project. This profile first appeared in the Winter 2010 edition of www.maes-natil.org. |
