For my practicum, I interned at Aero Aggregates of North America LLC. This is a civil engineering company that specializes in foamed glass aggregate, a lightweight material made from 100% recycled glass. Foamed glass aggregate has a number of engineering applications, but is primarily used for infrastructure and construction projects. The CEO of Aero Aggregates has been a long-time family friend, so I reached out to him for a short-term internship over the 2021-2022 winter break and ended up being invited back for a full internship over the summer of 2023. The advice I would give to future SGC Scholars looking to identify a practicum site is to take full advantage of your network and put yourself out there. Reach out to any family, friends, professors, etc. that are working in a field that you are interested in or would like to learn more about because the worst they can say is no. PRacticum is a great experience to be further exposed to your field, gain more experience, or explore specific topics of study that you are interested in, so make the most of it.
During my practicum, my main project involved developing a standardized method for small-scale testing and performing a full factorial experiment designed to inform how several production factors affect product quality. During the first half of the summer, I looked into how to replicate the kiln heating environment in a Nabertherm muffle furnace and quantify the performance offset. The second half of the summer involved the culminating testing, where I looked at the unit density, and qualitatively the structure, of the product, based on where the glass was sourced from, the type of foaming agent used, and the amount of foaming agent used. In addition to my primary project, I also conducted a project to look at long-term moisture absorption based on product size and collected data on in-field bulk density testing offset. Occasionally, I would also collect daily quality control data, which included bulk density, compression, and LOI testing.
I was able to learn a lot about the science related to my site during my time there. As a chemical engineering student, being able to learn about the manufacturing process and talk to the multiple process engineering working at the company was very beneficial. Also, in order to work effectively, I had to have a good understanding of the chemical reactions that occur to form the product as well as how changes in composition, heating, and purity can change the properties of the product. In addition to the practical knowledge that I learned while there, I also gained a number of technical skills while there, including the lab skills previously mentioned.
This experience was incredibly gratifying, not just on the basis of science. Because products are made from recycled material, Aero Aggregates is a very sustainable company and I was able to see how the science connected to environmentalism and recycling infrastructure. In addition, I was also able to physically see the practical benefits because some of the sites that the product was used at were local places that I was familiar with or even frequently visited. This practicum did not necessarily modify my future career plans, but definitely served to reaffirm my confidence in chemical engineering. Following my experience, I chose to move up my Intro to Materials Science class, so that I could further explore specifics within the field, and I lined up a chemical engineering internship at another company for the following summer. I’m looking forward to applying the knowledge and skills that I was able to learn during my practicum to the upcoming internship. Overall, my practicum experience was very rewarding and I was able to gain practical knowledge and experiences as well as grow as an engineer and SGC Scholar.
Last modified: 04 May 2023