I performed my practicum at Herrick Technology Labs, a major producer of software defined radios for defense applications. I originally found this opportunity through my dad, who works in the industry. A former colleague and current friend of his is a manager at HTL, and was willing to take me on as an intern after my senior year of highschool. I have continued my work there ever since. For someone trying to find a practicum I’d recommend trying to go through family or friends; an inside connection is by far the easiest way for someone without experience to get a job. If that is not an option I would recommend looking at smaller companies as you will have less competition going into it.
While at HTL I did a number of electrical engineering related tasks. Among these the most interesting was designing a board, including doing the schematic design in Cadence Capture CIS and layout in PADS. I also did a lot of testing of newly produced boards, ensuring that they were designed correctly and everything was functioning correctly. One of the boards I tested and refined I then used to program HTL modules that would later be implemented into full radio systems. Continuing my work along the lifecycle of our radios I also tested full systems to ensure the software was functioning correctly and that they could establish a connection with a satellite. Diverging from HTL’s usual work I also built an octocopter along with a gimbal for mounting an antenna on the underside of it. With all that being said, very little of this required much application of science, but the concepts behind what I did are driven by science. The cases I milled go in between boards to reduce electromagnetic interference. The weight parameters we had to abide by when building the octocopter were dictated based on how much lift the rotors can produce. The basis of circuit boards are built on electromagnetics.
While what I did didn’t require much in the way of applying science, I did see a lot of work being done that required a heavy use of mathematics and physics. One of the major projects I worked on had other members working on signal processing, which uses fourier transforms and algorithms, and RF engineering which requires physics. This application of science adds a new depth to engineering work, taking it from going through the motions to having to really think and engineer. Unfortunately to do these things you often have to have a masters degree, which is now something I am considering pursuing after I graduate from UMD. Most of the traditional work I did, specifically the schematic and layout of digital boards, was not particularly interesting. Granted I didn’t get to do some of the fun stuff such as control systems for power supplies, but in general most digital boards are relatively routine. In the future I really hope to get into other fields of electrical engineering. All in all I just hope to land a job where I am kept on toes, having to address new problems and learn new technologies.