Many technological advances are inundating the military market. Among perhaps tougher Kevlar and new rifles, is the Sarcos^® Exoskeleton: a revolutionizing robot that complements the human body to attend to the most inhuman tasks possible. While some may imagine that lifting two hundred pounds is a struggle, this machine trivializes this very task, as a CNN video highlights the easiness and lack of human strength needed to operate the robot. With plans to become bulletproof, the exoskeleton can help a single man load a nuclear missile precisely and delicately enough to still play a game of catch- so what exactly is this military epiphany?

For the last fifteen years, as the Sarcos^® website indicates, this company has been a leader in the research and development aspects of industries relating to robotics, medical devices, and mechanical and electrical Microsystems. By targeting the focus of the company to couple two diametric perspectives of biology and engineering, the company has given birth to many inventions that add human dexterity to nonhuman elements. Much of the research conducted through the company is centered on the development of silicon-based micro-sensors and electronic servo actuation systems. Silicon-based micro-sensors primarily “measure machine operational characteristics such as rotary movement, strain, load, acceleration, position, pressure, vibration, sound, and flow”. While acknowledging a variety of characteristics relative to robotic systems on a micro scale, these sensors can take the information gathered and apply it to products in the automotive, medical and aerospace industries especially. In combination with the development of such sensors, is the creation of Human/Computer interfaces that allow “an individual to be visually and mechanically immersed within a computer-generated synthetic environment”. The interfaces are further divided into four groups that target a different aspect of a machine, or robot in this situation, including: “(1) mobility portals (MPs), (2) Sensuit command systems (SCSs), (3) graphic workstation interfaces (GWIs), and (4) dexterity masters (DMs)”. Altogether, the interfaces and microsensors allow for the robot to operate to the whim of the human as well as the human to control the robot in extreme situations throughout acute expertise of proprietary actuation, sensor, and control technologies.

Important aspects as mentioned above, are the micro-sensors and actuators used to direct the robots. One such microsensor is the Rotary Displacement Transducer, in which through “emitter and detector disks, housing elements, and a sealed input shaft, the chips interact electrostatically to measure relative position with absolute rotary resolutions”. In general most sensors produced, specifically those of Sarcos^®, address intelligence of “multiplexing, signal processing, and self-calibration as well as measurement of rotation, linear strain, and multi-axis strain” in regards to the robot.

The Human/Computer interfaces are also vital to the movement, function, and appearance of the robot that allow for its marketability and success. In general HCIs allow for the movement of the robot to be lightweight and of low resistance especially through the many degrees of freedoms providing for a myriad of joint angles. Through both wired and wireless communication between the computer and the interface, the HCIs allow for local kinematic transformations and control. Mentioned above were a few types of interfaces designed for specific purposes in regards to the robot, including MPs, SCSs, and GWIs. MPs are primarily responsible for natural movement in a synthetic environment and allow for real-time decision making in terms of speed, direction, exertion, and posture. SCS are utilized for direct and interactive real-time measurements of the operator’s body, in which certain signals conducted can control the robot in extreme situations. GWIs, lastly, are small intelligent interfaces that control through microsensors the real-time yet natural command of the many robotic movements.

As the potential consumer for such an idea would be the government and the potential purpose would be for the protection and support of the soldiers, it is grateful that the product is highly reliable yet low cost for such high performance. Since the suit can be controlled either through a remote operator wearing a SenSuit or through a computer controlled preprogrammed show, one can imagine the amount of background engineering and aesthetic design used to implement such a machine. Much of the robot is managed by advanced CAD systems called Pro/Engineer and Alpha-One which manage interfaces handling animation and analysis and allow for real-time movement unlike many robots throughout the world.

This up and coming company has been capturing the eye of the technological world since the early 90s, and with the future of the military in its hands, we have only to wait for what else is in store in the robotic community. Through the thorough research and development of the micro-sensors and interfaces, this robot is ready to stand by every soldier- helping each man and woman run faster, work harder, and yet not sweat a drop. As politics highlight the weakening of the United States military with a vast dispersal of military forces throughout the world, perhaps Sarcos^® has provided a hopeful remedy!

Read more from http://www.sarcos.com/

The Cornell Baja Racing team designs, builds and races an off-road vehicle. We participate in the SAE Midwest Regional competition, which includes events that test the maneuverability, suspension, and acceleration of the car, as well as judge its design and cost. The climax of the competition is the four hour endurance race.

Our team is made up of undergraduate students from four different colleges in the university, although most of our team members are engineers. We spend the fall semester designing the car and testing prototype improvements on previous cars. The spring semester is spent building and testing the car before the competition in June. The car is designed and built from the ground up each year, solely by students.

Joining a project team is extremely fun and rewarding. On the Baja team, even the youngest team members contribute to the design and manufacturing of our car. Fabrication is usually the first skill that new team members acquire. Many hours of practice using mills and lathes pays off, because when the car is finished you can point to a suspension upright or pedal and say, “I made that.” As members of the team gain experience through classes and sticking with the Baja team, they begin to design parts of the car as well. These design experiences often reinforce coursework, or develop skills before they come up in class.

Being part of a long-term team gives great experience in preparation for working in the industry. Learning how to design pieces of a large system is emphasized from day one. As others’ parts change, you must make changes to your work. This constant process requires patience and flexibility. Working on a large team also requires you to learn how to listen to others’ criticism of your work, and how to give useful criticism back. The creative process that goes into designing a car requires that everyone give input and that everyone listens to the given input.

Since the Baja team is about designing and building an off-road vehicle, test driving is done on trails in the woods, rock quarries and ATV test tracks. Everyone on the team gets to drive, which means that everyone on the team comes back muddy and dirty. The experience of driving a car which you helped build is unmatched by any other experience as an engineer. Especially when you can drive that car off of a really big jump.

The first part of creating the Baja car is to design it. Using CAD and other tools, the team creates a complete model of the car before ever touching a milling machine or welder. It is much faster and cheaper to experiment in a computer model than it is in physical space. Fitment of parts is done in CAD, as well as creating steering and suspension geometries. After the model is done, fabrication of the car can commence.

The frame of the Baja car is constructed from chromium molybdenum steel or “chromoly”. This is easily machined and welded steel, and also has a high tensile strength. Each frame bar is cut and mitered in order to create a triangulated frame. After each piece is fitted, the frame is welded using Tungsten Inert Gas welding (TIG). When all of the welding is complete, the frame is painted to prevent rusting.

In the Baja SAE competition, all teams are required to use the same, unmodified engine. Given this constraint, one of the simplest ways to go faster is to have as light a car as possible. The Cornell Baja team reduces the weight of the car in several ways. For metal components, designing parts that are only strong enough for the stresses they are expected to encounter saves weight. The analysis of these stresses requires Finite Element Analysis. Another way that Cornell Baja lightens the car is through the use of composites. We are increasingly using carbon fiber to replace metal sections of the car, such as the steering wheel and steering shaft. The body panels of the car are also made from composites, fiberglass for the side panels and Kevlar for the floor.

The four day competition is the most exciting time of the year. There are two days of safety inspections and static design presentations. The next day is dynamic events such as acceleration, maneuverability, suspension and traction, and hill climb. The highlight of the competition is the four hour endurance race on the last day with all 140 cars racing at once. This event is worth the most points in the competition, and is the most exciting to watch. Cars crash into each other, roll over, break down, and even catch on fire. Almost a third of the teams do not finish the endurance race, so durability of the car and smart driving are very important. One year, we had to rebuilt the drive train in the middle of the race but still managed to finish the race. In the three years we have competed, we have finished the endurance race each year.

In the three years that the Cornell Baja Racing team has competed, we have made significant strides in our performance. Each year we learn more about the technology involved with making a successful car. This year, the Cornell team is working toward its first championship.

BY LOUIS BERGERON AND STEPHANIE KENITZER

Wind farms can be built in mountainous regions, such as in Spain (above), or placed offshore like the one at Middelgrunden (other photo), near Copenhagen, Denmark.

LM Glasfiber

Wind farms can be built in mountainous regions, such as in Spain (other photo), or placed offshore like the one at Middelgrunden, near Copenhagen, Denmark.

Wind power, long considered to be as fickle as wind itself, can be groomed to become a steady, dependable source of electricity and delivered at a lower cost than at present, according to scientists at Stanford University.

The key is connecting wind farms throughout a given geographic area with transmission lines, thus combining the electric outputs of the farms into one powerful energy source. The findings are published in the November issue of the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology.

Wind is the world’s fastest growing electric energy source, according to the study’s authors, Cristina Archer and Mark Jacobson, who will present their findings Dec. 13 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Their talk is titled “Supplying Reliable Electricity and Reducing Transmission Requirements by Interconnecting Wind Farms.”

However, because wind is intermittent, it is not used to supply baseload electric power today. Baseload power is the amount of steady and reliable electric power that is constantly being produced, typically by power plants, regardless of electricity demand. But interconnecting wind farms with a transmission grid reduces the power swings caused by wind variability and makes a significant portion of it just as consistent a power source as a coal power plant.

“This study implies that, if interconnected wind is used on a large scale, a third or more of its energy can be used for reliable electric power, and the remaining intermittent portion can be used for transportation, allowing wind to solve energy, climate and air pollution problems simultaneously,” said Archer, the study’s lead author and a consulting assistant professor in Stanford’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and research associate in the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution.

It’s a bit like having a bunch of hamsters generating your power, each in a separate cage with a treadmill. At any given time, some hamsters will be sleeping or eating and some will be running on their treadmill. If you have only one hamster, the treadmill is either turning or it isn’t, so the power’s either on or off. With two hamsters, the odds are better that one will be on a treadmill at any given point in time, and your chances of running, say, your blender, go up. Get enough hamsters together, and the odds are pretty good that at least a few will always be on the treadmill, cranking out the kilowatts.

The combined output of all the hamsters will vary, depending on how many are on treadmills at any one time, but there will be a certain level of power that is always being generated, even as different hamsters hop on or off their individual treadmills. That’s the reliable baseload power.

The connected wind farms would operate the same way.

“The idea is that, while wind speed could be calm at a given location, it could be gusty at others. By linking these locations together we can smooth out the differences and substantially improve the overall performance,” Archer said.

As one might expect, not all locations make sense for wind farms. Only locations with strong winds are economically competitive. In their study, Archer and Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, evaluated 19 sites in the Midwestern United States with annual average wind speeds greater than 6.9 meters per second at a height of 80 meters above ground, the hub height of modern wind turbines. Modern turbines are 80 to 100 meters high, approximately the height of a 30-story building, and their blades are 70 meters long or more.

The researchers used hourly wind data, collected and quality-controlled by the National Weather Service, for the entire year of 2000 from the 19 sites. They found that an average of 33 percent and a maximum of 47 percent of yearly-averaged wind power from interconnected farms can be used as reliable baseload electric power. These percentages would hold true for any array of 10 or more wind farms, provided it met the minimum wind speed and turbine height criteria used in the study.

Another benefit of connecting multiple wind farms is reducing the total distance that all the power has to travel from the multiple points of origin to the destination point. Interconnecting multiple wind farms to a common point and then connecting that point to a far-away city reduces the cost of transmission.

It’s the same as having lots of streams and creeks join together to form a river that flows out to sea, rather than having each creek flow all the way to the coast by carving out its own little channel.

Another type of cost saving also results when the power combines to flow in a single transmission line. Explains Archer: Suppose a power company wanted to bring power from several independent farms—each with a maximum capacity of, say, 1,500 kilowatts (kW)—from the Midwest to California. Each farm would need a short transmission line of 1,500 kW brought to a common point in the Midwest. Then a larger transmission line would be needed between the common point and California—typically with a total capacity of 1,500 kW multiplied by the number of independent farms connected.

However, with geographically dispersed farms, it is unlikely that they would simultaneously be experiencing strong enough winds to each produce their 1,500 kW maximum output at the same time. Thus, the capacity of the long-distance transmission line could be reduced significantly with only a small loss in overall delivered power.

“Due to the high cost of long-distance transmission, a 20 percent reduction in transmission capacity with little delivered-power loss would notably reduce the cost of wind energy,” added Archer, who calculated the decrease in delivered power to be only about 1.6 percent.

With only one farm, a 20 percent reduction in long-distance transmission capacity would decrease delivered power by 9.8 percent—not a 20 percent reduction, because the farm is not producing its maximum possible output all the time.

Archer said that if the United States and other countries each started to organize the siting and interconnection of new wind farms based on a master plan, the power supply could be smoothed out and transmission requirements could be reduced, decreasing the cost of wind energy. This could result in the large-scale market penetration of wind energy—already the most inexpensive clean renewable electric power source—which could contribute significantly to an eventual solution to global warming, as well as reducing deaths from urban air pollution.

A wind power feasibility study of potential sites along the California coast by Mike Dvorak, a Stanford doctoral student in civil and environmental engineering who is working with Jacobson and Archer, also is being presented during an afternoon poster session at the meeting.

Associate Professor Giri Venkataramanan (center) and a team of workers built a wind turbine in the Scottish Highlands. The community there is not connected to the electrical grid. (Large image)

The rolling hills of the Scottish highlands are dotted with small stone houses. Their residents, mostly farmers and craftsmen, enjoy a peaceful existence miles from the nearest city—so far, in fact, that they are not connected to the nearest power grid.

That is where Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Giri Venkataramananbegan his sabbatical. He did not travel to Scotland to enjoy its peace and tranquility, but rather as part of a team building an electricity-generating wind turbine. Without connection to energy utilities—power lines cost between $50,000 and $1 million per mile, says Venkataramanan—the region’s inhabitants must generate their own power.

Wind turbines, machines that use the energy from the wind to turn a generator, are common in the area. “Every house has one or two turbines. They also use solar panels and have batteries to store charge for when there’s no wind or sun,” says Venkataramanan. “They live pretty comfortably.”

The team had no prior turbine-building experience, but came prepared to saw, drill and weld. It took the team one week to build the turbine, by hand, from the raw materials. Turbines the size of this one generally average 200 watts at a reasonably windy site. At this rate, one turbine can generate enough electricity in a day to power the modest needs of a small home, says Venkataramanan.

“That was a very eye-opening experience for me. Even in that primitive setting, we were able to accomplish something. I was quite impressed,” says Venkataramanan. “I thought, we ought to do something like that on campus.”

Inspired by that thought, he spent the rest of his sabbatical learning how to implement a program about this clean, sustainable solution for rural energy on a university campus.

A few months after returning from Scotland, Venkataramanan traveled to the Tokyo Institute of Technology to lecture about his research activities. While he was there, he investigated a new undergraduate program in international development engineering, which focuses on sustainable global development.

Venkataramanan then spent three months as a visiting research associate at the University of California-Berkeley. While conducting research and writing a paper on rural electrification for the Journal of Energy Engineering, he also assembled a team of students to build a wind turbine like the one he built in Scotland. Although without a full-scale workshop or credit, the students worked weekends to assemble the turbine in a team member’s garage.

The students’ enthusiasm for the project did not wane after Venkataramanan’s departure, and the workgroup continues to meet. “Since I left Berkeley, they’ve developed more wind-focused activities and are planning to install two or three more wind turbines,” he says.

While at UC-Berkeley, Venkataramanan also visited other schools and institutions focused on sustainable energy development. The efforts he witnessed inspired him, such as the University of Colorado-Denver student team that not only built a wind turbine, but also installed it in a tribal community in India.

For the spring of 2006, Venkataramanan received a fellowship as a visiting researcher at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. “The first thing I did in Brazil was get a bunch of students together to build a wind turbine,” he says. Despite bureaucratic red tape, the team found the parts it needed and finished the turbine.

To finish his sabbatical, Venkataramanan spent the summer as a visiting scientist at Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey, where he also recruited a team of students to build another wind turbine, bringing his number of construction endeavors to four. With these experiences fresh in his mind, he returned to UW-Madison in fall armed with ideas for ways Wisconsin students could help develop rural energy.

Venkataramanan is planning several courses that will give students opportunities to learn about and work with energy technology. This spring, he piloted a section of Introduction to Engineering (InterEgr 160) that focuses on small-scale wind turbines, intending to integrate it into the curriculum long-term. He also has integrated renewable energy technologies and developing electric grids into his ECE 714 course, Utility Applications of Power Electronics, focusing on under- developed and off-grid communities.

Venkataramanan (right) helped a team of students in Brazil build a smaller scale wind turbine like the one he built in Scotland. He also built turbines with student groups in Turkey and California. (Large image)

To give students hands-on experience, Venkataramanan is planning a section of the service-learning program Engineering Projects in Community Service that will enable them to build and install a renewable energy system, such as wind turbines, in an off-grid community.

Venkataramanan believes that adding rural, renewable energy development to an engineering curriculum could make a difference not only for the students involved and the communities they reach, but also on a global level. “There are two billion people without electricity access in the world. That’s one-third of the population. Many of these communities don’t have economic wealth for people to go and build power lines. By engaging our students in projects like this, they can learn to think globally and perhaps come up with creative solutions for the future,” he says. “The potential for what our students and faculty can do is unlimited; we just have to be creative.”

by Hilary Parker

As junior Nick Frey sat in his fluid mechanics course last spring, he was thinking about bicycles — but he wasn’t daydreaming.

Rather, the mechanical and aerospace engineering major was conjuring ways to put his newfound knowledge to work in modifications to his racing bike. The reigning national time-trial champion and co-president of the University cycling team, Frey has aerodynamic aspirations that go far beyond taping the vents on his helmet — a common practice among racing cyclists to reduce wind resistance.

The day before heading to the world championships in Germany this fall, Princeton junior Nick Frey put himself through a grueling test to simulate the upcoming race route. He records distance, speed, cadence and power output during workouts like these in the Dillon Gymnasium bike room to determine his best racing strategy. Photo by Denise Applewhite“Nick was one of the most active students in my class — always wanting to know more details, or to make sure he understood everything,” said Alexander Smits, the chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering and Frey’s fluid mechanics professor. “It was great to have him in the class. He bemoaned the fact that Barrie Royce and I were no longer offering our freshman course, ‘The Bicycle and the Engineer,’ but he seems to have put his fluid dynamics know-how to very good use.”

A prime example is the modification Frey made to house the brake cables on his time-trial bike. When he learned that solid cylinders have high air resistance, Frey equated cylinders with bicycle brake cables — and saw an opportunity to go faster.

He knew that once an object, such as a cyclist, is moving fast enough, the main barrier to going even faster is wind resistance; nearly all the cyclist’s strength goes into pushing aside air. Conversely, reducing that resistance by a relatively small amount can result in major increases in speed with minimal increased effort. So Frey enclosed his brake cables in a special housing shaped like an airplane wing that shields them from the wind, reducing the resistance on his bike while still meeting the requirements of the organization that oversees competitive cycling events throughout the world, the Union Cycliste Internationale.

“It’s like free speed,” said Frey, a junior. “And in cycling, every second counts.”

Frey speaks from experience — in July, he won the 2007 U.S. Espoir National Time Trial for men under age 23 by 1.3 seconds.

His passion for cycling began when Frey was 14, growing up in Des Moines, Iowa. He got his first mountain bike, he recalls, and immediately became “obsessed” with the gear.

“We call it ‘getting geeked out’ in the cycling world,” he says. “So, I guess I would say I was an engineer before a cyclist. The cool gadgetry of cycling got me interested in the sport.”

A mountain-biking buddy introduced him to racing the following year. Frey promptly took sixth place at the junior national championship, and that was it. He was hooked.

After arriving at Princeton, Frey began to apply his engineering skills to his cycling. His extensive research pervades his cycling equipment, from the helmet he purchased to match his riding posture to the silicon gel between his wheel rims and tires that subtly changes the shape of his tires, making them more aerodynamic.

Even his own performance is subject to rigorous analysis. During tests in the bike room in Dillon Gymnasium, with his bike on stationary mounts and recordings of previous Tours de France on the television in front of him, Frey measures all aspects of performance. Distance and speed are just the beginning: He also records cadence and power output and creates complex graphs of the data to analyze his rides. He posts his training and performance results, along with details about various races, on his blog.

After a hard midday ride, Frey hangs up his bike and checks the power meter one last time. Photo by Denise ApplewhiteAll the top professional cyclists obtain similar information about their own performances, but they don’t usually do the analyses themselves. Frey prefers it his way, feeling that it gives him an extra edge as he strategizes for upcoming races.

During this summer’s national time trial race, his average speed was around 30 miles per hour for just about 30 minutes. He calculated that his average power for a 15-minute period during the race was 377 watts, just over half of a horsepower. This performance landed him a chance to compete in the Sept. 26 world championship time trial in Stuttgart, Germany.

In preparation for the competition, Frey conducted a series of tests to determine his best racing strategy. The day before leaving for Germany, he simulated riding up a major hill on the actual race route.

“I wanted to determine the maximum intensity I can put out when I’m going up the hill without overdoing it,” he said, after finishing the test. “If I figure out the power output I should maintain, it’ll be kind of like playing a little video game at the race — staring at my power monitor as I go up the hill. If you don’t know how hard to go, it’s easy to hit the hill way too fast and your legs’ll be toast by the time you get to the top.”

At the world competition, Frey had the opportunity to share rides and meals with some of the top cyclists in the world, including fellow Iowan Jason McCartney and Dave Zabriskie. Zabriskie is one of only three Americans ever to wear the leader’s yellow jersey in the Tour de France.

“It’s so amazing to see that these guys are doing the same thing I’m doing — they’re just bike riders,” he said. “It’s so inspirational. They show you that if you’ve got some talent and luck, and if you stick with it, you can get to their level. McCartney trained on the same awful roads that I did in Iowa — it’s so cool to think about what is possible.”

Spending time with these professional riders and hearing about their past competitions helped shape the way that Frey reacted to his performance at the world championship, where he took 57th place.

“At first, I was really disappointed, mainly because I felt like I let down all these people who were supporting me — my parents, the U.S. team, the mechanics,” he said. “But then, I realized that they understand that everyone can have really amazing rides and really bad rides, and so then I was really happy that I got to worlds in the first place. And then, right away, I started to think about what I’ll do differently next year — because I plan on getting there again next year.”

His plan for his future extends beyond training strategies to professional ambitions that combine his interests in engineering and cycling. His goal is to start a company that designs cycling gear, accessories and gadgets that push the limits of speed or enhance the sport of cycling. He is honing his product design and marketing skills this semester in “Entrepreneurial Engineering,” a course taught by Daniel Nosenchuck, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Frey previously gained valuable experience in product design this summer in an internship at Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Working with a team of engineers, Frey helped design the electronics packaging for a future satellite.

“I approached it the same way I’ve been taught to approach problems in engineering classes, by being open to nontraditional solutions,” he said. This open-minded attitude allowed him to contribute new ideas to a team of many longtime engineers.

With the world championship behind him, Frey took an unprecedented two weeks off from riding his bike, even just to class. Though his newfound, albeit brief, status as a pedestrian resulted in his being late to class a time or two, he said it was the best way to recover from the tough summer of racing and ready his body for next year’s competitions.

During his normal cycling regimen, he’ll spend between 20 and 25 hours on his bike each week, often riding with his teammates on the cycling team. At other times, he’ll take off by himself, with no firm plans for where he’ll ride, not sure of much more than how long he plans to spend on his bike. His circuitous routes often take him through the New Jersey towns of Frenchtown and Ringoes, or across the Delaware River to Doylestown, Pa.

“I don’t start out with a laundry list of things to do, because then it feels more like a job and I want to enjoy what I’m doing,” he said. “It’s not that complicated,” he added, before sharing his personal philosophy: “Get on the bike and ride.”

Posted by Hilary Parker

Mechanical and aerospace engineering major Zhen Xia is accustomed to solving problems that have cut-and-dried solutions, but an internship at IBM this past summer taught him how to approach problems that don’t have one right answer.

As part of a new internship program, Xia spent three months working with senior marketing executives at the IBM corporate offices in Somers, N.Y. From analyzing the brand’s image to establishing a business case for a new product launch, he found himself in the midst of the complicated intricacies of the business world.

“Unlike technical problem-solving where everything is black and white, problem-solving in business deals heavily with people and customers who have many different viewpoints,” Xia said. “In business, there are various shades of gray, which make things exciting and interesting.”

Mechanical and aerospace engineering major Zhen Xia worked at IBM corporate offices in Somers, N.Y., with senior marketing executives including Florence Hudson, who earned her degree in the same field from Princeton in 1980. (Photo: Alan Zale)

This is precisely the type of knowledge that the creators of the Preparing to Lead internship program hoped rising seniors would gain from the experience, which closely pairs undergraduates with business leaders to provide opportunities that wouldn’t be possible in traditional internships. Offered by the Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, the program was first envisioned by center director Sharad Malik to help prepare Princeton students for leadership positions in a technology-driven society.

“Our expectation is that Princeton students will rise to the highest level, and this program allows them the opportunity to experience corporate leadership before they even begin their careers,” said Malik, the George Van Ness Lothrop Professor of Engineering.

The valuable learning experiences were made possible by a strong alumni network, which counts among its ranks many leaders in technological businesses. In the inaugural year of the Preparing to Lead program, five executives from a variety of corporations worked with the School of Engineering and Applied Science to design internships for six current undergraduates. Students applied for the program through the Office of Career Services TigerTracks system, and partner corporations interviewed applicants and made hiring decisions.

“How better to expose our students to corporate decision-making than by placing them in close proximity to senior executives?” asked Bob Monsour, associate director of external affairs for the Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, who facilitated the internships.

Florence Hudson, the vice president of marketing and strategy for IBM mainframe System z, served as Xia’s mentor throughout the summer. A 1980 Princeton graduate with a degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering, Hudson jumped at the chance to share what she has learned throughout her career. Over the course of the summer, she met with Xia regularly to discuss leadership and engage him in real projects.

“Being a business leader with an engineering degree from Princeton, and knowing how much I didn’t know about business when I graduated, I knew I wanted to teach a Princeton engineering student what I’ve learned about business and leadership,” Hudson said. “It’s important to understand how to lead others to do what’s right, how to link the business needs and value to the engineering and technology, and how to succeed in the complex world of business.”

During Xia’s time at IBM, he also worked closely with John Burg, System z product marketing manager, which provided him with another valuable perspective on corporate leadership.

“I loved my weekly talks with Florence and John,” Xia said. “They shared a lot of their personal experiences and career development advice. One of my most memorable conversations with Florence was about speed bumps. She told me that life is like a series of speed bumps: obstacles may slow you down but will never stop you as long as you believe in yourself.”

WildPackets chairman Mahboud Zabetian (left), a member of the Princeton class of 1988, shared his corporate experiences with senior Saed Al Shonnar at the network software company in Walnut Creek, Calif. A chemical engineering major, Al Shonnar plans to put his newfound corporate knowledge to use in future entrepreneurial ventures. (Photo: Bob Monsour)

While Xia spent his summer at a corporate giant, other students in the Preparing to Lead program had the opportunity to witness the inner workings of much smaller businesses. Saed Al Shonnar, a senior majoring in chemical engineering, spent two months conducting market research for WildPackets, a network software company in Walnut Creek, Calif. Al Shonnar reported to WildPackets chairman Mahboud Zabetian, a member of the Princeton class of 1988.

With an interest in entrepreneurship, Al Shonnar applied to the Preparing to Lead program seeking to examine the inner-workings of a small company. He wasn’t disappointed.

“The internship is exactly the kind of experience I was hoping to have this summer,” he said. “I have been closely exposed to the dynamics of a small- to medium-sized company and I learned more about business aspects applicable to most companies.”

The first year of the Preparing to Lead program also placed Eva Leung at medical device firm Integra LifeSciences in Plainsboro, N.J., Geoffrey Hamilton at e-mail marketing company Return Path in New York City, and Ruth Fombrun and Malik Saunders at Sealed Air, a global packaging company, in Elmwood Park, N.J., and Greenville, S.C., respectively.

Ruth Fombrun was one of six Princeton undergraduates who completed internships this past summer through Preparing to Lead, a program that pairs rising seniors with business leaders to provide opportunities that wouldn’t be possible in traditional experiences. “Unlike other engineering-related internships I considered, ‘Preparing to Lead’ offered me exposure and learning opportunities in both business and engineering, which was critical for someone like myself whose interests had migrated closer to business and further from a traditional engineering career,” said Fombrun, a chemical engineering major who worked in the treasury department at Sealed Air, a global packaging company in Elmwood Park, N.J. (Photo: Courtesy of Sealed Air)

“Unlike other engineering-related internships I considered, ‘Preparing to Lead’ offered me exposure and learning opportunities in both business and engineering, which was critical for someone like myself whose interests had migrated closer to business and further from a traditional engineering career,” said Fombrun, a chemical engineering major who worked in the Sealed Air treasury department. “I learned so much more about business and finance than I ever could have imagined.”

Malik and Monsour said they are pleased with the success of the program in its first year and look forward to improving upon it in years to come. In addition to enlarging the program to include opportunities for more students at a greater number of companies, they hope to increase the amount of time interns spend interacting with their corporate mentors. To introduce more students to the program, this year’s interns will participate in a panel discussion during the upcoming academic year.

Xia, for his part, looks forward to telling interested students about his Preparing to Lead experience and helping the program to grow.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better experience at IBM,” he said. “Every week, there was something new, so I wouldn’t say there was ever a typical week. I was constantly able to work on new things.”

Article Courtesy of Princeton University