My Summer of Learning and Loving Engineering

Each summer RAND selects a student from Robert Whalen's engineering class at Richmond High School in Queens for a summer internship. The purpose of the internship is to give students a chance to see the different kinds of work that engineers do and even do a little themselves. This summer I was fortunate enough to have been that student.

Not only was I excited to work at an engineering firm, but I was also assigned to RAND's Structural Team, which is one of the fields of engineering I'm interested in. I started off making drawings in AutoCAD, which gave me a chance to see the design and details of the buildings we were working on. I also got to use SketchUp, a 3D modeling program.

Soon enough I was going to the job sites with the engineers, which is where the fun really began. One of my first site visits was a Local Law 11/98 facade inspection of a 10-story building on West 16^th street. My Rand colleague Eugene Gurevich explained how to inspect the brickwork and stone elements. He pointed out which items are considered unsafe and must be documented. Later that day I got the chance to write a draft of the Facade Inspection & Safety Report, which details the condition of the building and is filed with the Department of Buildings.

On another site visit with members of the Structural Team, we inspected the condition of a retaining wall and found cracks, deteriorating stone, and leaks. My job was to take pictures and measurements of the wall. I enjoyed working as part of a team to investigate a problem and trying to figure out the causes and how to fix it.

One of my favorite ongoing projects was an exterior repair program at a building on the Upper East Side. The building had lots of construction work going on, from repairing parapets to replacing window air conditioner sleeves. I enjoyed this project because I went twice a week to the site with the project manager, and I got to see a construction project in the making.

There were scheduling conflicts, miscommunications, and delays on the project, but the property manager, owner, contractor, and engineers have been able to work them out and keep the project moving ahead. I learned that the main objective on a project is to work around problems and get it done regardless—and that the client always comes first.

In addition to learning about engineering and buildings, the one thing I've really enjoyed about my internship is the work environment at RAND. My coworkers just give off this friendly vibe and made me feel right at home. They took the time to answer my questions and explain things, and they were easy to talk to. On the train rides back and forth to the job sites we talked not only about engineering, but also sports, movies, college, and just life in general.

I can't wait until school starts so I can tell my classmates what I did this summer: I did real engineering work at a professional engineering firm. Thank you, RAND!