Emily Egge ’07 Gets Hands-on Look at How Medical Devices are Engineered

During her internship at Power Medical Interventions (PMI) in Langhorne, mechanical engineering major Emily Egge ’07 (Annandale, N.J.) is proving that engaging challenges head-on and having the flexibility to learn on the go yield success.

Egge is among hundreds of Lafayette students who served summer internships this year with alumni and other experienced professionals in business, the arts, education, healthcare, law, engineering, the sciences, government, and non-profits. Students shadow professionals at their workplaces, learning about careers they may consider entering after college, developing professional networking contacts, and building their résumés.

According to Michael Whitman ’82, president and CEO of PMI, engineering internships are technically demanding, much like full-time positions at the company.

“Daily, I am faced with design issues and problem-solving applications toward new and current medical devices,” Egge explains. “I have had a range of responsibilities from paper to computer to lab work. In all, I assist the senior design engineers with their particular projects and goals for the month.”

The objective of the internship is to give program participants a realistic sense of work in the “real world” and to develop the skills needed to succeed once they get there.

“Many of the tasks passed to our interns are a balance of academic and real-world applications,” explains Whitman. “A common theme is to determine on paper a mechanical property, such as the amount of heat generated in a bearing, and then to run a set of experiments to empirically determine the same property.

“Unanticipated differences between the ‘paper’ world and the real world create a good opportunity for the intern to understand the limits of paper-based calculations and how they apply to reality, while simultaneously refining product design taking place at PMI. These analyses also develop critical thinking skills that can be readily used beyond the world of engineering.”

This internship has provided Egge with a better understanding of the industry.

“What I find most interesting is being able to see all aspects of the industry in-house,” she says. “PMI is a small company, so from design, production, manufacturing, and quality assurance, I get to see it all, as well as get my hands in on it, which I like best.”

Egge has had ample opportunity to become involved. Whitman says that Egge is eager to take on challenges and learn while working. One thing she has learned is that the theory covered in an academic setting is only a small portion of the skill set needed while exercising “engineering judgment.”

“Emily picked up on a problem while sitting in on an engineering meeting during her first week here, and took it upon herself to develop a set of manufacturing tooling whose need was previously unrecognized,” Whitman says. “Once implemented, this tooling will reduce production time of this particular product, improve the consistency of the assembly process, and result in a higher-quality product.”

That’s the kind of performance Whitman has seen from Lafayette interns PMI has hosted.

“To succeed in these internships, intelligence, diligence, resiliency, and a high level of enthusiasm are required,” he says. “These adjectives describe the Lafayette interns we’ve had on board since beginning our intern program.”

Egge, however, didn’t come to Lafayette to study engineering. In fact, she began college as a biology major, but soon found that biology didn’t satisfy her passion for mathematics. Likewise, she didn’t want to be a math-science major.

“After some thorough investigation and soul searching, I entered into the field of mechanical engineering,” Egge explains.

The diverse learning environment at Lafayette has allowed Egge to take courses outside her discipline to satisfy other interests.

“Lafayette’s liberal arts atmosphere has provided me with a well-rounded education that not only focuses on engineering, but also on other academic areas of study, such as ethics or music,” she adds. “Also, Lafayette has an intimate classroom environment, allowing for close relationships with the professors outside class that have enhanced my learning experience. And Lafayette has given me hands-on applications of my major which could not be found at a large university for an undergrad.”

Egge volunteers at the SPCA and with Art for the Young at Heart through the Landis Community Outreach Center.