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This summer, seven Lafayette students are serving internships in various departments at Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. In 20 years of recruiting at the College, this is the most interns David Taschler ’75 has brought to the company in a single summer.
Each summer Air Products hosts between 50 and 80 interns from colleges and universities including Lafayette, Lehigh University, Drexel University, Villanova University, Purdue University, and University of Toledo. Students gain practical work experience and attend training sessions, seminars, local plant tours, brown bag lunches, and other activities. Interns also network and develop lasting relationships with each other and Air Products employees.
“The primary goal is to ensure a good fit between the candidate and Air Products,” says Taschler, who is the company’s Global Capability Director for Commercial Technology. “By allowing them to work with real project teams, the students get the opportunity to understand real-world engineering. It helps them translate from their student academic world and get a real read on what engineering, at least at a chemical company, is all about. They may discover something new about themselves or things they like or don’t like.”
Marquis Scholar and chemical engineering major Sara Davis ’07 (Taylor, Pa.) is working in the Environmental Health and Safety – Process Safety group to improve the quantity and quality of data available in two software programs used to analyze and assess risk. Her latest project is a cooperative project with the Center for Chemical Process Safety, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and several chemical companies to develop better tools to harvest failure rate data across different companies and plants.
Michael Elzinga ’07(Saint Paul, Minn.), a Marquis Scholar who is pursuing an A.B. with a major in physics and B.S. mechanical engineering, is putting his skills to use in the Future Energy Solutions group. He is looking for ways to develop technology for the production and distribution of alternative fuels like hydrogen. Elzinga started a brand new hydrogen fueling station designed to service a small fleet of hydrogen ICE hybrid cars. He also is working on a prototype compressor to reduce the overall cost of hydrogen at the pump as part of a project for the U.S. Department of Energy.
For his work in the Environmental, Health, Safety & Quality Global Environment group, Trustee Scholar and chemical engineering major Jeshua Gonzalez ’09 (Alburtis, Pa.) is developing and populating databases listing permit-required tasks and emission limitations with which facilities must comply. He also is assisting with the hiring of consultants to review and revise existing permits, aiding other environmental specialists in revising permits without the help of consultants, and developing tools to aid environmental specialists in the management of rare tasks such as plant decommissioning.
Mechanical engineering major Joshua Gordon ’07 (Landisville, Pa.) is spending the summer in the Electronic Equipment Solutions group. He designed a safety device to be installed in gas enclosures that prevents the gas cylinder fitting from loosening when harmful gases are present in the lines. He also is performing ventilation testing on enclosures to check for air speed and pressure and installing baffles if necessary to meet safety code requirements.
In Shanghai, China, Bonnie Hoy ’07(Smithville, N.J.), a chemical engineering major, is conducting much of the commercial technology applications work for Asia, which is similar to the work she did as an Air Products intern last summer.
Trustee Scholar and chemical engineering major Eugene LaBuz ’07 (Drums, Pa.) is working at the Air Products Specialty Chemicals plant in Kansas. LaBuz is gaining experience as a process engineer, sizing pressure safety valves that protect tanks affected by high pressure. He also is updating and installing various conservation vents on reactors and columns; he has added pressure transmitter software for low flow protection and replaced sight glasses with updated technology.
Steve Music ’07 (San Jose, Costa Rica), a mechanical engineering major, is working in the Food and Cryogenics Applications group. He is researching the applications of inerting in the food industry. Inerting is the process of replacing oxygen with an inert gas, usually nitrogen, to prevent explosions or increase a product’s durability. Music is creating the offering concept, developing a business model, evaluating possible technologies, and conducting risk assessments.
According to Taschler, the internship program is the gateway to entry-level positions within the company. Interns who are entering their senior year will have interviews this summer and know by the time they return to campus if they have a position with Air Products after graduation. Interns who receive offers will enter the career development program, which typically includes three 9-12 month assignments in different departments.
“Air Products is proud of its role in offering valuable career opportunities to qualified students from reputable engineering programs,” says Taschler. “I am pleased that we were able to offer opportunities to so many Lafayette engineering students this year. We’ve maintained a consistent presence at Lafayette in terms of recruiting. We’ve typically had several hires over the last few years. Maintaining continuity is a pretty good mechanism for getting folks over here.”