July 2022

Name: Benjamin Hunt

Major and University: Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland – College Park

Internship Title: Engineering Intern @ ARMR Systems 

Career Goal: My career goal is to become a design engineer, where I would design and develop new products and systems. Over the summer I will be helping ARMR systems with the design and testing of their product, which falls in line with exactly what I am looking for. This internship will give me the real word application of this process, and allow me to assess if this is the part of engineering I truly enjoy.

1. What is the culture like at your internship site? (big, small? Can you wear jeans? Is it fast paced?)

The work environment is small, casual and fast paced. I am the fourth employee, so it is pretty small, but creates a very personal and casual workplace. As a start up, design iteration and validation testing occur rapidly, making the work fast paced.

2. Who are the clients that you work with?

The end user is anyone who will run into injuries to axillary and femoral in the field, when getting immediate medical attention is difficult. This includes first responders, military medics and other people that have a high potential for remote trauma. The end goal is to reduce military deaths from blood loss.

3. Are you working on any exciting projects that you want to share? Have you learned any exciting new skills that were unexpected?

My first testing project is to become familiar with ultrasound testing, as using the ultrasound requires some practice. We use an ultrasound to image the blood flow in the patient’s arm to ensure we are completely cutting the blood flow when the tourniquet is applied.

4. How did you prepare for the interview? Can you share any tips for your fellow students?

I prepared for my interview by thinking of questions I might ask someone who I would be hiring and googling interview questions. The best way for me to practice was just to think about what I would say in response, that way I didn’t sound like a robot with rehearsed lines, and I also knew what to say.

5. How did you find your internship position? Did you use a career center for help with your resume?

I emailed ARMR in 2019 to try to get a high school internship, and contacted them again in January to see if they had an opening. The cold email ended up working out.

6. Please share anything that you think makes a strong remote internship. 

I don’t like being remote that much, as I have a hard time getting work done outside the office. It helps if the workplace provides clear tasks that need to be done in an easily understood way. ARMR uses Asana to keep track of projects so that helps a lot.