Mechanical Engineering Intern, Molly Doerflein, has been completing a variety of projects in the engineering department and gaining hands-on experience in her field. She has been involved in plant-specific training and performed detailed work on the computer, giving her a good idea of the skills needed to be a mechanical engineer.
Molly has been assisting with firehose fittings, placing equipment orders, organizing paperwork, and scanning material test reports and expansion joint drawings. She is also helping calculate turbine heat rate output and has had the opportunity to contribute to a wide range of other ongoing projects in the department.
While her daily routine remains consistent, the projects Molly works on change frequently, keeping her work engaging. Currently, she is working alongside fellow intern Connor Guttmann on designing and planning protective safety guards for high-temperature and pressure equipment throughout the turbine building, an effort aimed at improving equipment safety and overall plant efficiency.
Her work takes her inside the plant two to three times a week, where she’s had memorable experiences, including climbing inside boilers and tight spaces during unit outages to better understand how the systems function. “It’s helped me connect what I’ve learned in the classroom to how engineering really works in the field,” she shares. “There are things I’ve done that I didn’t expect to, but that’s what makes this experience so valuable.”
Molly says the internship has aligned with her expectations, and she’s excited to apply what she’s learned to her future career in engineering. She has learned to be prepared to do a little bit of everything. “You don’t need to know it all by textbook; there are always people around willing to guide and teach you.” She still plans to pursue a career in mechanical engineering.