Prairie State is excited to welcome Adonis Barnes as one of our Mechanical Engineering Interns this summer.
Adonis is from Calumet City, Illinois, and he currently attends Southern Illinois University in Carbondale (SIU). He will be entering his senior year of studying mechanical engineering. At SIU, Adonis is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers, and he occasionally tutors other students. He has participated on the track team and in the student steel bridge competition.
Adonis was a Project Engineering Intern at the Dove factory, where he helped ensure that machine parts were installed and aligned correctly to keep the factory running smoothly. Adonis also performed engineering work with the steel bridge team, and he helped to design and test their bridge before entering it in the competition. He has taught children about engineering by helping them construct catapults among other projects.
Prairie State interested Adonis because it was close to his school, and he has always been interested in power generation. “It seems like the employees are willing to teach, and I’m willing to learn, so it is a great opportunity.”
Adonis is grateful for this internship opportunity, and he is looking forward to getting the perspective of active engineers. He believes this internship will motivate him to complete school while helping him understand his classes much better. Throughout the summer, Adonis will be working on multiple projects related to relativity, flame strength, oxygen, and more.
Next spring, Adonis will graduate and move into the workforce. He hopes to work at any plant to understand the basic concepts, and he would then like to move into the renewable energy field, specifically research or working at a solar farm.