Name: Leatrice Bulls
Class: 2020
Concentration: Mechanical engineering
Hometown: Mitchellville, Md.
Internship focus: Mechanical engineering, robotics
Internship location: SharkNinja in Needham, Mass.
Describe your internship.
This summer I worked at SharkNinja as a mechanical engineering intern on their robotics team. I performed a great deal of root cause analysis, first principles testing, CAD model modification, and prototyping parts for advanced development. Throughout the summer, I worked on four different stock keeping units (SKUs) of products and saw three through to mass production.
What is one of the most valuable lessons you learned from this internship, and why?
I learned the value of asking experts for help. My job required a lot of problem solving and, because of the tasks I was given, I was able to hone in on and improve my problem solving skills. There were times when the best solution was not trying to figure it out by myself, but to reach out to professionals in the office who were experts in the specifics of what I was working on. From these conversations, I also was able to expand my own knowledge.
What is one of the biggest challenges you faced during this internship, and why? How did you overcome it?
I found it challenging to learn where to draw the line between asking too many questions and not asking enough questions. I overcame this by realizing that all of the professionals wanted to help me succeed, so while it was important for me to try my best to solve problems on my own initially, if I got stuck there was a plethora of resources readily available to help me.
What skills from your courses at SEAS helped you the most during this internship, and why?
I was able to hone in on the CAD skills I learned in Computer Aided Machine Design (ES 51), the coding skills I learned in Introduction to Computer Science (CS50), the understanding of mechanics from Introduction to the Mechanics of Solids (ES 120), and the problem solving from all my SEAS p-set courses.
Why has this internship been a good experience for you?
This internship was an amazing experience for me because I was able to experience the engineering industry first hand. Seeing how my course work translates to the real world was very valuable for me.
How do you think this experience could inform or benefit your future career path?
I have a better understanding now of what it means to work in industry for engineering and I think that experience really cleared a lot up for me in terms of positions I would or would not want to pursue after graduation.
How did you find out about this internship?
I met the SharkNinja recruiter at the Harvard engineering career fair in October and kept in touch with her throughout the school year.