Who would think high school students could join the workforce as engineers at such a young age. Marcus Engineering has a vision of building Arizona’s technology ecosystem through their innovative internship programs focusing younger and younger every year. “Technology is becoming more and more competitive. If we want to stay on top we have to give the best real world opportunities to our high school and college students” said Dr. Marcus, president of Marcus Engineering. Don’t take it from us however. Continue reading for a first hand account from one of Marcus Engineering’s top notch BASIS interns Karla Wang as she tells her internship story:
During the summer before my Junior year of High School, I embarked on a brand-new life journey—an internship with Marcus Engineering. I had been looking for an Electrical Engineering Internship, but I could not find any companies that would take me seriously as a high school intern. Things changed when I asked my principal, Erin Paradis, at BASIS Tucson North if she knew of any such opportunities in Tucson. Because Marcus Engineering is closely partnered with BASIS, my principal immediately connected me to Dr. Marcus through email. This close partnership allows Marcus Engineering to find top-notch students who are aiming to apply their knowledge and develop skills within the field of engineering, while simultaneously giving a rare opportunity to the best and brightest high school students.
Karla perfecting her soldering skills.
As soon as I arrived at Marcus Engineering and was assigned my first project, I was overwhelmed to say the least. The project was to design and build a USB to Serial Adapter, one capable of being plugged into any computer without installing other drivers. It also had to be able to support both 3.3 and 5 volts. Being a new intern still in high school, I had only brought with me a basic knowledge of circuits from the AP Physics courses taught at BASIS Tucson North.
At BASIS, the courses promote accelerated learning. Advanced classes, such as AP and Capstone courses, are provided as an option for bright individuals who are motivated and wish to go above and beyond. Under the guidance of amazing and talented teachers, students are able to develop their personal talents and find interest in new subjects. From this academically challenging atmosphere ranked 4th in the nation, I was well-equipped to attack my first project.
Starting this project from scratch, I quickly discovered the importance of research. Before I understood how to design the PCB (printed circuit board), I had to conduct plenty of research on serial communication and the various chips to use. From this research, I was able to grasp the concept of how serial communication constituted sending data one bit at a time over a communication channel and how the microprocessor chip played in role in doing so. I was also able to pick up bits of information key to Electrical Engineering, such as chip packaging and specifications.
Kempton teaching Karla how to use Altium.
Along the way, I also acquired experience in dealing with customers. For this project, Dr. Marcus and the engineering team acted as the customer with whom I worked closely. This gave me a great opportunity to practice communicating with a customer by creating detailed chip comparison charts for their reference and understanding what the final product would like through their perspective.
My favorite part, and one of the most integral parts of the project, was designing the PCB in Altium. Altium is a PCB design program that allows you to bring your PCB to life by mapping out a schematic. With the help of Kempton, our Senior Technician, the program was relatively easy to pick up and in a matter of time, my PCB was fully designed and ready for a design review. Dr. Marcus, David, our Senior Embedded Engineer, and Mark, our Junior Electrical Engineer, helped to provide useful critiques and crucial advice about my design, allowing me to further improve upon my engineering skills.
At the end of this project, I had learned so much more within the span of 3 weeks than I had ever imagined possible. I was able to get of sense of what it’s really like to work as an Engineer in the industry. Equipped with the valuable skills of conducting research and project management from BASIS Tucson North and with the guided help of my new colleagues, I was able to succeed. This goes to show that it doesn’t matter how little experience you think have, there will always plenty be of ways to grow and expand your knowledge at a company like Marcus Engineering.
Karla’s completed USB to Serial Adapter hardware.
