American Energy Technologies Co. (AETC) is very excited to introduce our hardworking cohort of Summer 2022 engineering interns. Coming from diverse backgrounds and four different states, these students have all aided to the corporate growth of AETC with their enthusiasm, dedication and exciting experiences this summer.
Our first intern is Ethan Lane, studying at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, for his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. Over this summer, Ethan has been working as a Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Intern. Ethan has experience from various sources, coming to AETC to pursue his joy of lab work, chemical engineering, reactor design, and writing code. Throughout his experience at AETC, he worked on several projects involving deeply granular engineering aspects such as HMI/PLC code instructions, the fluidized bed reactor, battery recycling technology aimed at recovery and reuse of its valuable components, and cathode and anode material processing. Ethan found “outstanding mentorship through these projects, working independently and as part of different project teams”. Ethan has been a great addition to AETC's engineering team this past summer. He recommends AETC as a “perfect place to receive industrial lab experience with the mixture of chemical and materials engineering blended into a coherent whole”.
Our next intern is Jacob Shellhamer, an AETC Chemical Engineering & Materials Science Intern. He is a rising senior at Syracuse University, majoring in Chemical Engineering and minoring in Mathematics, focusing on Sustainable Energy Systems. He hopes to apply his knowledge of engineering principles and materials science to create solutions for new energy systems, making him a perfect fit for our work at AETC. Over this summer, Jacob has worked on optimizing battery electrode compositions and focusing on recycling lithium-ion batteries. While working, Jacob has said that fellow AETC employees “have been an endless pool of experience for him to source from and learn all aspects of graphite's application in lithium-ion batteries and in mastering multiple materials characterization techniques to include Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive Scans, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, Laser Diffraction, and more”. Ultimately, Jacob has excelled in offering valuable advice on the project's electrochemical portions while learning from other AETC engineers' expertise. Jacob has said: “he is most proud of his achievements and experience here at AETC”.
Our third intern is Jamie Feldman, who is working with AETC as a Chemical Engineering Intern. At the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, she is working towards her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. Jamie comes from experience working within the realm of food science. She came to AETC aiming to diversify her field of sustainability. Jamie has been an excellent resource with "cooking" advanced carbon-based formulations for curing high performance rubber, figuring out the best specifications for strength, elasticity, elongation, and other required aspects of mechanical and chemical engineering in designing AETC’s performance parts sold for specialty applications within the US Government. She has also been aiding in a variety of materials characterization methods and assisting in the Calibration and Preventative Maintenance projects run by the company. From these experiences, Jamie said she “was allowed to work with everyone and see all the different tasks for people where all hands were on deck”. Jamie was “happy to have learned so much while working at AETC”.
Our next team member is Eesha Maisuria, who worked as a Scientific Writing Intern. She is a senior at Yale University, completing a degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. She aspired to gain experience working in sustainability on the writing and organizational side. Throughout her internship, she was involved in a number of projects, writing technical reports, compiling news releases, and writing business and research proposals. To familiarize herself with each new project and any technicalities along the way, she received innovative advice from everyone at AETC, participated in meetings with customers and clients of AETC, studied literature and learned things by doing. She has said that “she learned so much about graphite sustainability and how to create a business partnership and plan a project to become a success in the market.” She would “happily recommend this internship for anyone desiring an environment to learn the real industry and be part of a woman-owned technology business where everyone is always willing to assist you”.
In all, our summer interns have been a very significant contribution to AETC, and we have enjoyed having everyone onboard with us and teaching them as much as possible in the realm of our sustainable engineering projects. We hope this internship experience will serve them well in their future endeavors. We can't wait for the following winter and summer seasons to see more bright individuals join our Chicago-based team!