Internship Experience 1: ConocoPhillips!

This is the first of several posts where current ambassadors will tell us a little about their co-op/internship experiences.

Here's Ashley Elias (Senior, Mechanical Engineering) talking about her internship with ConocoPhillips!

This past summer I worked with ConocoPhillips at their Bayway Refinery in Linden, NJ. This was the first internship I had ever had in the Oil Industry and I loved it! Not only could I go out into the refinery to actually see what I was working on, but I got a lot of hands on experience witnessing different projects and processes in action. My title was the Mechanical Design and Reliability Intern. My group was in charge of analyzing heat exchangers, pressure vessels, and piping systems to ensure their functionality and structural integrity.

I was a little nervous at first, not knowing if I would understand all of my assignments, but with the help of other engineers in my group I was able to successfully complete all of the projects that were assigned to me during the summer.

Some of my projects included calculating the minimum required thicknesses for pressure vessels and heat exchangers. Operators would then go measure the thickness of these components and make sure they weren’t too corroded. If they were too thin, repairs or part replacements were necessary. I also worked on a really challenging piping analysis project. There was a piping system running in and out of a furnace and Operators noticed a lot of vibrations in the pipes. I was responsible for analyzing the stresses and vibrations in the pipes and designing a guide system to help support them.

Overall, I learned a lot throughout the summer and now I’m seeking a full time job in the Oil Industry!

Not only was the work very interesting, but all of the people I worked with were really helpful and welcoming. I was set up with a mentor and a buddy (a younger new hire to show me around). I also spent a lot of time with the other interns. ConocoPhillips set up apartments for all of us in the same building so that made the experience a lot of fun! I highly recommend doing an internship to anyone even if you don’t know what you want to do with your career; learning what you’re not interested in is just as valuable as learning what you are interested in!