Faculty Support Leads to Valuable Internship for CofC Student
Systems engineering professor Qian Zhang encouraged Emily Alfortish to apply for a valuable summer internship with IFA – North America.
Landing a coveted internship is a significant milestone in any college student’s journey. Internships provide students with invaluable real-world experience and a steppingstone toward future career goals.
For Emily Alfortish, a College of Charleston senior majoring in systems engineering with a minor in business administration, securing her internship with IFA – North America LLC was a huge personal and professional accomplishment.
Six CofC students were among the 11 operations interns who spent this past summer immersed in a variety of tasks at IFA that have broadened their understanding of the industry.
The operations interns’ responsibilities included overseeing supervisors’ setup and organization of meetings, participating in the Material Review Board and analyzing previous data to find more efficient production processes.
Alfortish, who received the Shalosky Family Engineering Leadership Scholarship and the Engineering Scholarships, was even able to solve a critical problem for the company when she developed a structure that holds the drive shafts on a machine.
“First, I sketched it, then I had to take measurements to make sure it would work within our space,” she says. “I also had to accommodate all the different sizes of drives hafts. Then I learned how to order the materials, find the right dimensions, take the measurements correctly and basically everything up to placing the order with the company card.”
It was a big personal achievement for Alfortish, because the company has accepted her design as their own and will continue to use it.
Her journey to IFA began in an engineering class led by Qian Zhang, assistant professor of systems engineering, who recognized her potential during an industrial modeling project and played an integral part in securing the internship for Alfortish.
“I would not have had a summer internship if it wasn’t for her,” she says, noting that students on the hunt for internships should take advantage of their faculty connections. “Definitely reach out to your professors for help; they want to help you. Don’t be afraid to speak up and ask for support. They are eager to help, and you’d be surprised how willing they are to assist.”
Her words reflect the culture of encouragement and mentorship that defines the student experience at College of Charleston.
