Engineering interns embrace Kent-based Novinium’s summer program

Special to Kent Reporter

Novinium, provider of electrical cable rejuvenation for power utilities, celebrated its 11th year of offering a comprehensive, engineering internship program for university students at its Kent headquarters in the Seattle region.

“The program is designed to give university students entering their junior or senior year, in pursuit of a degree in mechanical, electrical or chemical engineering, a chance to demonstrate their motivation and professional readiness to join a world-class engineering team,” said James Steele, who heads the summer internship program.

This year’s recruitment was extremely competitive with only two interns selected from a pool of more than 100 qualified candidates.

Those selected were Michelle Tolfa, a second-year student in the University of Washington’s masters program of mechanical engineering, and Shu-Ki Chan, who will start at the UW’s College of Engineering this fall with a junior standing after earning an associates degree with Bellevue College.

Candidates chosen this year were selected for their technical aptitude with problem solving and data analysis as well as their communication skills and their comfort level working in teams.

“Our interns play an integral role in achieving project milestones and hitting our timelines,” Steele said. “We give our interns real-work experience and enjoy the fresh approach the students bring to our team. They require a well-rounded set of skills to participate effectively in the program.”

Chan said that the Novinium internship was very valuable.

“I definitely learned a lot through my internship, including how to use SolidWorks, operate a 3D printer and write test reports, just to name a few,” she said. “My experience at Novinium was very enriching and I learned various skills and got a glimpse of what it’s like to be an engineer in the professional work field.”

Tolfa explains that mechanical engineering is so broad that it has been tough to narrow down her interests. The internship program helped her get a glimpse into working as an engineer.

“Novinium is a fantastic place to work, and it was cool to get firsthand insight into the research and development process,” Tolfa said. “I learned a lot about prototyping, experiment design and I got a good feel for what it’s like to work as an engineer.”

The success of this program has now lead Novinium to begin replicating the summer internship program in both the marketing and HR departments at Novinium.

UW engineering students Shu-Ki Chan, left, and Michelle Tolfa. COURTESY PHOTO