Aberdeen-born mechanical engineering student Joseph Kennedy joined 90 Scottish students travelling the world to work with some of the top blue chip firms this summer.
Taking their first steps in their future careers, the 90 students were hand-selected to go on pre-paid internships with the likes of GE, Diageo and IBM in the US, China, Africa and Europe, thanks to the Saltire Foundation and GlobalScots.
Joseph, 21, and about to enter the fifth year of his mechanical engineering masters at the University of Strathclyde, was sent to Houston, Texas, to work at oil and gas services firm Cameron.
One of his tasks has been to analyse allowable stresses on a valve component for a client of Cameron’s. The internship also included a trip to a place called Ville Platte, Louisiana.
“Ville Platte, apart from being a small hunting country village, is also home to a gigantic Cameron valve manufacturing facility with around 600 employees, responsible for producing around a third of all valves used worldwide,” said Joe.
“I was able to speak with employees involved in all sectors of making the plant work, from machinists to office staff.
“It gave me a great appreciation of how important the dedication and skill sets of so many varied people is required to make such a massive operation possible.
“Leaving Ville Platte late Tuesday I left with a sense of awe and gratitude at being able to see firsthand where the types of valves I have being working on in the office in a virtual sense become a physical reality in the manufacturing facility.
“Moving forward today and for the rest of my time here I will be trying to keep in mind what I have learned not only in the classroom but now also in the field to improve the valve analysis that I perform.
“Additionally from this, I am working on a little extracurricular project that I believe if implemented correctly may speed-up the current computational analysis process and reduce turnaround time.”
Joe said he had also had his belief in putting himself forward, being flexible, willing and able to travel and pushing yourself reaffirmed. It will create opportunities and connections long in to the future.
Last year, Joe was awarded a scholarship by his home university to utilise skills from his scuba diving hobby to analyse the underwater effects of the recent gulf BP oil disaster while studying abroad at Louisiana State University.