Career

MKS | BSU

Applications Engineer

In October of 2022 my internship converted into regular employment as an Applications Engineer. I've continued my work supporting my team's software utilities and taken on additional metrology and applications responsibilities.

Achievements:

• Managed development of data utilities and physical simulations in Python, MATLAB, and C# using Git and Azure DevOps. Improved programs by designing GUIs, using object-oriented design, writing documented and tested code, and developing new features from user feedback.
• Tool owner for a NanoLab 200 FIB-SEM and a Phenom XL tabletop SEM. Responsibilities included: user documentation and training, scheduling maintenance, 6S, and maintaining supplies for sample prep.
• Began a monthly workshop series in 2024 on getting started with Python, MATLAB, and Git with an emphasis on company tools and technology.
• Iterated on experiments with laser via-drilling tools using DOE principles and a combination of optical, confocal, SEM, and cross sectioning metrology.

Applications Engineering Intern

The core of my role as an intern at MKS was software support for applications focused projects. That included maintaining existing code, writing documentation, creating user-friendly interfaces, and developing new software tools and features. In this role, other applications engineers were effectively my customers. The majority of the work was in Python, but also MATLAB and C#.

Alongside my software work, I performed a variety of vision-based metrology including optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and profilometry. Scripting was often incorporated to expedite data analysis.

Later in my internship, I also began performing experiments with ESI Geode via drilling tools in response to escalating project priorities.

I worked as a stockroom assistant and as an adjunct faculty member teaching lab courses. My stockroom position was continuous, while teaching was intermittent.

Senior Stockroom Assistant

My time as a stockroom assistant developed the foundational skills needed to succeed in a work environment. For the first few years my main responsibility was setting out equipment for student labs on a weekly basis. This, along with my coursework, solidified my scheduling skills and also required me to coordinate with my coworkers and supervisor to ensure lab setups were correct and complete. Over time, I began to take on more complicated tasks, including troubleshooting malfunctioning equipment and completing photographed documentation for each lab exercise. In the end, I held the position long enough to switch roles from being the junior assistant to the senior assistant. During my last few years, I helped my supervisor train new assistants.

In my last two years, I began taking on special projects. The many hats I wore in the department made it easy for me to see opportunities to make strategic changes to department resources. My first special project was developing a computer simulation for an ideal gas to replace a faulty program used in a lab for PHYS 309. This took about a year of development time and required communicating with the faculty member in charge of the lab to ensure the new simulation was satisfactory.

This experience made clear to me the value of initiative in the workplace. I went on to complete a number of other special projects, many of which were closely tied to my work as a lab instructor. While taking on these projects, my responsibilities shifted away from the routine tasks of the stockroom and I began working with near complete autonomy.

Projects: Demo Site, Lab Manual Design, Electrostatics Lab, Ideal Gas 3D Simulation

Adjunct Faculty

While I learned a great deal from working as a stockroom assistant, working as an instructor provided unique learning experiences. Teaching honed leadership and communication skills which often were not needed in the stockroom. As a lab instructor, I was effectively responsible for holding multiple teams accountable for getting tasks--the lab exercises--done on time. In addition, it was my job to ensure students understood the concepts and instructions of the lab exercise by lecturing and answering questions throughout lab. Learning from the value of initiative in the stockroom, I also developed and refined many course materials for the labs I taught.

Courses: PHYS 111L & 112L, PHYS 301

Projects: Demonstration Videos, Electrostatics Lab, Lecture Aids, Lecture Notes & Slides, LaTeX Beamer Slides