SP0335: Design Team Sustainability Internships

We are proposing a design team internship program to fund two paid summer internship positions, which will allow Design Teams to explore projects related to sustainability. These summer internships will be project based, where the intern will be paid to undergo the conception, design, manufacturing, and testing of a complete design. Projects will be proposed by Design Team’s, with the goal of improving the sustainability of the team and giving the student undergoing the internship the opportunity to learn skills that will help prepare them for a successful career engineering a sustainable future. The proposed projects should not be part of the team’s typical design scope, and should be projects that would not be pursued without the funding from this program. At the end of the summer the intern should have produced a final design, ready for integration into the team’s complete design during their normal design cycle. The intern will also be expected to produce a final report detailing the design process, their final design, and any relevant learnings. This report will help enable the integration of sustainable design practices into the team’s typical design cycle by transferring knowledge between members. These projects will allow teams to address issues related to reducing material consumption, increasing reusability of components, and many more.

The funding obtained from the SPF will be used to supplement the salary of the intern. The EUS is planning on providing each intern with hourly wages equivalent to a $10,000 salary. Funds from the SPF will make up a large portion of the interns salary, and additional funding will be obtained from wage subsidy programs such as the Student Work Placement Program. Interns will be selected from an applicant pool of members of the design team.

This program will improve sustainability at McGill by giving Design Teams the opportunity to address sustainability issues on their team. The potential improvements are varied, but some potential issues to be addressed include reducing consumption of non-renewable resources such as composites and metals and increasing the reusability of components. The knowledge that the student gains during the internship will be documented and shared with other team members, allowing the team to make more sustainable decisions during the design of their competition entry and integrating sustainable design practices into the team’s design methodology. This internship position will work to improve the sustainability of Design Teams at McGill and will provide the student undertaking the position valuable knowledge and experience, helping them advance their career and prepare them to engineer a sustainable future.