Abigail Zeglen gained hands-on experience this summer through an internship with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in its geotechnical engineering department.
Zeglen, a Slippery Rock University junior civil engineering major from Hastings (Cambria Heights HS), describes geotechnical engineering as the “backbone” of engineering as it emphasizes the relationship between the earth and the structures built upon it. Geotechnical engineers analyze subterranean conditions to ensure the safety of buildings, bridges, roads and other pieces of infrastructure that engineers work to create.
“Engineering isn’t just behind a screen,” Zeglen said.
This summer, she was able to benefit from field experience as well as office work. In the office, she would engage in planning and number crunching for projects, and in the field she got the chance to see the execution of those plans. Through these experiences, Zeglen gained a greater appreciation for the interconnectivity of different branches of engineering such as structural engineering and geotechnical engineering.
Zeglen also spoke to the soft skills that she learned such as adaptability and the ability to draw connections between areas of her discipline that sometimes feel distant from one another in a classroom setting. Zeglen encourages other students not to get “tunnel vision” in their areas of study, zoning in too closely on niche specialties at the expense of developing broad skillsets. While her internship gave her the opportunity to explore niche positions, the sheer number of these positions served to cement her desire to grow her mind and breadth of abilities as much as possible.
“Many interns come out of their experience with just a job done,” Zeglen said. “I came out with broadened knowledge in my field.”
Zeglen’s next step is to explore another internship, possibly in a private civil engineering firm with the help of SRU faculty. There, she will continue to apply what she has learned at PennDOT and in her classes in the real world once more.
More information about the civil engineering program is available on the program’s webpage.
