School of Engineering STI

Master students in Mechanical Engineering are trained to a transdisciplinary approach allowing him/her to solve problems related to the design, production and control of technological systems and mechanisms: writing specifications for a mechanical system; sizing a regulator; selecting sensors and actuators and their control algorithms; mastering numerical and experimental analysis tools; modelling a production system and its logistics; modelling a process by identifying sub-systems, their inputs, outputs and disturbances.

What companies think of our internship program

“The student completed a detailed CFD study on the influence that different turbulence models have on the fluid flow and thermal performance characteristics within our 1kW stack product.”

Nick Lawrence, Head of Mechanical Engineering – Ceres Power Ltd, Horsham, United Kingdom

“During her stay at Ceres Power, the student’s primary project was to answer the following question: « Does the choice of the turbulent model have a critical impact on the accuracy of predicting the stack thermal behavior? » To do this, she created a CFD thermal model of our 1kW stack product and, with the help of experimental thermocouple test data, compared 4 different turbulence models. She also completed some modelling to assess the effects of radiation. The model created was to a high standard and compared well to test data.”

Result of the internship:

  • Creating a thermal model of a stack is not a simple task however the student succeeded in reducing the problem to a manageable size whilst still obtaining good accuracy.
  • The outputs from this modelling work has enabled us to select the right CAE software for flow simulation and saved 1000’s in licenses costs.
  • The student made good connections, was professional in her conduct, and had an enthusiastic manner.

 

 
 
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What students think of our internship program

“In addition to the new technical knowledge I acquired about numerical simulation, I was able to familiarize with teamwork.”

Audrey Désirée Wesoly

“My internship focused on the simulation of physical phenomena within fuel batteries. During the master cycle at EPFL, I had followed the course « Numerical flow simulation ». This gave me a good basis and after a period of about 2 months I was able to actively participate in the tasks assigned to my work team.”

My internship result:

  • Increase in self-confidence.
  • Adaptation to a new environment.
  • Better understanding of fuel batteries and Fluent simulations

 

 

Electrical Engineering master students focus on electricity as support for both computing and energy. Their multidisciplinary education broadens their knowledge base in three main areas, which are closely interconnected: circuits and devices (microelectronics, integrated circuit design, sensors); computer and communication engineering (acoustics, RF and micro¬waves, photonics, signal and image processing, visual information representation and processing, image analysis, multimedia commu¬nications); power and energy (production, transport, transformation, storage, devices to convert electrical to mechanical energy).

What companies think of our internship program

“EPFL students are very well trained for the work that our company does (image sensor design) and are very open-minded.”

Julien Michelot, Pixel Development R&D Manager – Pyxalis SAS, Moirans, France

“Feasibility study and design of a pixel based on JFET transistors. The internship focused on the feasibility study of a pixel on silicon substrate whose reading floor is realized from a JFET transistor. Straddling between the world of analog design and semiconductor physics, this internship allowed the student to go into the heart of what makes the performance of a modern CMOS image sensor.”

Result of the internship:

  • The trainee had a very good technical background.
  • The trainee was able to quickly adapt to the specific tools to our profession.
  • The work provided is appreciated by the collaborators.
 
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What students think of our internship program

“My integration within a team of design engineers has indeed introduced me to their daily work, divided between several projects with different advances (design, characterization …). One of the very interesting aspects of the job is to be able to compare the design and simulation work with the real tests of the devices.”

Corentin Delacour

“The first part of the internship focused on my training in the field of imaging and new computer tools, which I completed independently thanks to the documentation provided by my supervisor. The “research” character of the internship allowed me to explore different leads independently while informing and discussing with the team. Indeed, since the aim of the internship was the design of a new type of pixel, the path was not all mapped out. For example, I modeled in a theoretical way the developed architecture in order to have relationships between the different design parameters.”

My internship result:

  • There was a very friendly atmosphere every day.
  • Every week, I explained my progress to my colleagues on the team and we discussed the next steps of investigations.
  • This experience allowed me to improve my knowledge.

 

Materials Science and Engineering is a master program providing a combination of a broad basis of knowledge with specific skills in different disciplines to understand and master the structure of matter down to the atomic scale; to understand the relationship between microstructure and structural and functional properties of materials; and to be able to design, transform and manu¬facture materials for use in leading edge technologies. In-depth optional courses are: Transformation of materials and production processes; structural materials for transportation, energy and infrastructures; materials for microelectronics and microengineering; materials for biotechnology and medical applications.

What companies think of our internship program

“The internship allowed to improve the properties of aluminium alloys for automotive applications by optimizing the interactions between composition, process parameters and final properties.”

Aurèle Mariaux, R&D Lead Scientist – Novelis Switzerland SA, Sierre

“The aim of this project was to improve the strength and the formability of automotive alloys by fine tuning the composition of the alloys to the solidification conditions. Through laboratory casting tests, the trainee was able to reproduce the solidification conditions of the different industrial processes. Starting from the composition of some common alloys, he will carried out experimental designs to build a more general model for predicting the phases formed during casting and their evolution during the transformation process up to the finished product. At the end of the project, he used the created model to establish recommendations on the compositions and parameters to be used in the production processes.”

Result of the internship:

  • The student was very comfortable with both the multicultural team of engineers and the more local team of technicians.
  • The student proposed an original and relevant way of analysing the data at disposal.
  • The student showed great interest in the different aspects of industrial practice and good mastery of laboratory work.

 
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What students think of our internship program

“Even if I was an intern I felt part of the group as everybody else.”

Gabriele Gaspard

“During my internship my role was to develop new aluminium alloys for the automotive industry. I was in charge of everything: from the choice of the alloy and the chemical composition to ingot casting, from heat treatments to sample preparation and metallography. In short, I was in charge of the entire chain: from the initial concept to the final results. Many responsibilities, but also many satisfactions!”

My internship result:

  • I am very satisfied by this internship, much more than what I could’ve expected.
  • A good communication was crucial to have an efficient progress of the work.
  • I’ve learned many new technical skills, most of the tasks related much more to the experimentation of the material than the theoretical understanding of it.

The Microengineering master student is a generalist in engineering, and trained towards a pluridisciplinary approach (mechanics, electronics, optics, informatics and telecommunications). He is able to understand and to take advantage of the challenges of miniaturization, and to integrate new and proven technologies into product concepts. He has the necessary product management skills and knowhow for mastering mass production challenges (design for assembly, design to cost, economic impact). His pluridisciplinary educa¬tion is broadening in one of the following domains: micro- and nanosystems; applied optics; robotics and autonomous systems; production technologies.

What companies think of our internship program

“The student conceived and developed interesting ideas for our product that solved important problems we had before.”

Christian Peters, Co-Founder – microGauge AG – Zürich, Switzerland

“During the Internship, the student improved the packaging of our sensor by mastering the use of FreeCad and FEM tools without having previous experience with them. Furthermore, she has developed effective experimental methods for our White Light Interferometer (WLI) and Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV). The objectives have been clearly identified and pursued throughout the entire duration of the internship.”

Result of the internship:

  • Very solid background in mechanics and micro-machining processes.
  • There was no hesitation in taking initiative and use imagination to cleverly solve complex problems.
  • The documents produced were characterized by a nice logical structure which made them easy and interesting to read.
 
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What students think of our internship program

“I had the opportunity to achieve the project for which I had been hired from beginning to end in a generally independent way.”

Myriam Käppeli

“My internship went well overall. I was able to fully realize the project I was hired for. I also had the opportunity to carry out other tasks when I was waiting for deliveries for my project. I learned to communicate my questions and results more clearly. My objectives were clearly defined but I had a great deal of freedom on how to achieve them. This internship also allowed me to discover a Swiss city I didn’t know before. I’m happy to have done an internship in a start-up, because I think I could not have contributed so much in a larger company.”

My internship result:

  • I think I’ve established a good working relationship with my colleagues.
  • This internship has given me a good idea what to expect if I work in a start-up.
  • • I was able to use skills I learned during my studies and acquire new ones.

 

Internship coordinator