Natasha's noses: an engineering internship like no other
Hi, I’m Natasha, studying for a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Honours) with a major in sports engineering.
Sports engineering looks into the mechanical side of sporting equipment, prosthetics, and the medical side of engineering. So instead of airplanes and submarines, you’re dealing with sporting equipment and designing sporting arenas like Olympic stadiums and prosthetics.
Last year I did a 10-week internship for 4 days a week with Fusetec, a manufacturing medical training design company, learning about the creation of anatomically accurate surgical training models.
In February this year, Fusetec employed me part-time and I’m working for two days a week as an assistant anatomical engineer.
On the first day of my internship, my boss said, 'right, we’re going into the clinic and we’re going to clean,' and I said, 'what do you mean we're going to clean?'
He told me there was a course running that week about sinuses and that I was to help him run the course. That was awesome because I got to see the end goal of what Fusetec does.
During my time at Fusetec, I have grown as an engineer through experiences such as using CAD (Computer Aided Design), working with my supervisor, and talking to surgeons about how they prefer the models compared to cadavers.
Natasha with one of her 3D-printed nose designs attached to a prosthetic face. Her designs will aid the knowledge and skills of surgeons and medical students in rhinoplasty surgery.
Recently, I’ve been able to work on my own model noses that will be sent to one of my clients who is a rhinoplasty surgeon in London.
When I tell friends and family that I make noses and I’m sending my noses to London, they’re like 'what!'. It’s the funniest thing you can say, it’s so cool and different.
What drives me is my love for helping people. I started working when I was 15 at Mitre10 and discovered that I really enjoyed helping people solve their problems. The combination of engineering and health has led me to prosthetics where I can help people by doing something out of the ordinary.
As for the future, I’ve got honours next year and I’m interested in how items such as plates and screws can be used with the human body, such as hip replacements.
I think a lot of my engineering friends don’t realise you can do this. Most people think engineering is about defence, but it’s not. There’s so much more out there, you’ve just got to go hunting for it. If you want to be in the biomedical field, just go for it!
When you’re doing an internship, ask lots of questions. I pestered my supervisor something like 20 times in an hour because I didn’t know how to do certain things. However, soon I learned how and didn’t need to ask anymore. At the beginning of an internship, it might be daunting to ask lots of questions, but in the long term it will help you learn and grow as an engineer.
If you are an Engineering student interested in an internship, you can use the following resources to find out more:
- Understand the requirements and steps involved on the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Engineering Internships website
- Get help with planning for an internship with the Careerhub internship management system
- Contact the SET Student Success Team with your internship questions.