{"id":88983,"date":"2020-05-15T08:41:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T12:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=88983"},"modified":"2020-05-15T08:41:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T12:41:41","slug":"fairborn-daily-herald-wright-state-student-takes-engineering-talent-to-woolpert-sweden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2020\/05\/15\/fairborn-daily-herald-wright-state-student-takes-engineering-talent-to-woolpert-sweden\/","title":{"rendered":"Fairborn Daily Herald: Wright State student takes engineering talent to Woolpert, Sweden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Jack Stafford, a mechanical engineering major at Wright State, drafts mechanical, electrical and plumbing drawings for commercial buildings into computer software for Woolpert.<\/p><\/div>\n

When Wright State University mechanical engineering student Jack Stafford went to work during the fall 2019 semester, just a short distance away was the Nobel Prize Museum.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Stafford was in Stockholm, Sweden, as part of a three-month internship for Woolpert, an international architecture, engineering, geospatial and strategic consulting firm based in Beavercreek.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just started working at Woolpert nine months previously. A few months into that, they asked me to go to Sweden and they paid me for it,\u201d he said. \u201cYou cannot get a better opportunity. That\u2019s a great company.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Woolpert, Stafford drafts mechanical, electrical and plumbing drawings for commercial buildings into computer software.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe engineers there would design the systems, and I would take their drawings and red lines and put them into the software,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Then Stafford received the opportunity to work in Sweden for a company closely aligned with Woolpert as part of an engineering exchange. Stafford\u2019s work there was very similar to what he had been doing back home for Woolpert, except the Swedish company used a different computer software system. And Swedish companies design heating and ventilation systems to use water instead of the forced-air systems commonly used in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey pretty much use radiators and something called chilled beams,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the systems are much different, and they\u2019re also more costly because there is a lot more piping that goes into a system. I worked with my other co-workers there to learn how they do things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford said the Swedish internship broadened his perspective on engineering beyond the traditional educational experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I have an experience that most people don\u2019t get,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m trained in another system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford was also able to soak up the Swedish culture, which \u201cis very cool, to say the least.\u201d He said the Swedes, 90 percent of whom speak fluent English, are very social and community-minded and that he often socialized with his co-workers after hours.<\/p>\n

Stafford also did a good deal of sightseeing, taking in Stockholm\u2019s architecture and historic buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite thing to do was to just pick a direction and start walking,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the safest cities in all of Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Stafford\u2019s favorite things to do was to go to Gamla Stan, the city\u2019s old town that is a compact island with cobbled streets and colorful 17th and 18th century buildings. It\u2019s home to the medieval Storkyrkan cathedral and the Royal Palace.<\/p>\n

In the heart of Gamla Stan sits the Nobel Prize Museum. Museumgoers can explore the work and the ideas of more than 900 creative minds presented through short films, original artifacts and computers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to see a lot of artifacts from the people who actually won the Nobel Prizes and learned how penicillin was made, for example,\u201d Stafford said.<\/p>\n

Stafford, an Eagle Scout, also did a lot of hiking outside of Stockholm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a shared-land rule in Sweden, so even if it\u2019s private land you can still be on it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was really interesting to go out and experience that wilderness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford builds drones, is a certified drone pilot and has his own drone company. When he was in Stockholm, known as Venice of the North for its canals, he used a drone to get aerial views of the waterways.<\/p>\n

Stafford grew up in Centerville. His father works as an engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and his mother is an educator.<\/p>\n

Stafford was inspired to pursue engineering after taking an environmental science class in high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking into sustainable energy, and I decided to build a hydro-electric generator. I wanted something I could really incorporate in my career as renewable energy, but I also really like tinkering,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I thought instead of going into environmental science, maybe I\u2019ll just go into engineering and mesh the two together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford and his high school classmates built the generator in a carpentry shop. Using a five-gallon bucket of water, the machinery ended up generating eight to 10 volts of electricity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a lot of research because we were essentially building an alternator,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had to build the coils. We had to spin it and make it essentially a turbine.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from Centerville High School in 2017, Stafford came to Wright State because it had an accredited engineering program and was affordable. He decided to major in mechanical engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted something where I could focus on the tactile aspect of it because I like to build stuff so much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stafford said he is grateful for the strong support for students at Wright State \u2014 the accessibility of professors, the Help Center in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and tutoring services in the Student Success Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat really got me through chemistry when I first started out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stafford said he is one of the youngest workers at Woolpert and advises fellow students to pursue jobs and internships there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be really good for some talent at Wright State to branch out and maybe interview for Woolpert because we need people,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good company.\u201d<\/p>\n

View the original story at fairborndailyhearld.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpt When Wright State University mechanical engineering student Jack Stafford went to work during the fall 2019 semester, just a short distance away was the Nobel Prize Museum. That\u2019s because Stafford was in Stockholm, Sweden, as part of a three-month … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":88109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wright-state-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88987,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88983\/revisions\/88987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}