Date of Graduation
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Advisor/Mentor
Haggard, Brian
Committee Member
Howell, Terry Jr.
Second Committee Member
McVey, Matthew
Abstract
My internship allowed me to gain important experience about a possible future career path with a biological engineering degree. Not only did this experience apply knowledge learned in the classroom from classes taken, I was also able to use my critical thinking skills gained from biological engineering coursework and teaching style to learn new skills and efficiently complete tasks given to me. This internship allowed me to try out a possible career path that interested me, and through my internship experience I was able to learn more about what kind of career path I was interested in after graduation. Additionally, this internship helped contextualize learned material in a real-world environment, and this knowledge gained will help me in future coursework and with taking the FE.
Through reflection and journaling during my internship, I was able to ensure that I was getting the most out of my experience. My reflections allowed me to solidify that not only did I learn while completing daily tasks, I was also enjoying the work that I was completing. One major item I was looking for in a company was the feeling that the work being done had an impact on the community, and this internship helped confirm that work with water and wastewater treatment would allow me to make this kind of impact as clean water is an important need for every community.
One of my biggest lessons learned was to ask questions when needed, and asking certain questions sooner rather than later would help prevent me from feeling lost. Through asking good questions, I learned more details about the task I was completing, and I gained more confidence in myself. This experience also showed me what kind of work environment I am looking for as anyone I asked questions always made me feel valid and made sure I understood the topic being explained which is very important to growing confidence in work completed.
One key takeaway from my internship was the importance of building trust with the clients for consulting engineers. Often, consulting engineering firms must bid on work against other firms, and this type of work can be competitive to win. By creating a good reputation through sound work, consulting firms are able to win more projects to design. One important aspect of this is the QAQC process as it allows the firms to have multiple checks to ensure the quality of the work being completed. When looking for a future career, the availability of a quality check process was very important to me as feedback on work and fixing mistakes is one of the best ways to learn and grow as an engineer.
Keywords
biological; engineering; internship; experience; curriculum; job
Citation
Wheat, S. (2025). Critical Analysis of Coursework and Internship Experience in Relation to Biological Engineering at the University of Arkansas. Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/baeguht/101
