Pipetting dye into a disc I made for testing

Author: Lindsay Wheeler | Major: Mechanical Engineering | Semester: Summer 2025

Nothing terrified me more than stepping off a plane after my first time travelling alone and realizing that I was in a completely unfamiliar city with no idea where to go or how to get there. I had always hated stepping outside my comfort zone and feeling unprepared to deal with the unknowns of trying something new.

I knew from the very beginning of my college journey that I wanted to go abroad as part of my studies, but I had no idea where to go or what to do. My challenge of facing the unknowns began on the University of Arkansas campus with simply mustering up the courage to attend informational meetings and talk to faculty I had never met before. Stepping outside of my comfort zone and taking the initiative to learn about my study abroad options led me to find out about the Honors Internship in Dublin program. I immediately knew this was the perfect fit for the experience I was looking for, because I could travel abroad and still get the all-important work experience that everyone in the mechanical engineering program was always talking about. Besides, what better way to immerse yourself in another country’s culture than working alongside the people who have lived there their whole lives?

Dublin is the capital city of Ireland, located right on the east coast of the island country. In recent years, it has become a hub for technological innovation, making it the perfect destination for engineering research. The relatively small size of the island of Ireland also made it easy to visit other cities around the country for a day trip or as a weekend getaway. You can get pretty much anywhere on the island in less than four hours, which is less than the drive from my hometown up to Fayetteville!

I’d had my share of first-day jitters in the past, but nothing came close to the nerves I felt on my first day of work. I had no idea what I would be doing or where I would be working; all I knew was where to meet my supervisor, and vaguely what sort of projects the lab was working on. The cherry on top was knowing the area of research I was about to be working in was entirely different from my area of focus in my studies. Since I am majoring in mechanical engineering with an aerospace concentration, and I have experience flying planes, I know my way around pretty much anything that flies. Microfluidic biosensing devices, on the other hand, existed completely outside my realm of knowledge.

The first few days of my internship were spent reading the multitude of papers and articles sent to me by some of the lab supervisors, and trying to learn and understand as much about centrifugal microfluidics as I could with no prior background knowledge. Once I was introduced to the PhD student whom I was going to be working with during my internship, I was able to get the ball rolling with “real work”. She started by introducing me to the project that I would be helping with: a microfluidic disc to be used for rapid blood typing. Because she had no mechanical engineering background, my PhD student needed help with creating models in SolidWorks, a software I had taken an entire course to learn how to use. Most of the work I did throughout my internship was creating models in SolidWorks, then manufacturing the parts I designed, usually by using 3D printers. Later, I learned how to use the spin stand to test discs I had made with food dye to simulate blood.

Once I got myself through the first week of work, I felt pretty settled into a new routine in Dublin. However, life still found a way to throw surprises that pushed me outside my comfort zone. At the start of my second week, I found myself sick, so I had to figure out where to go and what to buy in a foreign country while trying to use a still-unfamiliar transport system. Throughout my internship, I was constantly having to learn new software and machines for manufacturing my parts, like different types of 3D printers, and cutting-plotter machine, various accompanying software, and even a plasma cleaner at one point! I also had to learn about the properties of various materials I had never worked with before, like resin, PMMA, heat-activated adhesive, and pressure-sensitive adhesive. Overall, I grew my knowledge and skills in design and manufacturing by doing this internship.

My work was not the only thing that challenged me to step outside my comfort zone and try new things; I also faced my fear of the unknown through travel and excursions on the weekend. The Monday through Thursday work schedule that I had provided long weekends that allowed for traveling both around Ireland and across the rest of Europe. Going to new places always stressed me out because I never knew what to expect, but by pushing through the discomfort, I was able to visit some incredible places over the summer. Some highlights of my travels include going to Galway and visiting the Cliffs of Moher, going to Edinburgh, taking a day trip to Killarney, visiting an Irish farm to bake bread and see a bog, and traveling to Brussels with a day trip to Bruges. I think the most exciting but also most nerve-wracking was my trip to Belgium. The sights and experiences (and waffles) were incredible, but I was nervous traveling to a country where there was not one, but three different national languages, none of which were English. Had I not forced myself to try something new and different, I wouldn’t have gotten to experience the gorgeous sights and amazing food in Belgium!

Overall, this summer interning in Dublin taught me a lot about both engineering and overcoming the fear of the unknown.