During my placement year I worked for PURIS, in The Woodlands Texas. My role was thoroughly engaging: I was part of an engineering development team, investigating the application of cold hollow drawn polymer tubulars to repair underground pipelines without the need to dig trenches. This helped me to gain experience in testing, modelling and data analysis, and develop an appreciation for real engineering in the field.

My placement experience helped me understand how engineering works in practice, from corporate structures to professional design standards. I also learned to plan effectively around deadlines and to coordinate the contributions of a team. Working on trenchless pipe repair taught me how design decisions are shaped by cost, safety and industry standards, going beyond the ideal engineering scenario.

The most valuable skills I developed were presentation and communication. Regularly presenting our progress and achievements both to the core team and the wider company built my confidence in explaining technical work clearly and concisely. Communication skills supported discussion and contribution from a host of disciplines within the team including Mechanical, Civil, and Aerospace engineers.

My course taught me how to become familiar with complex topics in a short time frame and to approach problems critically and analytically. It also showed me how much of engineering is breaking an unfamiliar problem down into things you can actually calculate. I was able to apply all of this during my year in industry. My placement required me to learn a lot of new things, and where there were larger unknowns, I applied core Chemical Engineering techniques, setting up mass and energy balances to derive the equations I needed.