Experiential Learning
300 Hour Experience
Description
During the 2021 Summer, I worked as a project engineering intern at Novavax in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Novavax creates and manufactures vaccines for different viruses, such as COVID-19. When I joined, the company was growing very rapidly, where they were adding staff to every department as they developed a COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic.
As a project engineering intern, I developed a project portfolio used to formalize the company's project intake process and to improve how projects are managed. Also, I generated a high-level presentation of the statuses of all the projects, which automatically populates from the portfolio. Outside of the development of the project portfolio, I was responsible for mapping out new spaces to facilitate the installation of lab equipment, gas lines, and electric components in these facilities. Another one of my responsibilities was to conduct a comparative analysis of multiple bioreactors to select the equipment best suited for specific lab spaces. Lastly, I monitored and documented the delivery, installation, and use of lab equipment in GMP and non-GMP facilities to streamline communication between engineers, supply chain workers, and lab personnel working in these spaces.
I decided to pursue this experience to understand how project management worked in a rapidly growing company. Developing a project portfolio within this setting allowed me to learn how project management can be executed in a practical, real-world setting. I also wanted to learn how a growing company like Novavax is structured, where I was interested in understanding more about who reported to who, and how work was delegated throughout a company that was hiring so many people daily. By the end of the summer, I was able to get a solid grasp of how the company's structure worked and could explain in detail how work and responsibilities were separated throughout the company.
Reflection
The intern team was tasked with solving the problem posed by the project management and intake system used by the project engineering system at the time. The system, made within SmartSheets, that was utilized by the team prior to my internship was somewhat slow and certainly cumbersome to use. After much research into the options available, the other interns and I reasoned that other, less obvious SmartSheets features could be used that would enable the company to best organize the complex processes at play. While SmartSheets was already being used by the team, there were far more features available that the interns and I decided to take advantage of that would substantially improve the system and process. After thoroughly communicating as an intern team, we generated several unique ideas to best optimize the software available to us, and we thus created a really effective and intuitive project portfolio that the rest of the team continued to use after my internship.
At one point in my internship, I was tasked with mapping out the gas and electric lines within several of the Novavax facilities within a few days. I went right into the task, and went about the mapping process. By the time the deadline came up, I realized I wasn't close to completing the assignment. I reflected on my inability to get it done, and learned the important of preparation and intentional planning. While it is important not to overthink everything, it is necessary to make sure every part of a process and action has use and is done with intent and reason. Had I thought through the context and planned how I would approach the assignment, I would have realized that most of the facilities were older and the maps didn't necessarily need updating. Had I thought through the context and planned how I would approach the assignment, I would have realized this. This is also done by communicating with superiors. If I had reached out to my supervisors, I would've learned more about the facilities from their perspectives.
This experience taught me how to work and operate in a fast paced late-stage startup, which relates to much of what my I&E coursework dealt with. The company was in a period of rapid growth and hiring, and this had effects on every aspect of the business, which reflected what I had learned in my classes. It was interesting to see how new people were being hired every week, and the culture within the company reflected the pace at which the company was growing. Everyone embraced the challenges associated with being in a company that was enduring so much change and risk, and I thought that was really refreshing to see as an intern.
Artifact
I am not permitted to share any documents or screenshots of the projects I completed with the company, but I can describe in more detail some of the projects I pursued. The project portfolio I helped create was made using SmartSheets software. This portfolio enabled the project engineering and management teams to keep track of the projects being completed at the company, specifically with new lab spaces and buildings. Novavax at the time was constructing a new campus (a sketch is shown below), so tracking all of the progress being made was paramount to the success of the project.
