Summer Intern Highlight
Alexandra S.
My name is Alexandra Soto-Lopez, and this summer I had the opportunity to intern as an Engineering Intern at MJS Designs. I am an upcoming senior at Arizona State University, pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering.
I discovered this internship while attending the ASU Space Career Fair, where I met members of the MJS Designs team. The PCB boards on display immediately caught my attention—I had prior experience with PCB schematic design, layout, and 3D modeling using KiCAD, along with hands-on skills like soldering. I shared my background with them, including my involvement with the Sun Devil Satellite Laboratory through the ASCEND program, and was thrilled to be selected for the role.
During my internship, I learned to use Altium Designer with guidance from the MJS Designs Director of Engineering and Senior CAD Design Manager. The Engineering team taught me how to create schematics and custom components from scratch, how to choose the right parts for a design, and how to incorporate embedded C programming using the ESP32 microcontroller. The Design team guided me through creating footprints, PCB layout, and PCB CAD design.
I worked closely with the Engineering team on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and with the Design team on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In addition, I had the honor of representing MJS Designs at events such as Arizona Tech Council’s E-Mobility Conference alongside Martin, my co-intern.
What made this experience truly special was how the MJS Designs team connected real-world engineering to the theories I’ve studied in class. They took the time to explain every step and were incredibly supportive, even when I made mistakes. Every challenge was a learning opportunity, and I was excited to contribute to real projects in a hands-on environment.
My time at MJS Designs confirmed that I want to pursue a career in the electronics and the semiconductor industry. I loved how dynamic and fast-paced the work was, there is always something new to learn. This internship fueled my passion for electrical engineering and gave me invaluable insight into the industry I hope to join.
Summer Intern Highlight
Martin M.
My name is Martin Martinez, an incoming freshman at Arizona State University, and I am taking my first steps into the engineering world. I began my internship at MJS Designs Inc. on May 27th, almost a week after graduating high school.
My first few days were spent going through orientation and learning proper safety procedures, but after that, I joined the Design department, where I met the Senior CAD Design Manager and the Design team. Once I got settled into the Design department, I began learning about PCB design. I started with a training board that helped me become familiar with Altium, one of the many software programs they use at MJS Designs.
After a week at my internship, I toured the different departments and met the talented workforce of MJS Designs. I spent time learning about Testing, Sales, Solder Ops, and many other departments.
Soon after, I had my first day in the Engineering department, where I met the Director of Engineering and the Engineering team. I helped create a new pattern on a 12x12x12 LED cube. The pattern simulated an ocean wave. The cube functions like a 3D grid that can display various light patterns. It requires extensive coding, but fortunately, I only had to work on the mathematical expressions.
We used sine waves to replicate ocean waves. To ensure the wave took up half the cube, we adjusted its wavelength and amplitude. We also multiplied the sine wave by a decimal to make the movement appear smoother. To center the wave in the cube, we shifted it upward by adding 2 to the wave’s base value.
After two weeks, my internship had really taken off. My fellow summer intern, Alexandra, and I were tasked with creating a Rotary Inverted Pendulum. The project was split between us—I handled the full mechanical design of the housing and arm of the system. But before I could begin, I needed to become familiar with 3D modeling, so I spent three days designing a car using CAD software.
Once I became comfortable with CAD, I got to work on the pendulum’s design. I had to consider strength and durability. If the material was too weak, the torque could cause the arm to snap. However, stronger materials were less cost-effective, so I added cutouts in areas that would not compromise the structural integrity of the enclosure. To support the PCB and resist torque, we placed a metal rod inside the arm.
Back in Design, I helped create component footprints so Altium could generate accurate 2D renderings for the pendulum’s PCB. Creating the footprints felt a bit tedious, but the real fun came during component placement. Over the course of a week, Alexandra and I planned out the optimal layout for each part.
Since the board needed to read the polarities of a magnet, we positioned the sensor on the bottom of the board and placed the antenna at the top. This ensured that the sensor was consistently close to the magnet, which allowed it to detect polarity changes and determine tilt direction accurately.
During my internship, I also had the opportunity to attend two conferences. I attended the E- Mobility and Clean Energy Summit, where I listened to technical presentations about the innovations coming to Phoenix as it aims to become a sustainability leader. The next conference I attended was the Aerospace, Aviation, Defense, and Manufacturing Conference in Tucson, where I represented MJS Designs and spoke with other attendees. The conference was held in a hangar, and I even got to explore the interior of a gutted aircraft that served as the event’s centerpiece.
Near the end of my internship, I had the chance to learn some C programming. I had no idea what I was getting into, but coding became a fun and rewarding experience when things finally clicked. The engineers were great mentors—they challenged me to figure things out independently but stepped in when I needed help, offering multiple solutions and perspectives. Over two weeks, I learned the fundamentals of coding: variables, operators, loops, and conditionals. I even built a string-based calculator.
Now that my internship is coming to an end, I can happily say my summer was well spent. I am incredibly grateful to MJS Designs Inc. for giving me the opportunity to learn and experience a professional, welcoming engineering environment. My time at MJS Designs was a crash course in the real-world engineering industry, and I am excited for the future opportunities this experience has opened for me.
Interested in interning for MJS? Contact Kirk at kcollins@mjsdesigns.com
