Jackson Burnett is a fifth-year honors student double-majoring in German and mechanical engineering. He recently spent a year on a study abroad adventure that consisted of six months of language and engineering classes at the Technische Universitat Darmstadt (Darmstadt University) followed by a six-month internship with Alfred Kärcher Company in Winnenden, Germany where he worked primarily in the company’s acoustics laboratory, engaged in a variety of tasks related to sound measurement and optimization.
Jackson visited several European cities while in Germany for his study abroad and internship experiences, including Amalfi, Italy.
1. What is the program of studies you’re a part of and how did you hear about it?
The International Engineering Program (IEP) is a five-year program. You study German and any engineering discipline simultaneously, and then in your fourth year, you spend six months at TU Darmstadt. I am working on my B.S. in mechanical engineering, but the program is open to any major in the College of Engineering. While I am studying engineering, I’m also earning a B.A. in German.
The summer before my freshman year I was looking at study abroad opportunities on the College of Engineering website and found the IEP program. I knew I definitely wanted to join the program, so I emailed the German Program Head and Associate Professor of German, Dr. Kathleen Condray, who also oversees the IEP program. Dr. Condray assured me that even though I had not studied German before I would be able to participate in the program.
2. Why was the German language part of the program particularly appealing?
Jackson was able to spend time with extended family during his time in Germany.
I studied French for six years in middle school and high school. I assumed that I would continue studying French in college. I still do keep up with it, but this program was a great opportunity for me because I had originally wanted to study German in high school, but they didn’t offer it. My grandma is from Germany originally. She met my grandfather when he was stationed in Kaufbeuren during the Korean War. They were married there in 1957, and she moved back to Indiana with him after the war. My grandmother left her whole family in Germany, so we still have a pretty large German family.
3. What was the process of getting the internship at Alfred Kärcher Company? Did you have it secured before you left for your overseas studies?
Some students who participate in the study abroad program don’t have a preference where they do the internship part of the program, but I really wanted to work at a German company. I applied for internships at a bunch of different companies, including Kärcher. I contacted all the past students who had been in the IEP program and asked them for advice; If they’d had an internship, what they would recommend? One student gave me the contact information for his supervisors at the company, so I emailed them directly. I still had to go through the online application process, but I definitely think having that extra leg up was helpful.
4. Did the focus of your career research change after working in the acoustics lab at Kärcher?
The work I did at Kärcher was in a totally different field than my chosen research focus. I interned with Garver the summer before my trip to Germany, a firm that does engineering consulting, specifically HVAC design and plumbing. My research is in refrigeration, which is more closely aligned with that work. Kärcher makes products, mostly high-pressure washers, vacuum cleaners and floor cleaners, so it was a totally different side of mechanical engineering, mostly based on manufacturing and design.
Jackson in the acoustic lab at Kärcher.
At Kärcher there is a bit more creativity involved because they are making products and finding new solutions. It can also be more stressful because there’s a lot riding on the success or failure of a new product design. Working with plumbing codes and building design, everything’s already kind of laid out for you, you just have to do the work and please your client. Since I’d already begun working toward my thesis before my time at Kärcher, I will stay focused on refrigeration.
5. You have said you’re interested in living and working overseas eventually. How did this experience help prepare you for that?
I definitely have contacts there that would make me feel more comfortable going back to Germany. There were people, like my landlady, who helped with logistics – I had to find my own place to stay during the internship, which was stressful. I also made some German friends during my studies at TU Darmstadt as well. And, of course, my coworkers at Kärcher. I believe if I go back to Germany after I graduate, they would be willing to help me.
Otherwise, and just generally, I feel very comfortable with German culture. Things like being able to navigate the public transit system. I lived there for a year without a car, so I got very, very familiar with riding the trains and buses.
Also, being immersed in the German language was so important.
Jackson with his girlfriend, fellow honors student (5th year, architecture), Emily Belin, in Brussels, Belgium.
Before I got there, I had studied German for a while, but I still wasn’t necessarily great at conversation. And when you’re not good at speaking the language, people are generally nice if you’re making an effort, but when you’re in a store holding up the line people are going to get frustrated, which makes you self-conscious. It even happens at work. During the course of my internship, I picked up a lot of vocabulary. And while I was there my coworkers either told me the word in English if they knew it or I used an online dictionary. I was always prepared to look up new words. In the beginning my German engineering vocabulary was very small, but by the end it included all the words that I needed in the laboratory.