Jerin Henderson, Engineering Intern
Jerin Henderson ’24 is an electrical engineering major at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Alongside Henderson’s studies, she is president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) organization at TAMU-CC. In summer 2023, she completed a summer internship as a product engineer intern at Texas Instruments, a semiconductor manufacturing company based in Dallas, Texas. She made the connection with Texas Instruments in fall 2022 after attending the SHPE Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she heard from motivational speakers, attended workshops, participated in networking opportunities, and attended a career fair, where she was able to interview with Texas Instruments and eventually secure her internship.
“Participating in internships is important for gaining industry experience,” Henderson said. “It is a lot of collaboration and working with other teams, which we do with projects in school, but to be able to have that hands-on experience on a real project that is impactful to the world was really fascinating and beneficial.”
As a product engineering intern, Henderson concentrated on two projects. First, she updated the design of a printed circuit board (PCB), which is used to test specific electrical devices. These PCBs were then added to the company’s market. Second, she focused on the manufacturing and packaging process of the company’s dies, which are embedded processing chips. Henderson monitored this process to ensure that the products were qualified as sellable to the public. Ultimately, this experience furthered Henderson’s problem-solving skills in the production industry and contributed to her journey as an electrical engineer.
“The best way you are going to learn in these fields is to use all the resources you can,” Henderson said. “This internship opportunity was impactful because it instilled the confidence in me to feel like it's okay to reach out and ask for help. It benefits me and my team if I'm able to do my job the way it was intended.”