TAMU-CC Engineering Students Put Classroom Skills to Work Through Summer Internships
For Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) engineering students, summer internships provide an opportunity to take concepts learned in the classroom and apply them to real-world engineering challenges. During summer 2026, students gained hands-on experience across fields including land surveying, facility engineering, autonomous systems, power generation, and renewable energy construction.
Christian Stahl ’28, a civil engineering student, spent his summer interning with MDS Land Surveying. After previously completing an engineering internship where he worked with AutoCAD, Stahl wanted to experience the surveying side of the profession and better understand how it connects with civil engineering. At MDS, he spent much of his time in the field conducting surveys while gaining experience with GPS equipment, data collection, 3D scanning, and CAD. One of his most memorable assignments took him to Boot Ranch, where his team used a raft to place buoys for survey work on a clubhouse porch being constructed in the middle of a pond.
“It was really cool getting to see both worlds,” Stahl said, reflecting on his experiences in engineering and surveying.
For Hannah Bishop ’27, a mechanical engineering student, summer meant returning to Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where she has gained experience in facility engineering. Bishop first became involved with the laboratory while in high school as she was deciding whether engineering was the right career for her. She has since worked on a range of engineering tasks, including equipment design, CAD drawings, and facility documentation. One project challenged Bishop to develop a method for adding level indicators to water storage tanks while accounting for the constraints of the pressure-vessel system. Working alongside electricians and structural engineers, she helped develop a solution incorporating solenoids into the system.
The experience has also taught Bishop lessons that extend beyond calculations and design. Working closely with the craftspeople responsible for implementing engineering plans showed her the importance of communicating designs clearly.
“Your design is only as good as the people can understand it,” Bishop said.
Mechanical engineering student Rehu Mendez ’27, explored another side of engineering as a Student Engineering Research Assistant with the Autonomy Research Institute. His interest in aircraft, aerospace, and unmanned systems drew him to the position, where he focused on CAD design and 3D printing. Mendez worked on an unmanned aircraft project that required repeatedly designing, printing, assembling, and modifying components. The experience significantly strengthened his SolidWorks and CAD abilities while giving him firsthand experience with challenges such as reducing aircraft weight.
The internship also helped Mendez narrow his career interests. After entering mechanical engineering without knowing exactly which field he wanted to pursue, working with autonomous aircraft gave him a new perspective on emerging technologies and strengthened his interest in pursuing aerospace-related work after graduation.
Lucero Robles Aguirre ’27, a mechanical engineering student with a minor in business administration, gained experience in the power industry as a Power Engineering Intern at Wolf Hollow Station in Granbury, Texas. She originally connected with the company after attending a Society of Women Engineers conference, where an initial interview eventually led to the internship. During the summer, Aguirre worked alongside maintenance and operations personnel while supporting mechanical engineering and chemistry teams. Her assignments exposed her to instrumentation, pressure testing, corrosion issues, plant outages, and the day-to-day operation of a power generation facility.
The experience taught Aguirre that succeeding as an intern also requires initiative. With members of her engineering team located throughout the country, she often had to reach out, ask questions, and seek opportunities to contribute.
“The main one, I guess, is networking and communicating with people, being more open to ask for work, more open to ask a lot of questions,” Aguirre said.
Electrical engineering student Bryant Feldhousen ’27 spent his summer with McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. as a Project Engineer Intern on the Renewable Energy team at the Echols Grove Solar Project. Working with the Self-Perform Electrical team, Feldhousen gained firsthand experience in utility-scale solar construction through field coordination, material tracking and inspections, project documentation, scheduling, safety, and quality control. One of his major accomplishments was completing four work plans with minimal revisions, including taking the PCS Rough-In Pre-Install work plan through internal review and owner approval within one week. The internship allowed Feldhousen to connect his electrical engineering education with renewable energy construction and project management while seeing firsthand how engineering, field operations, and project coordination come together on a large-scale solar project.
Although each student spent the summer in a different engineering environment, their experiences shared a common theme: engineering extends far beyond the classroom. Whether conducting surveys in the field, designing equipment at a national laboratory, developing components for an unmanned aircraft, supporting power plant operations, or helping construct a solar facility, each student had the opportunity to apply technical knowledge while developing communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.
Their experiences also demonstrate how internships can help students discover where they want their engineering careers to take them. By working alongside practicing engineers and other industry professionals, TAMU-CC students returned to campus with more than another line on their resumes; they returned with a clearer understanding of the industries they may soon enter and the skills required to succeed in them.