Chemical Engineering Co-op Story: SABIC

Amber Donohoe

Chemical Engineering

What company did you intern with and where are they located?

SABIC | Burkeville, AL

How did you identify and apply for your internship? Are there any specific resources you used to find the opportunity (i.e. Handshake, career fairs, other recruitment events)?

I knew the company was going to be at the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering career fair, via Handshake. So, I attended the career fair and was invited back for an interview.

What was the application process like?

After going through the interview process, I was offered a co-op and then started the onboarding process with the company.

Tell us about your internship experience. What types of tasks and projects did you engage in? Was there a particular project or part of the experience you learned the most from?

My first semester of co-op was in a process role. I focused on quality improvements, where I looked at areas where quality could be prioritized and enhanced. This involved conducting reactor studies and dryer trials. During my first rotation, I learned a lot about the plant and the process and programs that were used inside of the site. My second semester was in an operations role, where I managed a wide variety of projects such as valve/instrumentation replacements, DCS code implementations, catalyst reclaim, and equipment upgrades.

In what ways did this internship help you prepare for your next destination after Auburn?

My co-op experience broadened my understanding of the diverse career paths available with my Chemical Engineering degree and provided better understandings within operations of a process plant. It also significantly grew my technical and soft skills. Interacting with various roles at Sabic and collaborating with a wide range of vendors revealed numerous potential directions for my future.

In what ways did your coursework or other experiences at Auburn prepare you for your internships? Are there specific topics or skills you learned from classes that you put into practice on the job?

Different concepts I learned in the classroom I would see come up throughout my co-op. During my second semester I used Bernoulli’s principle repeatedly while calculating the pressure drop through valves to size them.

Do you have any advice for other students looking for internships like yours?