ProtoCAM: Additive Manufacturing, 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping.

Summer Intern Hopes to Explore All Additive Manufacturing Has to Offer at ProtoCAM

July 21, 2021

ProtoCAM is pleased to welcome the first of two summer interns, Tony Mathew. Mathew is participating in Governor Tom Wolf’s State Local Internship Program (SLIP), which provides for summer internships with local employers across Pennsylvania. He comes to ProtoCAM to learn the realities and responsibilities of the working world, particularly in the manufacturing and engineering fields.

Growing up and throughout his time at Bethlehem Catholic High School, Mathew began pursuing his interests in engineering and manufacturing. His father, currently an engineering director with Gentex Corporation, a defense manufacturing company and customer of ProtoCAM’s, inspired him and first introduced him to these fields. “He would tell me about what he’d do at work, because he used to do work with [sports equipment manufacturing company],” Mathew recalls. “I like sports, so it was really cool to see how engineering connected with things in the world and how it affects everything.”

Now heading into his sophomore year at Lehigh University with a major in Mechanical Engineering, Mathew hopes to learn all there is to know about a future career in manufacturing and engineering by working closely with our Vice President of Additive Manufacturing, Ed Graham, as well as our additive manufacturing technicians.

Mathew has limited experience with 3D printing, having participated in a 3D printing club in high school and utilized pre-made CAD files like those on Thingiverse, but is excited to learn more about the industrial-level 3D printing capabilities available at ProtoCAM’s facility. “I’m really enjoying learning about all of the different types of additive manufacturing and what it can be used for, and especially what it holds in the future,” Mathew says. “Yesterday, [Graham] was teaching me how to use the Carbon [Digital Light Synthesis] machine, and he told us how it’s being used in helmets for the military and for athletic purposes in shoes…which actually give you an advantage when you run. And it’s not just in the future because it’s happening right now.”

As far as the future goes, Mathew is not sure exactly where he would like to end up in a future career, but he’s hoping to explore every option he can. “I’m coming to this internship really to learn about additive manufacturing and what it could hold for me in the future, but I’d also like to experience other subcategories of mechanical engineering as I go throughout college…I’m really still exploring,” Mathew says.

We are thrilled to have Mathew with us over this summer, and look forward to sharing all ProtoCAM has to offer as he moves forward in his professional career.

To learn more about the SLIP program and the students it benefits, visit https://www.governor.pa.gov/pennsylvania-investing-2-8-million-expand-summer-internship-programs/.