Gran Smith

Editor, USA Summer Internship Program 2011

As the world moves more and more towards globalization and integration, the de-
mand for international collaboration increases. Organizations that strive to excel
in this global market need people with the ability and the desire to interact with
people from diferent cultures and within diferent environments. In my opinion,
USA Summer Internship Program is the perfect opportunity for students at Chal-
mers University of Technology. The program ofers a unique possibility to sharpen
the engineering degree with compelling international work experience while it at
the same time provides an excellent opportunity to create lifelong friendships and
remarkable memories.
This internship Report is the fnal product of 20 students hard work, and moreover,
our ambition to carry out an internship in North America. The report includes travel
reports from every student who enrolled the program and pursued an internship
abroad, essays, written by important cooperation partners and a description of the
core values of our organization.
All of us had similar goals when we joined the program. We wanted to increase our
cultural and practical experience, we wanted to be able to develop our engineering
skills, and above all, we wanted to have a memorable experience in North America.
We worked together during a demanding year for to get the opportunity to fulfll
our goals. In the end of May when we fnally landed at John F. Kennedy International
Airport in New York 170 advertisement spots were sold and internship placements
were arranged for all members. The feeling of prosperity was beyond description!
By sharing our stories with you we hope to convey the feeling of what it is like to be
a member of the USA Summer Internship Program and portray what you gain from
working for a company in North America.
Finally, I hope that you will fnd reading this Report as fascinating and rewarding as
I did. On behalf of the USA Summer Internship Program, I would like to send out a
big thank you to all our old and new sponsors in Sweden and hosting companies
in North America, who believed in the importance of knowledge, experience and
cultural exchange. Without you, our organization could never exist.
Thank you!
ADRESS
USA Summer Internship Program
Chalmers University of Technology
Teknologgrden 2
SE - 412 58, Gothenburg
SWEDEN
E-MAIL
contact@usa-chalmers.se
WEBSITE
www.usa-chalmers.se
PRINTED BY
Dixa AB
COPIES
1500
CHAIRMAN, PUBLISHER
Sofa Steninger
EDITOR
Gran Smith
TREASURER
Mai Thai
INTERNSHIP COORDINATORS
Gustav Moe
Chrisofer Cinadr
SALES MANAGER
Azarakhsh Mirfacihi
MEMBERS
Van Do, Rose Fassihi Karimi, Oscar
Gran, Ebba Hedenblad, Frida Hen-
rysson, Siros Jahanfar, Carls Kristof-
fersson, David Kvarnstrm, Kim Oanh
Phan, Simon Olsson, Nebojsa Radosav-
ljevic, Disa Reuterswrd, Oskar Strand,
Daniel Talani, Marko Tesanovic
EDITORIAL
2
3
4
5
58 Washington, the state with all outdoor
activities
Simon Olsson, EDCO
62 The two great bs in my life, Baltimore
and Biolin
Rose Fassihi Karimi, Biolin Scientic
66 Feeling the ow at SECO
Nebojsa Radosavljevic, SECO Tools
70 Developing a durable design
Gran Smith, Montie Design
74 Through thunderstorms, powered by
Volvo Penta
Christopher Cinadr and Siros Jahanfar, Volvo
Penta
80 Carolina, a beautiful place to live and
work
Carl Kristoffersson, Outokumpu
84 State with elevation range from sea
level to 6,684 feet
Mai Thai, F-Origin
88 Discovering the south
Van Do and Gustav Moe, Rema Tip Top
92 Hurricane protection in the sunshine
state
Oskar Strand, Maestroshield
100 Thank you
102 Index
104 Greetings from USA Summer Internship
Program 2012

8 Internship placements
11 To the US with friends
12 The USA Summer Internship Program
2011
16 Successful engineer got international
experience
18 I love this program
19 Excellent way of achieving international
experience
24 Strengthening buildings in earthquake
territory
David Kvarnstrm, Monte Stott & Associates
28 Work and wilderness in the very heart
of Sierra Nevada
Soa Steninger, Avalex
32 Be an intern in Arkansas, experience a
different part of the US
Frida Henrysson, J.B. Hunt
36 Beating the heat in the HVAC eet
Oscar Gran, Mobile Climate Control
40 From a small to a big family business
and its still growing
Daniel Talani, Bolt Depot
44 Living through the goal that seemed
unreachable
Kim Pham, Prema
48 Working hard or hardly working?
Ebba Hedenblad and Disa Reuterswrd, Rema
Tip Top
54 Cutting into American culture at SECO
Tools
Marko Tesanovic, SECO Tools
CONTENTS
8
INTERNSHIP PLACEMENTS
Oscar Gran, I
Mobile Climate Control
Toronto, ON
P 36-37
D
Christopher Cinadr and Siros Jahanfar, M
Volvo Penta
Chesapeake, VA
P 74-77
M
J
Rose Fassihi Karimi, K
Biolin Scientic
Litnthicum Heights, MD
P 62-63
Carls Kristoffersson, M
Outokumpu
Richburg, SC
P 80-81
N
Ebba Hedenblad and Disa Reuterswrd, TD
Rema Tip Top
Northvale, NJ
P 48-51
G
Simon Olsson, M
EDCO
Mount Vernon, MD
P 58-59
I
David Kvarnstrm, V
Monte Stott & Associates
San Francisco, CA
P 24-25
A
F
Kim Oanh Phan, I
Prema
Dundas, ON
P 44-45
Soa Steninger, I
Avalex
South Lake Tahos, CA
P 28-29
B
Van Do and Gustav Moe, I and M
Rema Tip Top
Madison, GA
P 88-89
P
Mai Thai, I
F-Origin
Morrisville, NC
P 84-85
O
Oskar Strand, M
Maestroshild
Naples, FL
P 92-93
Q
H
Marko Tesanovic, M
Seco Tools
Troy, MI
P 54-55
E
Daniel Talani, M
Bolt Depot
North Weymouth, MA
P 40-41
C
Frida Henrysson, I
J.B. Hunt
Lowell, AR
P 32-33
Nebojsa Radosavljevic, M
Seco Tools
Lenoir City, TN
P 66-67
K
Gran Smith, TD
Montie Design
Morrisville, NC
P 70-71
L
9
10
11
SOFIA STENINGER
CHAIRMAN, USA SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 2011
More than a year has passed since the board of the USA Sum-
mer Internship Program frst gathered the students that later
on would be the ones going to the North America for enrich-
ing internships. The journey has been long and I believe that
everyone participating in this very program has learned a lot,
not only from working and living in North America but also
from the eforts required to fnally getting there. It is now time
for a short review and last but not least, it is time to thank ev-
eryone that has contributed to USA Summer Internship Pro-
gram 2011.
The USA Summer Internship Program was frst established
in 1963. The program was originally created to encourage a
cultural and technical exchange between Sweden and North
America. Today it carries on as an appreciated supplement
to the education at Chalmers University of Technology. To
fnance some of the internship expenses our members raise
money from Swedish companies, who all believe in the impor-
tance of giving students an early opportunity to international
experiences. The fundraising campaign got started in early
September 2010 when we took of for Stockholm, the capital
of Sweden. The frst contracts were signed and our members
begun to team up and get to know each other. One of the eve-
nings we went to the U.S Embassy of Sweden for mingle and
interesting conversations about the two countries. The trip to
Stockholm was not only about raising funds; more important
was to have a good time together and to fnd the motivation
that would help us through out the year.
Looking back, it has from time to time been hard raising funds
and so even this year although the economy was recovering.
Our members great confdence has been essential to our suc-
cess. In addition, our assignment coordinators have made a
tremendous job in promoting our group. Finding internships
while the lay-of in the U.S reaches 11% is challenging. Thanks
to persistent hosting frms, new hosts and old Chalmerists
we managed to get everyone a position.
In late spring 2011 our rigorous preparations were fnally done.
We had raised enough money, received the right amount of
internships and applied for everyones visa. We all felt a big
relief and the students in this magazine could start to prepare
for what was going to be an amazing summer.
We left Sweden in early June and took of for New York. The
organization of ASF had invited us for a seminar at their of-
fce. After the visit we had a good idea about the American
working life and potential cultural diferences. Then left was to
explore the Big Apple with all newfound friends, and that was
amazing. We were more than pleased with our accomplish-
ments and this stay was for celebrations.
It is true that a great amount of work is involved in being a
member of this program and all students who have chosen
to face this challenge have showed a lot of determination and
optimism, even though times have been tough. Their positive
attitude has made the tasks for the board much easier and
therefore it has been truly pleasant working towards the fnal
goal. Our ambition apart from providing internships has also
always been to be a program that brings students from difer-
ent felds of engineering together, that exchange of knowledge
is just as important. Naturally, we could not have achieved all
this without the fnancial and encouraging support that we
have received from; Swedish companies and industrial lead-
ers, American host frms and administrators at Chalmers, addi-
tional support has also been received from organizations like
the American Scandinavian Foundation, the Swedish Ameri-
can Chamber of Commerce and the U.S Embassy of Sweden.
You are all fundamental to our program.
The invaluable investment made in these future employees
will not be forgotten and the knowledge gained from their
abroad experiences will be brought back home. Your continu-
ous support and participation is essential for our program and
we look forward to many years of continued partnership.
Sincerely,
Sofa Steninger
TO THE U.S WITH FRIENDS
12
Why shall you support or apply for the USA Summer Internship
Program?
The students attending this program will get valuable train-
ing and experiences from working in an international envi-
ronment. It also gives them the opportunity to improve their
ability in communicating in another language and to work
with other units of measurement. Apart from developing their
own professional skills in their feld of engineering, they also
contribute to maintaining important relations between two
cultures and countries, which we believe, are essential in our
globalized world.
Besides providing practice in American business life and cul-
ture, USA Summer Internship Program also has another im-
portant function. Chalmers University of Technology strongly
recommends its students to get at least 17 weeks of industrial
training before graduation and by working a summer in the
states, students will be able to complete at least half of that
period.
In the summer of 2011 most of the students worked for com-
panies in the eastern part of the U.S or around the Grate Lakes.
However there were some exceptions. Two students worked
on the west coast and another two in Canada. The hosting
companies typically vary greatly in size and feld of expertise.
The work assignments are diferent; depending on what Mas-
ters degree the student will graduate in. Soon turn the page
and read reports written by the students of 2011, telling about
their work experiences from America.
THE USA SUMMER
INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 2011
Arranging sales meetings
13
WHO CAN APPLY?
Students from A t, Bt, K, Kf, I, M, TD, V and Z at Chalmers
University of Technology who have at least 150 credits before
traveling to the U.S.
Board members are usually recruited in February while
members are accepted in May the year before the summer in
America.
Please visit our website www.usa-chalmers.se for more
details on how to apply.
Some of the internships are for large Swedish companies like
Volvo and Seco Tools, while others are for smaller American
businesses. Either way, the duration of the internship needs
to be at least eight weeks, but depending on the agreement
students may stay longer. Quite a few students took the op-
portunity to stay 6 mounts or longer.
The Companies and organizations that take part in this maga-
zine all confrm the need of young engineers with internation-
al experiences. The American companies hosting our Swedish
interns, recognize the benefts from exchanging competence
and knowledge across the boarders. Therefore, many of the
above mentioned, are continuously supporting our program.
The USA Summer Internship Program usually has its upstart
in May on yearly basis. It consists of 31 students, thereof 25
members and six board members. The members assignment
is to sell advertisements for this Internship Report and every
year, thousands of companies are contacted, hundreds of ad-
vertisement spots sold and several fnancial contributors are
acquired.
Members learn how to establish and maintain professional
contacts with company representatives and they also get to
practise their selling skills. Time efciency and goal orienta-
tion are common key success factors. Before starting the proj-
ect everyone gets educated by a professional seller and the
group also learn how to write an efective resume. Beyond
mentioned, there is much more.
For the board membership it is a separate recruiting process;
it usually takes place every February. Make sure to check the
web for the latest information.
As chairman (2011, Sofa Steninger) you have the overall re-
sponsibility for the program and you are also the one taking
care of the visa applications in cooperation with ASF. As trea-
surer (2011, Mai Thai) you will be responsible for the book-
keeping and fnances of the program. The internship coordi-
nators (2011, Christopher Cinadr & Gustav Moe) will contact
potential host frms in America and promote the students in
the program. They also arrange interviews between the par-
ties and assist members in reviewing their resume and cover
letter. As sales coordinator (2011, Azarakhsh Mirfacihi) you will
arrange and organize the sell activities with the members. You
are also in charge of the company database, where members
keep track of their achievements. Last but not least, the im-
portant tasks of being editor (2011, Gran Smith) will be to
update the website and of course to create this eye catching
Internship Report.
Yet again, we would like to show our greatest gratitude to-
wards the supporting companies all around Sweden, to our
host frms in America, to the American Scandinavian Founda-
tion, the U.S Embassy of Sweden and to the Swedish Ameri-
can Chamber of Commerce. Without the ones mentioned, we
would not have been able to arrange these internships. We
would also like to thank all the students who show their big-
gest interest in our program. We hope that also You want to
become a part of our team!
Sincerely,
USA Summer Internship Program 2011
Barbeque during the annual kick of in Stockholm
Happy faces in New York
14
15
PMC Group r Nordens ledande leverantr av helhetslsningar inom teknikomrdet PMC Power, Motion, Control.
PMC Groups spetskompetens r hydraulik, elektromekanik, smrjsystem och pneumatik. Gruppen utvecklar, tillverkar och
sljer bde system och komponenter. Vra kunder nns frmst inom omrdena Energi, Oshore & Marin, Mobila system
samt Industri.
PMC Group r en globalt inriktad koncern med drygt 1 300 anstllda med verksamhet i 11 lnder och 2010 omsatte
koncernen ca 2,8 miljarder kronor.
Helhetslsningar
PMC Group r Nordens ledande leverantr av hydrauliklsningar
till industrin. Vrt erbjudande spnner frn konstruktion och design
till frdiga komponenter, cylindrar och hydrauliksystem. Koncernens
kunnande innefattar ven elektromekanik, smrjteknik och pneumatik.
Detta ger oss en unik samlad kompetens att erbjuda vra kunder
helhetslsningar.
Globalt tnkande
Vra kunder nns frmst inom omrdena Energi, Oshore & Marin,
Industri samt Mobila system. Basen fr verksamheten nns i Norden.
Men kunderna och applikationerna r till stor del globala. Vi agerar
grnslst och fljer ttt i fotspren p vra kunder ut i vrlden. Vi r
deras globala partner.
Spetskompetens genom samarbete
PMC Group utgrs av ett antal enheter med matchande
specialistkompetenser. Genom samordning och koordinering av
gruppens resurser fr vi ett strkt och breddat kunderbjudande.
Vi kan vxa hos existerande kunder och samtidigt attrahera nya.
Ledande i Norden
med vrlden som marknad
www.pmcgroup.se
Power
Motion
Control
Intresserad av att genomfra ett
examensarbete eller att arbeta hos oss?
Kontakta a.goransson@pmcgroup.se.
LEIF JOHANSSON
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, ERICSSON
SUCCESSFUL ENGINEER GOT INTER-
NATIONAL EXPERIENCE
by participating in USA Summer Internship Program
16
Between 1997 and 2011, Leif Johansson was CEO of the Vol-
vo Group, Swedens largest private employer and one of the
worlds largest manufacturer of commercial transport vehi-
cles. After 14 years within the company he decided it was time
to move on and in August 2011 he left the Volvo Group and
became Chairman of the board at Ericsson.
Johansson completed his M.Sc. in Engineering at Chalmers
University of Technology, Gothenburg in 1977. He describes
himself as an active student. Besides becoming board mem-
ber of the Student Union he also took part in the equivalent
of the Summer Internship Program. Thus he went to the U.S.
and worked for the lathe manufacturer Bullard in Fairfeld,
Connecticut.
During the period of study he discovered getting involved
could help changes to be done. You just need the energy to
do it. Nothing is impossible and all there is, is to try, he says.
While in the 3rd year at Chalmers he became Study Adviser
and as he so gently puts it at least I knew what not to do.
In the professional career he has been using many of the math-
ematical and technical skills he learned at university, but at the
time they didnt really make any sense to him. They were de-
tailed and did not conform to his picture of future tasks. Now
he is glad he learned it. The social platform he got from uni-
versity is another golden asset he remembers.
In a world where boundaries are increasingly being erased,
it is a huge advantage to be familiar with languages and peo-
ple from diferent cultures. Human beings are fundamentally
quite similar, but the frst business contact or meeting with a
new colleague is a lot easier if you have an understanding of
where that person is coming from, he says.
Furthermore he believes it is rewarding to work together with
talented striving people, preferably better then himself. I
work better with people around me and I also think it is more
fun. I am passionate about things that need to be done and I
often ask myself how I can contribute. The leadership in itself
has not been that interesting. However Ive always been a doer
and that made me become a leader.
A good leader for Johansson is someone who cares about his
organization and fellow employees. He also prefers that per-
son to be predictable, what applies on Monday should apply
even on Wednesday. A leader also needs to be structured and
able to stick to ones line regardless of bad weather. He also
tells about the loneliness that has to be handled. To make de-
cisions that does not make everyone happy is a part of the job.
It is important though to create joy in work, people should feel
they are part of a team.
Engineers that have been recruited from Swedish universi-
ties during my years at Volvo have been really good, he con-
tinues. The strength lies in the combination of technical and
mathematical knowledge along with social interacting skills.
It also lies in the ability of communicating in more than one
language.
Johansson went on his frst exchange visit to the U.S. while in
High School and he has been there many times ever since. The
common language at Volvo is called bad English, he tells. It
is not perfect British or American English that is too hard.
Instead, its a suitably broken English which everyone can un-
derstand. Our language makes us all equals, which I am sure
improved both our internal and external relations.
To be an engineer according to Johansson is to be a construc-
tor of society, which is very positive. It is important for those
of us already working in the industry, and for those about to
join, to communicate the signifcance of what we do. I think
many people just dont understand how exciting it is to be an
engineer, and the opportunities it provides to afect the world
around you, says Johansson.
Today Johansson is deeply committed to the question of how
to attract young people to technical professions. In 2008, he
was made Chairman of the Swedish governments Technology
Delegation and was given the task increasing young peoples
interest in mathematics, science, technology and ICT.
The advise to younger fellow engineers is to travel the world,
experience a lot and not to be shy! Also, do not make things
complicated just go ahead. It is better sooner than later. You
are young and free, so take the chance and learn as much as
you possibly can.
The U.S. has a lot to ofer, especially to us engineers, Johan-
sson explains. The technology development is fantastic; the
same applies to China and Japan. It is the market of the future.
In addition, engineers of these days can work within in many
felds, with water-purifcation in Africa or on the development
of new equipment in hospitals. You will fnd engineers in the
media, the fnance sector and politics. The possibilities of fnd-
ing an interesting and meaningful job are endless, and this is
the message we all have to help convey.
Finally when the opportunity was given I had to ask how to
make a company survive on the market and Johansson said;
Always accept the real-time-data. Dont foul yourself and
dont ever say that competitors products arent good enough.
Frequently check the market and look for new opportunities.
Also do not run manufacturing in a country just because it is
nice, look for segments and areas where you are most com-
petitive. And at last, remember your customers are smart.

Engineers that have been recruited

from Swedish universities during my
years at Volvo have been really good.
The strength lies in the combination of
technical and mathematical knowledge
along with social interacting skills.
17
Interviewed by Soa Steninger
18
MATTHEW BARZUN
AMBASSADOR OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE KINGDOM OF SWEDEN
I LOVE THIS PROGRAM
I love this program! As U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, a big part
of my job is tending and growing links between our two coun-
tries so that we are strong partners in addressing the oppor-
tunities and challenges we face now, and in the future. That is
why I am such a strong supporter of exchange programs.
We do face many serious challenges in the world today, and
President Obama has consistently said that no one country
can solve these global problems alone. It takes partnership.
But where there is challenge there is always opportunity. In
the great tradition of American optimism, that is the way in his
2011 State of the Union address President Obama encouraged
us to look at the important challenges we face with respect to
climate and energy.
Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with
the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we
would beat them to the moon. The science wasnt even there
yet. NASA didnt exist. But after investing in better research and
education, we didnt just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a
wave of innovation that created new industries and millions
of new jobs. This is our generations Sputnik moment... Well
invest in biomedical research, information technology, and
especially clean energy technology - an investment that will
strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create count-
less new jobs for our people.
The investments we make today in supporting clean energy
technology, IT, and biomedical research will have immediate
impacts, but what will be more astounding are the future im-
pacts in ways that we cant imagine now.
The same is true in our own lives. The decisions we make when
we are young about what to study and where to go have pro-
found impacts on our lives, often in ways we do not expect.
The participants in the Chalmers USA Summer Internship
Program made a bold decision to invest in an experience that
obviously had a strong impact on their knowledge of them-
selves, and of the United States. That most of the participants
are also engaged in the technical felds that President Obama
spoke about shows me that they are seizing this Sputnik mo-
ment, and deepens my confdence that Sweden and America,
working together, can lead the way in engineering a prosper-
ous low-carbon future for our planet.
At the U.S. Embassy we are helping to build this partnership
for a more sustainable future through the Swedish American
Green Alliance. SAGA, as we call it for short, involves coopera-
tion between U.S. and Swedish citizens, students, researchers,
local as well as national governments, and companies. The
idea is that together we can be more successful at developing
and sharing the research, technologies, and policies that can
reduce emissions while driving low-carbon growth. For SAGA,
the Chalmers USA Summer Internship Program is an excellent
ft, and we look for its participants, sponsors, and host com-
panies and organizations to be active players in writing a new
SAGA of technical innovation and sustainability at sagastory.
blogspot.com.
I am proud and humbled by the many wonderful things the
program participants have said about the United States and
the Americans they met. Even in the Internet age, there is no
substitute for traveling around another country and meet-
ing its people for increasing understanding. That is why we
are also traveling around Sweden on our U.S. Embassy Road
Show, where we take our Embassy for a day to towns and cit-
ies all over Sweden to meet people and exchange ideas and
experiences. Just as the Chalmers USA Summer Trainees have
shared their stories of travel and learning in these pages, we
are sharing ours from the Road Show at stockholm.usembassy.
gov/roadshow.
To bring us full circle, I will conclude with an interesting note
about Sputnik. The word in Russian literally means co-travel-
er or traveling companion. I hope that those who embark
on exchange visits with the Chalmers USA Summer Internship
program experience both the Sputnik moment of their deci-
sion to go on the program - that it leads them to places and
experiences in their lives that are wonderful and unforeseen
- and that they will be co-travelers with the Americans they
met in creating the promising, sustainable future that is the
challenge of their generation. On behalf of the people of
the United States, I thank all those involved in this outstanding
program for helping to deepen U.S.- Swedish relations.
Matthew W. Barzun
U.S. Ambassador to Sweden
19
KARIN MARKIDES
PRESIDENT, CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
EXCELLENT WAY OF ACHIEVING
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Today international experience is of vital importance for high-
ly qualifed engineers. As a student at Chalmers University of
Technology you have an excellent opportunity to earn this ex-
perience already within your education.
Chalmers is an outward looking university focusing on the
development of technical solutions needed to create tomor-
rows sustainable society. This is achieved by letting environ-
mental questions permeate research as well as teaching. A
successful outcome also depends on a well functioning inter-
play between many diferent participants within and outside
Chalmers. Our interplay and exchange with industry and busi-
ness take many forms internships, projects, work integrated
learning to name a few.
Regardless how, its important to seek solutions across and be-
yond your boundaries to challenge yourself and others. This
viewpoint has in one sense or another characterized Chalm-
ers for centuries, inspired by our founder, William Chalmers.
As director of the Swedish East India Company, and for several
years their resident representative in China, he recognized the
importance of crossing borders to achieve success.
In order to promote our students opportunities to take part
in knowledge and experience exchange we continuously
develop diferent activities and encourage students to par-
ticipate in wide variety of international activities. Chalmers
students adopt this strategy in the most diferent ways. Some
participate in international seminars; others spend some time
abroad in a company or a university. Still others participate in,
or even set up, international projects with or without support
from industry.
Networks around the world is of great interest and use in all
research activities, and of outmost importance when it comes
to global issues. In your future role as highly qualifed engi-
neer you will be an important part in all forward looking re-
search. Therefore any experience of various cultures, settings
and ways of thinking is of great value.
To spend some time in a company in the USA for a few months
is in my opinion an excellent way of achieving an international
experience and a great complement to your education. A net-
work you build during such a stay is invaluable for the future
professionally as well as in your private life.
Karin Markides
President of Chalmers
20
21
22
23
24
I knew little about what was coming when I signed up for USA-
SIP back in May 2010. What I did know was that I wanted to
receive qualifed work experience before my graduation, take
some time of from school and to travel the US not only two,
but three birds with one stone. Wherever I ended up across
the Atlantic Ocean appeared to be worth the efort.
By combining contradictory clichs such as Its the trip, not
the destination with Look at the goal, not the way to it I
became more motivated during the challenging preparatory
work. Motivation was the last thing I wanted to run out of, be-
cause, as a student, I was also in the middle of my most tested
school year to date. With great support from classmates, family
and fellow USA-SIP members; it went well and it was worth
every single hour spent.
After a great kick of week in New York City, I was very curious
to get to San Francisco, start work and explore the city. The
frst two weeks consisted mostly of working and looking for
a place to live. It wasnt easy, but eventually I was ofered a
room in a house in North Beach living together with three
Americans in a great neighborhood. My every day (but pretty
interesting) Californian life could now begin.
Working as an intern at Monte Stott & Associates Inc. turned
out to be diferent and better than expected, although my
expectations were very high. Monte and his fve employees
perform engineering consultancy projects all around the Bay
Area (mostly in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley). Many
clients are homeowners, and the scope of service varies from
simple advice to complete designs, drawings, calculations,
building permits, and arrangements with contractors.
Since California is a seismically active area with the earth-
quake of 1906 that literally destroyed half the city and another
in 1989 that damaged the Bay Bridge, many clients are in need
of strengthening their houses to withstand future disasters.
Modern seismic regulations were not introduced to the build-
ing codes until the late 1960s, so there are many buildings in
need of a so-called seismic retroftting. Fortunately, the pro-
cedure is relatively simple, easy to implement and afordable.
On a typical day at work, Monte and I drive around to diferent
project sites and meet homeowners, brokers, contractors, ar-
chitects, and laborers. We discuss the clients needs of service,
examine crawl spaces, measure settlements, and investigate
work sites. Monte and his team of engineers and architects
have a lot of diferent projects going on simultaneously, and
its difcult to understand how they can manage everything,
but they surely do.
Back at the ofce, I help out with hand or CAD drawings, cal-
culations, contracts and proposals while I also gather informa-
tion on building materials, details, methods, solutions, and
regulations. As time goes by, I continue to learn more and try
to contribute as much as I can to the team. Monte and my col-
leges are friendly, humorous, smart, and helpful which makes
everyday pleasant, educative and fun.
San Francisco has a lot to ofer, and one thing Ive found inter-
esting is all the unique areas. My bus to work takes me from
hilly North Beach, through Little Italy, crowded Chinatown,
the busy Financial District, SOMA (South of Market Street), and
eventually to our ofce in the Mission District. The buildings,
surroundings and people change radically from one area to
another. Walking west through Mission, passing mostly Mexi-
cans, youll fnd yourself in the Castro, the largest gay neigh-
borhood in the US. The lampposts are decorated with red, or-
ange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Onward, towards Golden
Gate Park, the Haight-Ashbury district appears - the epicenter
for the Summer of Love in 1967. The hippie culture is some-
what still there, represented by both a younger generation
and some potential remaining originals, working, walking, sit-
ting, and lying on the sidewalk.
Although San Francisco might ofend (or even scare) some

the Haight-Ashbury dis-

trict appears - the epi-
center for the Summer of
Love in 1967
The home of the brave, the Golden State and the City by the Bay, what an endless
amount of curiosity! What to expect? Where to go? What to do there? When I was of-
fered an internship in San Francisco, I instantly planned to stay for at least six months.
Im glad I did.
STRENGTHENING BUILDINGS IN
EARTHQUAKE TERRITORY
TEXT: DAVID KVARNSTRM
25
DAVID KVARNSTRM
Fonded: 1989
Situated: San Francisco, CA
Employes: 6
Bussiness area: Structural engineering
Hosting interns since: 2011
Homepage: www.montestott.com
MONTE STOTT & ASSOCIATES
Born: March 26th, 1984 in Karlstad
Present Education: B.Sc. in Civil Engineering
Worst memory: Hours lost waiting for delayed buses
Best memory: The friendly and laid back Californian atmo-
sphere
Future plans: Stay in SF for a while and then work on my
Masters thesis
US nostalgia: Driving around the Bay Area doing site visits
with my boss
Swedish nostalgia: Hanging out with friends outdoors
Up, left: Inspecting reinforcement layout on a work site. Up, right: Scouting the Big Sur coastline. Down, left: Out sailing with co-workers. Down, right: Posing in front
of the Golden Gate Bridge.
unaware visitors, with its social vulnerability and mentally ill
population sadly living in the streets, it continues to be a very
diverse, interesting and friendly city. My initial impressions of
San Francisco, while walking through the sketchy Tenderloin
area, have changed to a much more positive overall experi-
ence. As I stated before, I had no idea what to expect before
getting here. However, I will remember my time here with joy,
and defnitely come back some day.
I want to show my gratitude to Monte for letting me work at
his company. My whole San Francisco experience has been
made possible through his generosity.
Thank you!
26
27
28

Being able to sometimes

take a day off for sail-
ing, skiing or hiking adds
some spice to everyday
life
Avalex Inc., was founded 20 years ago by its current president
Craig Morgan. It is a small consulting frm with projects all over
California and Nevada. The company provides its clients with
assistance in civil engineering and environmental services.
Projects are typically related to any concern regarding water,
such as landfll engineering and design, water quality moni-
toring, water rights engineering and autoCAD drafting and
design. My tasks varied a lot during my internship and by the
end of the summer I had been involved in all of these felds
and I learned a great lot.
In Sweden we are taking vital resources as water for granted.
Here the water supply sufers a lot from contamination and
droughts. Working for Avalex , have made me open my eyes to
these kinds of concerns. As my supervisor Craig Morgan cited;
in California, whiskey is for drinking and water is for fghting-
by Mark Twain. This makes sense to me now; the water ques-
tion is really a big issue for the politicians here in California.
While digging deeper into the diferent projects performed
by Avalex, I realized that the American legal system played a
great role in our cases and thanks to my supervisor I gained a
further insight. It is completely diferent from the Swedish sys-
tem since the American system is originally derived from the
Common Law system of England. Not that it is anything like it
anymore. Both substance and procedure have changed. How-
ever, I got really fascinated and since the U.S. still is the worlds
largest economy I am glad I got the opportunity to learn a bit
about it.
I had many projects running at the same time but one that
kept me busy for the whole summer was a bigger groundwa-
ter contamination investigation. I spend a lot of time doing
researches on water quality data trying to fnd the actual con-
taminant.
When running your own business there are several risks that
you need to take into consideration and by being a part of this
small company I have experienced both the advantages and
difculties that it brings. Being able to sometimes take a day
of for sailing, skiing or hiking, just to make up for it another
day, adds some spice to everyday life. I am a big fan of the
outdoors and the area around the lake itself is an amazing
playground.
South Lake Tahoe is a neat town with 25,000 residential citi-
zens and it is world famous for recreational activities and
therefore its population peaks during the summer and win-
ter seasons. Already after two days in town I found myself the
most perfect housing, right on the waterfront with both pool
and tennis courts included. My roommates were two amazing
American girls that I got very well along with. We made some
longer road trips and hang out a lot together. I also got intro-
duced to their friends and soon I knew a lot of local people.
All my weekends were carefully scheduled. If I didnt spend
time with my newfound American friends I was busy meeting
up with my Swedish fellows. I went to San Francisco and Santa
Cruz, to the National park of Yosemite to climb the Half Dome,
to Napa for wine-tasting, to Sacramento which is the capital of
California and fnally to the ranches and big casinos of Nevada.
Sometimes friends even came to visit me in Tahoe.
My summer was fantastic and I learned that America is so
much more than just big cities. You make new friends wher-
ever you go but by staying in one area for some time you really
get to know people. I am already planning to come back for
some skiing. It is meant to be one of the worlds biggest.
As I said; my summer here in California has been fantastic and
I would gladly do it again. I had a lot of fun, both at work and
in my spare time. Therefore I really want to thank Craig and
Michaela Morgan for their great hospitality and for letting me
explore this fantastic area while working and learning from
Avalex. I wish you all the best for the future and I hope that
many more interns will get the opportunity to work for Avalex.
I also want to thank all the members and the board of the USA
Summer Internship Program for making the whole year an ex-
ceptional experience with many sweet memories.
I have been fortunate to spend my summer in the beautiful mountain village South
Lake Tahoe, in the North-eastern part of California. It is actually situated right on the
state line to Nevada. My hosting company was a small engineering frm, among the
highest located businesses that you can possibly fnd, at an elevation of 6,000 feet
the ofce is just at the foot of the big mountains.
WORK AND WILDERNESS
IN THE VERY HEART OF SIERRA NEVADA
TEXT: SOFIA STENINGER
29
Up, left: Me at the top of the Half Dome. Up, right: Outside my ofce in Tahoe. Down, left: Running the Golden Gate Bridge with Swedish friends. Down, right: The stun-
ning view from my back yard.
AVALEX
Born: May 23rd, 1988 in Nykping
Present Education: B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Man-
agement
Worst memory: Strolling all alone in the woods of Yosemite
at night with no lights or reception
Best memory: Hanging out with my room mates, at beaches,
boats and bars
Future plans: Master studies at Rwth Aachen in Germany
US nostalgia: The amazing food that you actually can get
and the Holahoop dance
Swedish nostalgia: Sea gulls, endless summernights and the
sommarplga of the year
SOFIA STENINGER
Fonded: 1991
Situated: South Lake Tahoe, CA
Employes: 3
Bussiness area: Civil engineering and environmental services
Hosting interns since: 2009
Homepage: www.avalex.info
With my Tahoe friends at the beach just of my block
30
31
32
The year in USA-SIP started of by a weekend in Stockholm. We
had a lot of fun, got to know each other better and encour-
aged each other to perform and improve our selling skills. Af-
ter this weekend the year has been passing really fast. Partwise
Ive spent a lot of time on the phone trying to fnd companies
willing to advertise, but what I mainly will remember is the as-
sociation activities and, of course, the internship period. The
summer in the US kicked of with a week in the big apple, New
York City. Together with the rest of the USA-SIP I experienced
this awesome city. The supply of things to do is enormous and
we tried to check of as many must dos as possible. An in-
tense week later I was on the fight to Arkansas. I really didnt
know what to expect since I barely knew anything about the
state. Among the few things Id heard about were there is a
lot of farmers and that its a little bit diferent than New York
City. My supervisor Lena met me at the airport and almost in-
stantly we headed to a barbecue party with some of my soon-
to-be coworkers. A lot of people working on the engineering
teams at J.B. Hunt were there, so I got a great opportunity to
get to know them even before I started my internship and I
immediately felt really welcome.
My internship at J.B. Hunt started with a frst day of intro-
duction to the company, meeting coworkers and welcome
lunch. It was an intense day with a lot of new impressions.
Thanks to my supervisor and my coworkers I felt as a part of
the engineering team at once. As my actual work was going
to include pulling data from databases, I started with learn-
ing SQL, Structured Query Language. To use databases and
SQL were completely new to me, but classes I have taken in
other programming languages eased the work. J.B. Hunt is a
company within the transportation business which provides
diferent customer solutions. One business segment is inter-
modal transportation, which is the combination of multiple
modes of transportation. The project I was a part of was within
this segment and aimed to estimate train arrivals to minimize
the waiting time for trucks when changing transportation
mode from rail to road. My work included performing statisti-
cal analysis and attempting to come up with accurate linear
regression models, based on historical data. The purpose of
these models was to forecast the remaining time to arrival of
a train. A couple of weeks into my internship I continued with
a diferent job within the same project, programming in Java.
My work consisted of writing code for some of the statistical
analysis I had been doing manually before. So far I have really
enjoyed my internship. The work is challenging and without
my educational background I couldnt have solved the prob-
lems I have been facing. Ive also received a great amount of
help and support from my supervisor and my coworkers
Besides my work I have also enjoyed all the sports and activi-
ties me and my coworkers have been playing during lunch
hours. I was really doubtful to go sporting during lunch, i.e.
the hottest time of the day (between 30 and 40 degrees Cel-
sius is not unusual). But already in my frst week I got, despite
the temperature, introduced to the sport Ultimate which Id
never played before. Since my last time throwing a frisbee was
several years ago, it took me a while to get back into the fris-
bee pulling, but when I fnally did, the game was a lot of fun.
Ive also been playing a lot of beach volleyball and been run-
After being somewhat doubtful whether or not to apply for USA Summer Internship
Program, the year turned out to be one of the best Ive ever had. Being an intern at
J.B. Hunt in Arkansas has truly been awesome, due to the challenging work as well as
the coworkers and the activities outside of work.
BE AN
INTERN IN ARKANSAS,
EXPERIENCE A DIFFERENT PART OF THE US
TEXT: FRIDA HENRYSSON

Without my educational
background I couldn`t
have solved the problems
I have been facing
Hiking in Devils Den State Park
33
Fonded: 1961
Situated: Lowell, AR
Employes: 15,842
Bussiness area: Transportation
Hosting interns since: 2009
Homepage: www.jbhunt.com
J.B. HUNT
Born: July 30th, 1988 in Gnosj
Present Education: B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Man-
agement
Worst memory: All the trafc lights
Best memory: Floating the Bufalo River in Arkansas
Future plans: Continue with my internship and start my
master studies next fall
US nostalgia: All the kind and friendly people Ive met
Swedish nostalgia: Swedish summer with friends, barbeque
and lots of fun
FRIDA HENRYSSON
Up, left: Celebrating 4th July in Virginia Beach. Up, right: Me and Rose at the beach in Virginia Beach. Down, left: Floating with friends in the Bufalo River. Down, right:
Me and my supervisor Lena outside J.B. Hunt.
ning with my supervisor. This sporty activities have been fun
and good interruptions in the working days which enabled
me to focus better during the rest of the day.
As Arkansas is known as the natural state, spending a sum-
mer in the state implies a lot of outdoor activities. One of the
best was the foating trip me and some friends did during a
weekend. We went to the Bufalo River, rented a cabin and
canoes and took of for a couple of hours foating. The land-
scape around the river was really beautiful and we had a lot of
fun. Other experiences have been hiking in some of the many
state parks in Arkansas, crawling in caves so narrow that they
almost gave a claustrophobic feeling and swimming and do-
ing the rope swing in diferent rivers.
Finally I want to thank those people without whom I couldnt
have done this - my supervisor, my coworkers, J.B. Hunt, the
companies that are advertising in this report and my family.
34
35
36

As a born adrenaline
junkie with serious fear
of heights this was some-
thing I felt compelled to
try
After a year of hard work and heavy phone bills from cold call-
ing to sell ads to various companies, the internship that once
seemed so distant was going to take place. I had applied to a
couple of internships but had crossed my fngers real hard not
to be accepted by anyone but one in particular, fortunately my
fngers turned out to be strong enough.
Mobile Climate Control is a company that design and manu-
facture custom engineered HVAC systems (Heating, Ventila-
tion and Air Conditioning) for all types of commercial vehicles
like busses, coaches, of-road and military vehicles. They start-
ed up as a small company some 36 years ago in Sweden and
can now be found in Canada, USA, Poland, China and of course
Sweden.
Before going to Canada for the internship at Mobile Cli-
mate Control I had some ideas about what it would be like. I
thought that I would be able to utilize the specifc knowledge
I previously had studied at Chalmers thru out the production.
It turned out to be somewhat true but I was also given the
chance to work with other parts of the company and to utilize
many skills learned elsewhere.
I also had an idea about how the country, the climate and its
inhabitants would be. A country with mostly caucasians that
have the tendency to say eh a lot and that play hockey on the
year-round frozen lakes. These ideas were shared with friends
and family and nothing indicated that I was wrong, howev-
er I couldnt be further from the truth. Toronto is one of the
most diverse cities in the world with neighborhoods like Chi-
natown, Little Italy, Koreatown and many others. My weather
predictions were also very of, the temperature never dropped
below 22 C during the night and reached humidex tempera-
tures well above 50 C.
On my very frst day I felt very accepted and appreciated as I
was received by my boss Peter Pawlowski and his right hand
Thomas Tra. They were pretty much the Manufacturing sup-
port department and very pleased with me helping them out
thru the summer. By the second day I was already stafed and
within the frst week I completed my frst project as I calculat-
ed a ROI for a manual cutting machine. During the frst week
I was also briefed on what projects Peter had in mind for me
during the summer to come, but I was also given the chance
to fnd my own projects regarding something I thought could
be benefcial for the company.
As the summer went by I worked parallel in many interesting
projects where thinking and brainstorming always was the
central idea. Peter was real easy to work with and we often
met in the middle during our thinking sessions. That simpli-
fed and made it more fun working at Mobile Climate Control
signifcantly.
The projects I worked with difered very much from each oth-
er. Some projects included measuring and calculating, some
included receiving and visiting suppliers and customers and
some of them involved communicating with and presenting
results for other departments within the company. In most
projects I had full ownership, but there were also times where
I merely helped out with time consuming tasks.
During my stay in Toronto I stayed at a college resident, it was
located pretty central and was fairly cheap. However the win-
dows did not open more than 30cm and some of my nights
there got pretty warm due to the lack of AC units in the build-
ing. Luckily there were no lack of cold water in the showers.
Besides from the crazy heat even a city in Canada can produce
it was an amazing place to spend the summer.
Toronto have so many summer festivals that there are con-
stantly at least one going on. These free street festivals with
themes like music, food, pride and luxury cars kept succeeding
each other throughout the whole summer. Toronto is prob-
ably most famous for the CN Tower, a 116 storey and 553m
(1814ft) tall building, the second tallest free standing building
in the world. However in my opinion the CN Tower is probably
the most interesting building to visit because of its attraction
When I got employed for the summer internship I was very happy but at the same time
nervous. The e-mail I received from my future boss did not calm my nerves either. ...I
will set You with our production, purchasing and supplier to form a team which I hope
You will lead,... Now my stress levels were really high but I decided to embrace this
challenge and give it 110%.
BEATING THE HEAT
IN THE HVAC FLEET
TEXT: OSCAR GRAN
37
OSCAR GRAN
Up, left: Me and my girlfriend Lisa hanging out at the CN Tower. Up, right: Me and my Canadian friend Jeremy on a trailride in the Don Valley. Down, left: On my way
to a big important meeting. Down, right: A small piece of Torontos Chinatown
MOBILE CLIMATE CONTROL
Fonded: 1975
Situated: Toronto, ON
Employes: 300 in Toronto
Bussiness area: Designing and manufacturing custom engi-
neered HVAC systems for commercial vehicles
Hosting interns since: 2009
Homepage: www.mcc-hvac.com
Born: March 27th, 1985 in Gteborg
Present Education: B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Man-
agement.
Worst memory: The midnight temperature in my room
Best memory: The fabulous free events succeeding each
other in downtown Toronto
Future plans: Starting my master studies with an exchange
semester in Mexico
Canada nostalgia: Anything and everything with peanut
butter
Swedish nostalgia: Newly caught Westcoast shrimps
the Edge Walk or as the locals call it, Torontos most extreme
attraction. As a born adrenaline junkie with serious fear of
heights this was something I felt compelled to try. The Edge
Walk is a simple stroll on a 1,5m (5ft) wide grate attached to
a simple but all so naming, life line. The only problem is that
your walking on an edge with a clear drop of a couple hun-
dred meters straight down.
The day came when I had booked my appointment to try this
daring attraction and I couldnt have been more lucky with
the weather, clear sky, great visibility and 25 C. Even though
Im really afraid of heights I took the plunge and leaned over
the edge handing over my life in the trust of the harness I
was wearing. The feeling was indescribable and the view way
above amazing.
Leaving Toronto was really hard to do, I had really fallen in love
with the city, the people and my exciting job. I however felt
that I was leaving Toronto as a wealthy man with new friends
made, new experiences gained and new skills learned.
38
39
40

Don`t look in to his eyes,

he is evil
Jordan Cazeault, the son of the founder, came up with a great
idea: sell nuts and bolts online! Thats when he came up with
the name Bolt Depot. To make this all happen, a Chalmers
graduate named Michael hs helped Jordan launch the web-
site, and shortly afterwards business began booming. In 2005,
Bolt Depot shut the hardware business down and only focused
on the online store.
Another Chalmers graduate who helped Michael with the
website and who still works at Bolt Depot is Lars Ahlzen. To-
gether with Matt Thomas, chief of marketing, they do every-
thing they can to keep Bolt Depot a successful business, with
very good customer satisfaction. When selling products like
screws and bolts, it is important that the costumer get the
right product. In a normal store, you can just walk in and ask
an employee, but with a website, it is harder for the customer
to pick the right product. Providing models of the products
would be an easy way to help the costumers, more specif-
cally; CAD models.
They needed someone who could make these models, and
since Bolt Depot are familiar with people from Chalmers and
knowing that they get things done with good results, they de-
cided to bring in an intern from the school. So in 2009, Jonas
did his internship at Bolt Depot, making over a hundred CAD
models for every type of product Bolt Depot have. In that way,
customers could easily recognize what type of product they
were looking for. One summer was not enough for the project
so they decided to bring another intern from Chalmers, and
that guy is me.
Lars and I met the frst time at the bus station in Boston. On
our way to his house he told me everything I needed to know
about the project and the problems that needed to be solved
in order to continue with the project. I was a little nervous by
the thought that I will be working for a company like Bolt De-
pot and that I needed to solve many problems for them. When
I frst walked in to Bolt Depot all the nice people working there
welcomed me but I didnt get to meet Matt yet. Dont look in
to his eyes, he is evil they all said, but he turned out to be a
really nice guy, evil, but in a good way.
My part of the project was to make it easier for the customers
to pick the right product. To make drawings of all the 15,000
products that Bolt Depot provides is the way to do it. But there
was a big problem with the existing models. They could not
handle all the sizes of any screw or bolt. The biggest challenge
was therefore to solve that problem. I managed to fx it, even
though Solid Works, the software I was using, didnt always co-
operate. It feels really good that I got this opportunity to work
at Bolt Depot and solving real life problems for a big company.
It is amazing how Bold Depot went from a small store to a big
online company, and yet still family owned.
It is a tradition to pull a prank on Lars when he goes away on
vacation, and Matt came up with a great idea what to do with
Lars desk. We decorated his desk with a fake grass carpet, and
put 200 plastic pink mini famingos all over it. To make it all
extra special, we put 20 famingo lights over the desk. Lars
doesnt like famingos. Since it is always Matt that pulls these
pranks on Lars, I think he deserves to be the victim once. So
next time Matt goes away somewhere, he will be surprised
when he comes back.
Lots of fun things happen here in the U.S, but one of the best
things was my trip to Philadelphia where I got to see my favor-
ite soccer team, Real Madrid, play a game against the Philadel-
phia Union. My seat was amazing, in the front row and right
behind the substitute bench. I enjoyed it when all the great
soccer players in Real Madrid easily won against the Union.
Besides the soccer game, Philadelphia is a really nice city to
visit. There are many museums, including the American Swed-
ish Historical Museum. It is the oldest Swedish museum in
America, founded 1926. In Philadelphia, you can also fnd the
famous Rocky steps, and the statue of Rocky Balboa, from the
Rocky movies.
Boston is another great city, and living here is really nice. This
city is diferent from other big cities in the U.S. All the buildings
remind me of a European city, maybe because it is one of the
oldest cities in America. I live in an area called Cambridge. This
In 1949, Bolt Depot opened its doors. Back then the company, a family owned hard-
ware store, was known as J.T. Cazeault and Sons. Operating for over 50 years gave
the company its reputation in having a large variety of fasteners in stock, but since a
large hardware chain moved to the area new actions were needed.
FROM A SMALL TO A BIG FAMILY BUSINESS AND
ITS STILL GROWING
TEXT: DANIEL TALANI
41
DANIEL TALANI
Up, left: Great view over Philadelphia from the Rocky Steps. Up, right: Me and Nino at a Red Sox game in Fenway Park. Down, left: What I do when Solid Works does
not cooperate. Down, right: Larss desk after me and Matt redecorated it.
Fonded: 1949
Situated: North Weymouth, MA
Employes: 16
Bussiness area: Online retailer of fasteners
Hosting interns since: 2009
Homepage: www.boltdepot.com
BOLT DEPOT
Born: November 2nd, 1987 in Gteborg
Present Education: B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering
Worst memory: When the room I was suppose to stay in got
rented out to someone else before I got to Boston
Best memory: All the friendly people at Bolt Depot
Future plans: Go back to Chalmers and start my masters
US nostalgia: American pizzas arent so bad, everything with
extra cheese!
Swedish nostalgia: Family and friends
area is very special, both Harvard and MIT are located here,
so you will fnd people from all over the world, mostly young
people. I really like being here in Boston and want to thank
Jordan, Matt and Lars for having me as an intern, and thank
everyone at Bolt Depot for being such nice persons.
Behind me you can see the Downtown area of Boston
42
43
44

Dreams do come true if

you believe in them
Kicking of the summer with a week in New York City with
the other members was great. It was just as fantastic as I had
imagined, probably a little bit better. We did a lot of sightsee-
ing, ate a lot of good food and most importantly, had a lot of
fun. Towards the end of the week, one by one started to check
out and get ready for their internship. This wasnt my situa-
tion though. Before my internship started I had the chance to
make a one-week trip to California. I did some sightseeing in
San Francisco, saw the famous Golden Gate Bridge and then
headed to San Jos for some gathering with relatives. Even
though I really enjoyed my days in California, I couldnt help
but count the days until I would leave for Canada. And that
day came, after a troublesome fight with delays I was fnally
there, in Canada. I was so eager and couldnt wait to see what
this country and my internship would ofer me.
Situated in Dundas, Prema Canada is one of the largest distrib-
utors of tire and wheel supplies in Canada. The core and the
strength of the organization is the network of highly skilled
and dedicated independent distributors, servicing the entire
nation from coast to coast. When I came to work the frst day I
was very excited. It started with Dave Lottridge, the President
of the company, introducing me to the colleagues and show-
ing me around. After the tour I spent time getting familiar with
the products that the company ofers, and its suppliers. Hav-
ing thousands of products it is quite impossible to know all of
them, but I got an idea of what type of products the company
ofers and the main equipment supplied.
The coming days I spent time doing research about repair busi-
ness, since my main project was to develop a new business
opportunity. The new business opportunity is about ofering
repair and preventive maintenance service to the equipment
supplied. The project involves, among other things, drafting
the structure of the business, making budgets, applying to
become an authorized service center as well as making plans
for actions required. The business is quite complex and raises
many issues, making this a very challenging, yet exciting and
rewarding project. The variety of tasks that the project includes
makes the skills and knowledge that I have gained from my
education at Chalmers suitable, in particular the approach of
solving problems and projecting. Naturally I have also broad-
ened my knowledge; learning about diferent software such
as MYOB and Lotus Approach is one example.
Besides the service project, I was also involved in other proj-
ects. One of them was about social media. Social media, such
as Facebook and LinkedIn, is an excellent marketing channel
and its a loss to not make use of it. Therefore the company has
been looking on how to use it in the best way and I believe
it will be very benefcial for us. The challenge is, however, to
make all distributors adapt to the new IT and social media en-
vironment. Being in the tire industry, not all of them are elated
of new IT stuf and its development.
One thing that I have been very thankful for is that the com-
pany arranged the lodging for me. I had no expectations for
it, but it turned out to be lovely. Though it takes 40 minutes
to get to work by car, including my cofee drive through at
Tim Hortons, I cant complain about it. Who would with a pool
right outside the door? Not to mention the friendly couple Im
staying with, my colleague Mike and his wife Pam. Another
thing I cant complain about is all the long weekends one gets
once every month, due to statutory holidays. During the frst
long weekend, when the Canada day was celebrated, I went
to Niagara Falls with other interns staying in Canada. We biked
around between wineries and had a wine tasting at one place.
Even though Im not that fond of wine, I found the ice-wine
exquisite. The day ended with watching freworks by the falls,
a very beautiful view. Afterwards we headed to Toronto, where
I spent the rest of the weekend shopping, seeing parts of the
city and seeing my frst Pride Parade.
Another long weekend I went on a road trip to Montreal. Com-
ing to Montreal felt like coming to another country, most of
the people there only speak French and they even look dif-
ferent. However, the weekend there was lovely. The food was
delicious and with bikes we got to see so many tourist attrac-
tions and diferent parts of the city. With the diferent prov-
inces, Canada is undoubtedly a country with many diferent
cultures. I hope I will be able to visit other provinces too.
Who could have thought that I would be a member of USA-SIP 2011? Not me. Who
could have thought that I, who was among the last ones to get an internship, would
stay abroad for a year? Not me. Who knew that this would be an unforgettable expe-
rience? Me. Amazed by the nice people, charming accent and diferent cultures, my
internship in Canada is an experience I wont forget.
LIVING THROUGH THE GOAL THAT
SEEMED UNREACHABLE
TEXT: KIM PHAM
45
Up, left: Jumping in front of the Flatiron Building. Up, right: Jumping in front of the Biosphere museum. Down, left: At the Prema head ofce, Dundas. Down, right: Me
in beautiful Niagara Falls.
KIM PHAM
Fonded: 1954
Situated: Dundas, ON
Employes: 20
Bussiness area: Tire industry
Hosting interns since: 2010
Homepage: www.premacanada.ca
Born: March 2nd, 1988 in Vrnamo
Present Education: B.Sc. in industrial Engineering and Man-
agement
Worst memory: Getting stuck by a wasp in the Biosphere
Best memory: Seeing a dozen of raccoons surrounding a car
Future plans: Fulfll my internship at Prema and then start
my master studies
Canada nostalgia: Enjoying a cofee beverage from Tim
Hortons
Swedish nostalgia: Having cozy bbqs with family and
friends
PREMA CANADA
There are several colleagues at the company that have years
of experience, and they really inspire me with their knowledge
and devotion. I have learnt a lot during this summer and I am
more than certain that I will learn even more during the com-
ing year. Two months have fown by and I cant imagine how
fast the coming ten months will pass. Somehow everything
still feels a bit unreal. I do not seem to realize this amazing
adventure I am living through. When I became a member of
USA-SIP more than one year ago this was like a dream to me, a
dream that was hard to reach. After one year of hard work the
dream fnally came true. Dreams do come true if you believe
in them. The key is to never give up and keep fghting. It might
sound corny, but thats the way it is. If you can dream it, you
can achieve it.
I would like to thank Dave Lottridge for giving me the op-
portunity to be a part of Prema Canada and making this ad-
venture possible. I am truly grateful for everything and really
appreciate it. I would also like to thank my colleague Mike
DAmour and his wife Pam DAmour for taking care of me and
making me feel more welcome than ever. In addition I would
like to thank the Board of USA Summer Internship Program
2011 for their continuous support and encouragement, and
for the tremendous work they have contributed to the orga-
nization with. At last I would like to thank the other members
of USA-SIP 2011 as well as all colleagues at Prema Canada and
everyone else who has brightened my time in North America.
46
47
Uniting research, education and innovation
for a sustainable future
www.chalmers.se/production
48
Our internships
After a week of vacation in Manhattan with our friends from
Chalmers we took a slow and bumpy bus ride to New Jersey
where the headquarters of Rema Tip Top North America is lo-
cated. After a quick introduction to everyone working at the
ofce we got the keys to our car, a cute intern-bumped Scion.
Perfect for challenging parallel parking in New York City. After
passing through green areas, still lakes and wealthy residen-
tial neighborhoods we arrived in Westwood were the apart-
ment we shared, a large three roomer, was located. Westwood
is a small town where people greet you with a smile when
you pass by, where the well-trimmed lawns are watered with
sprinklers every morning and where you see more squirrels,
deer, rabbits and birds than human beings.
On day two we started our six months long internship at Rema.
Our coworkers originated from all over the world: Germany,
Romania, China, Iceland, Skne etc. They were all friendly, po-
lite and willing to help. It was interesting to learn about how
a growing American enterprise like Rema Tip Top functions
and to get insight in another working culture. We have real-
ized that overtime is very common for Americans and that you
work more on your own (compared to in Sweden). The fuel to
keep up with this pace comes from bagels with peanut butter,
donuts with frosting and American cofee.
Ebbas work
My desk is located in the purchasing department of the ofce.
But so far the biggest project I have been working on is not
directly with Rema, but with a European sister company. Here
I have learned about the company and their products and
started to perform a market analyze. Since this is a rather small
company with large ambitions I have been able to get insight
in the development and strategies applied by them to be able
to grow. What I so far have planned to do in the future is to
continue with the market analyze, to be involved in the devel-
opment of a new web page and to attend a conference and a
trade show to gather more information and new contacts.
Recently, together with Disa I have been catching up on my
mechanic skills since we have been learning about conveyor
belts and the mechanics related to them. Jens, a Swedish ap-
plication engineer who used to work for Rema, has acted as a
teacher and explained how it works to us. It is great to at last,
after three years of studies and school book examples, to see
how the theory is used in the real world.
As Swedes we thought we knew all about the US - sitcoms, root beer and fast food. At
an Atlantic distance we had enjoyed their culture and copied their way of living. The
hardly working culture with Big Mac and malls is everywhere but its not what struck
us the most. We have realized that working hard is the American way of life. These
months have emphasized how good it is to experience a diferent culture than the
one that you are used to.
WORKING HARD
OR HARDLY WORKING?
TEXT: EBBA HEDENBLAD AND DISA REUTERSWRD
Taking a nap in Washington D.C after a long walk and a big lunch with our friend
Rose
49
Up, left: In The Museum Of Modern Art there is a guard whos single task is to make sure no one walks on a white art spot. Up, right: Cotton candy, budweiser, hot dogs
and everything you wish during a 6 hours baseball game. Down, left: Ebba at Sandbridge during Virginia Beach weekend trip. Down, right: New Jersey skyline
Disas work
What does T-Rex, ply, DIN, RMA, Dual belts, Manrider, fnger
splice, clamp and pulleys have in common with potatoes, cars
and aggregates? The last-mentioned is transported on the
frst-mentioned - conveyor belts. It is a fascinating thing - con-
veyor belts! And the more you learn about this industry the
more you realize how little you know about it.
I work at Remas conveyor belt department. The frst week I
got to attend diferent kinds of meetings to get an insight in
what the belting department works with and how. As Ebba
mentioned above Jens taught us a lot about the mechanics
behind the conveyor belts, diferent calculations etc. For a few
weeks I worked with creating a project manual for a project in
a goldmine in Nevada, and right now I am working with the
belt departments catalogue lay outs and pictures for their
home page. Later on I will, among other things, design an in-
struction manual showing how to load big and heavy mining
belts onto trucks and try to develop a freight map. As an intern
at Rema you get to choose your own projects which is great
and challenging.
REMA TIP TOP
Fonded: 1953
Situated: Northvale, NJ
Employes: 300
Bussiness area: Industrial and Automotive
Hosting interns since: 2009
Homepage: www.rematiptop.com
On our way in to the yankees stadium with colleagues Niels, Olaf and Chris
50
Our America
The feelings for the US were mixed when we left Sweden and
they still are. It is a country of contradictions. Freedom they say
but still we have never been so restricted as during this two
summer months. Either one is not allowed to swim in a lake or
it is only open during a certain time. The piers and beaches are
often private, all the forests are restricted controlled parks and
it feels like there is police watching your every step. On the
other in hand, people here are very open and you are noticed
and greeted without expectations of being best friends. And
when you are in New York, you are amazed by the diversity
and the great ambiance that leads to.
On our weekend travels we have had the opportunity to see
more of this country. For the 4th of July we went to Virginia
Beach to meet up with some friends from Chalmers. We did it
the American way; went by car, slept one night at Days Inn and
had a Styrofoam breakfast (All the cups and plates where made
of foam). And we enjoyed a lovely weekend with good friends.
Another weekend we took a bus to Baltimore and spent some
days there with our Chalmers friend Rose. While we were wait-
ing for the bus for one hour, we regretted the decision to travel
with public transport. On the way back the bus was one and a
half our late.. We visited Washington DC and waited for a long
time outside the white house for Obama to come and greet
us. He never came, but we had a lovely weekend and experi-
enced how diferent Baltimore is compared to Washington DC
despite being only an hour away. We were reminded of the
situation in the US on our way to the bus station in DC passing
many homeless people on the street.
Our escapades
Twice we have been stopped by the police.
No. 1. We were in Brooklyn and were about to take the sub-
way back to Manhattan. After a few days in New York we had
gained a bit too much of confdence and an imaginary urban-
ity. Since only two of us had tickets (we were four) we decided
very impulsively to double.. After approximately fve steps on
the platform we heard a strong female voice. Ladies.. At the
very frst glance at this policewoman our hearts raced and
the agony became overwhelming. She had us stand on a line
against a fence while she slowly and with a severe look on her
face took our information. In panic we talked about the pos-
sible consequences. Where we going to be sent home? Were
we ever to be able to come back to the US? Probably not..
We imagined how it would be to tell everyone of our ridicule
stupidity. When we were on the border of collapse the police
woman, probably worried now that we would faint, told us:
Girls, this is only a violation, it is not a crime!. We realized our
foolishness only would lead to a fne and that we could stay in
America, we could come back again and would not have to ex-
plain to everyone why we never completed our internships.
No. 2. Much less dramatic this time. We were driving at dawn
and suddenly heard a siren and saw the fashing lights behind
us. Two police cars followed us. We had forgotten to turn the
lights on. After showing all the papers the police men looked
more amused than angry. They asked a bunch of questions,
laughed at us when we said (like two small school girls) that
we had just watched the Harry Potter movie and had not had
a single drop of alcohol. Instead of giving us a fne they wished
us a safe illuminated drive home.

Our hearts raced and

the agony became over-
whelming
Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the faires one of all
51
DISA REUTERSWRD
EBBA HEDENBLAD
Born: January 31st, 1988 in Lund
Present Education: B.Sc. in Industrial Design Engineering
Worst memory: Getting caught by a policewoman after hav-
ing doubled in the subway in Brooklyn
Best memory: When the policewoman said that it was only a
violation and that we could stay in the US
Future plans: Staying at Rema until December and then
continue my studies
US nostalgia: To be nostalgic is to be on the border of mad-
ness
Swedish nostalgia: To have Kalles Kaviaron hard bread for
breakfast on a pier by the west coast sea
Our New York
In the summer heat there is always some smell in the streets.
Garbage, fower shops, food, sweat, exhaust fumes.. It is really
a crazy, diverse and wonderful place. And we cannot wait to
see how it will difer as the seasons change. As often as we
can we take our Scion in to the city. We have found a perfect
street where there always are available and free parking spots.
To nourish our design vein we are taking drawing classes in
an art school in New York and on the weekends we visit mu-
seums, enjoy the swarming night life, go shopping, and just
stroll around watching all the diferent people.
Our fnal words
The simple openness of the American people, the diversity,
the worn out roads, the limited freedom, the maximized con-
venience, the hard work and the delicious ice cream. For hav-
ing a chance to experience this we would like to thank Olafur
for giving us the great opportunity to come here and helping
us along the way! Thank you Jens for being so nice and hav-
ing the patience to explain not only mechanics but to answer
all the other questions we ask you. Thank you Alexandra and
Jim for helping us settle down at Rema. Finally we would like
to thank everyone at the Rema ofce for being open, helping
and welcoming toward us! Thank you. And not to forget, thank
you Forex for sponsoring us with Global Cash cards.
Born: May 6th, 1986 on Orust
Present Education: B.Sc. in Industrial Design Engineering
Worst memory: Getting caught by a policewoman after hav-
ing doubled in the subway in Brooklyn
Best memory: When the policewoman said that it was only a
violation and that we could stay in the US
Future plans: Staying at Rema until December and then
continue my studies
US nostalgia: All the friendly, open and always helpful
people
Swedish nostalgia: To swim in a lake, glassy as a mirror, a
bright summer night
One of the frst days arriving to the ofce
52
53
54

Even though I`ve only

been in the States during
the summer, I feel like
home
Our adventures in the city started right away when we jumped
in the taxi that took us for a roller coaster ride to our hostel. It
was 20 minutes of extreme speeding and crossing lanes, noth-
ing diferent than car chases in movies (except that there was
no car chasing us). Just to remind us of how lucky we were to
arrive in one piece, our friends told us that the drive should
take not less than twice the time.
The frst two weeks in the States were vacation spent in NYC.
The excitement kept our energy level on a steady high - en-
abling us to see and experience a lot. We laughed a whole day
sitting in the audience at David Letterman show and later at
the famous Comic Strip. A couple of days later we were relaxing
at the Coney Island beach and got scared for our lives when a
gang fght broke out. But the, by far, most signifcant memory
of them all was when I experienced love at frst sight, meeting
Anna - a New York fashion model and DJ. We spent the rest of
my days in New York together and it became a memory I will
never forget.
The time in the Big Apple few by and it was time to head for
Detroit and to start my internship. When I arrived at Detroit
Metro Airport I was met up by the driver that took me to my
apartment in the city of Troy, a really nice Detroit suburb.
When I had packed up my bags and enjoyed a couple of hours
of rest I wanted to go out and explore, or at least buy some
groceries. I checked Google Maps for places nearby and soon
realized, due to the fact that I didnt have any car, that I was
stranded. There is a reason why Detroit is called The Motor
City; you cant go anywhere without a motorized vehicle. A
bit frustrated, I gave my boss Larry a call, just to tell that; I have
arrived and will need a ride to work tomorrow. Not only did
that problem get solved, as he ofered himself to come and
pick me up, but after only two minutes of conversation over
the phone I got an great example of American hospitality; he
asked me if I wanted to join a Sunday BBQ with his family and
close relatives. I was more than happy to and got my frst expe-
rience of an American family gathering, which I could say was
by far the best welcome I could get.
I was excited to start my internship at Seco Tools headquar-
ters of North America the next day. I got the chance to be
positioned at diferent departments during my internship
and work with diverse tasks. But before I started to dig into
any work I was reintroduced to the school bench. Joined
by a group of distributors for Seco, we went through the so
called step two training. After an intense week I knew a lot
more about the company and their products and I also got
my knowledge about metal cutting updated. We spent a lot
of time in the machine shop, studying and testing cutting in
practice with diferent inserts, speeds, feeds, depths of cut and
so on, to get a good feeling for the products. I defnitely be-
came more confdent to start my frst task.
I was assigned to the marketing department for the frst pe-
riod of my internship and the following couple of weeks I
worked together with Amanda and Tom, putting together
pictures of the new products Seco presented this year. This
helped me understand and get to know all the products even
more. Knowing the coatings, naming systems and areas of use
became little of a specialty.
Finishing up with that task I was already thrown into the next
one; to ensure the design and construction of a certain prod-
uct range. I started this project by going through the technical
drawings for the tools to check all the measures and making
sure that the interactions between the tools were what we ex-
pect. In the mean time the tools are on their way from Sweden
which will enable us to do further testing.
Having my girlfriend Anna in New York, I didnt have a hard
time coming up with things to do during the weekends. I just
went there as often as I could. I also made a trip to Toronto by
Being really tall, I usually dont like the small airplane seats, especially if the fight is
for 12 hours. But now it was diferent, I didnt mind. I was sitting there with a good
friend and comember of the Internship Program, Nebojsa, and our destination being
the one we had talked about for a year was keeping my mind of the pain in my back
and knees. Landing at LaGuardia and taking the frst step on to the New York streets;
seeing the yellow taxis and taking our frst breath of the hot and humid air immedi-
ately made me forget that I couldnt stand up straight. We were fnally in the States
and we were about to stay there for a while.
CUTTING INTO AMERICAN CULTURE
AT SECO TOOLS
TEXT: MARKO TESANOVIC
55
Up, left: Me and Anna found our own sign in The Hamptons, NY. Up, right: An extremely hot day in New York, trying to cool of at Coney Island beach. Down, left: Me
and one of the other interns caught in the machine shop. Down, right: On a boat ride in New York with Siros, Nebojsa, Chris, Gustav and Daniel.
Born: February 18th, 1988 in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Present Education: B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
Worst memory: The frst taxi ride in New York
Best memory: Meeting Anna
Future plans: : Stay at SECO Tools for another four months,
fnish up my education and live in the States
US nostalgia: Hey, hows it going?
Swedish nostalgia: Friends, family and the freedom of not
be dependent on the car
MARKO TESANOVIC
car with the two other interns at Seco Tools, passing by the
Niagara Falls on the way. It was an amazing weekend except
for one little nervous moment when we got pulled over at the
boarder and got our car searched. I believe that the ofcer
was a little curious of how three young guys, all with difer-
ent passports (Swedish, U.S. and German) ended up taking a
weekend trip together. Of course there was nothing to fnd
and we could soon continue our journey.
Even though Ive only been in the States during the summer,
I feel like home. Maybe it has to do with the fact that every
American Ive met so far has been friendly and open, making
me feel welcome where ever I am. Im defnitely happy to stay
another four months here in the States and who knows. Hav-
ing Anna here, I will probably come back to stay.
My stay has been characterized by my internship at Seco, as
I spend most of my days here. The work has made a big im-
pact on my positive experience and therefore I want to show a
lot of appreciation and thank Larry for being a great manager
and his family for the warm welcoming I got here in Troy. Great
thanks to all employees at Seco for simply being fantastic and
always helping out. I would also like to give extra thanks to
Koni at HR for helping out the frst couple of days with every-
thing on and of work.
Thank you!
Fonded: 1936
Situated: Troy, MI
Employes: 70
Bussiness area: Metal Cutting Tooling
Hosting interns since: 2010
Homepage: www.secotools.com
SECO TOOLS
56
kta inspiration.
Frn pappersbruket till labbet och tillbaka igen.
Tack vare vr helhetssyn p innovation har vi blivit en
av vrldens strsta leverantrer av massa- och
papperskemikalier. Drfr fr du ofta mer n frvntat
nr vi arbetar tillsammans. Patrik Simonson, till
exempel.
Inte nog med att han har bidragit till att utveckla och fnjustera
retentionssystemet Compozil i vrt labb i Sverige, han har ocks
jobbat med olika nya applikationer dr det verkligen rknas ute
hos vra kunder. S som Patrik ser det r tillgngen till utrust-
ning som anvnds i professionell papperstillverkning en klar
styrka fr vr forskning. Ordentliga frberedelser och noggrann
planering r viktigt. Men det som styr labbverksamheten r den
praktiska erfarenheten av kemikalier, processer, maskiner och
samarbeten nr och fjrran. Det gr Ekas nya produkter och
koncept vlbeprvade redan frn brjan.
Varje gng han r hos en kund kommer Patrik p ngot nytt.
Alltid med ett och samma syfte: att gra pappersindustrins
processer nnu mer konkurrenskraftiga.
Vi inspireras av att inspirera papperstillverkare ver hela vrlden.
Trffa oss p eka.com.
www.eka.com
57
Avdelningen fr Operations Management
cbolmets tekolsko boqskolo ll
kootokuofotmouoo.
Cperauons ManagemenL
Chalmers Leknlska hgskola
412 96 CLeborg
+46 (0) 31 772 1000
Det blir inte bara teorier av forskning!
I senaste projektet frsvann kerna p en sjukvrdsavdelning.
Intresserad av att veta mer eller diskutera mjliga
forskningssamarbeten fr nya lsningar i din organisation?
58

Everyone is open to meet

new friends, especially to
someone from Sweden
After a six hour fight from New York City the plane made a turn,
showing an incredible view of the snowy Cascade Mountains,
right outside my window. Just a few minutes later I was stand-
ing in sunny Seattle with the mountains in the background
almost next to the ocean. Elisha a colleague from Edoc wel-
comed me at the airport and took me and his friends to Seattle
Sounders soccer game. It was an amazing experience to hear
40.000 people shouting Sounders.. Sounders.., with freworks
in the background, when their team scored. Since it was my
birthday we had to complete the day by singing ABBAs Danc-
ing Queen at a karaoke bar. What an unforgettable day!
After the weekend in Seattle it was time to start work at Edco
Incorporated. Edco is located outside Mount Vernon, an hour
by car north of Seattle and was founded by the owner Mark
in 1976. The company ofers design, modeling, drafting, fab-
rication, machining and assembling of mainly steel products,
but also components in materials such as aluminum, plastic or
wood. Since they have a lot of experience in steel manufactur-
ing they have the capability to fabricate and develop all from
small steel parts up to 160 ton products. The companys idea
is to manufacture from an existing design, a prototype or use
their experience to support all work from concept to a com-
plete product. The company is always working with a lot of
diferent projects such as manufacturing steel carts for Boeing
to military support structures as well as fshing reels. With new
material entering the workshop almost every day you will see
a lot of diferent products manufactured.
My frst assignment started by making new production draw-
ings of an aqueous wash cart for the airplane company Boe-
ing. Because a Boeing 787 has fuel stored in diferent sections
inside their wings, it is important to make sure the fuel stays
clean and does not cause unbalance when it fows between
the storage sections. This is why an aqueous wash cart is a per-
fect tool since it uses a diferent pump and vacuum system to
make the sections clean. By working with production drawings
you get a lot of experience in 3D-modeling and experience of
solving design problems. I also got a good understanding of
manufacturing techniques and how to design parts for the
actual production capabilities. After a while you will also see
your own designed parts around the workshop.
As their workshop is next to the ofce, it makes it easy to get
a good understanding of diferent manufacturing processes.
It is possible to learn about diferent welding techniques, ma-
terial compositions, CNC (Computer Numerical Control) -ma-
chining, turning etc. You also work close together with project
managers so you get a good knowledge about the whole pro-
cess of sales, purchasing, design and manufacturing.
Beside work I was staying in a city called Bellingham close to
the Canadian border. Since there are several students study-
ing at the Western Washington University there are always a
lot of activities ofered in the city. During my internship I was
living in a house sharing the building with ten other students
which was a great experience and a lot of fun. In Bellingham
everyone is open to meet new friends, especially to someone
from Sweden. Bellingham is only one hour by car from Seattle
and about forty minutes from Vancouver which makes it pos-
sible to be in Seattle in the morning and then travel to Canada
the same day.
Washington State is a beautiful place with a very diverse na-
ture, from rain forest in the west past snowy mountains in the
middle to the dry desert in the east. So in one day you could
go snowboarding in the mountains and swim in the ocean.
This state ofers a broad variety of activities such as music con-
certs, skiing, snowboarding, surfng, mountain biking, hiking,
fshing, whale watching, you name it.
One weekend I went on a trip to Canada to watch a sailing race
with Arty from work. We went out on Vancouver Island and
The doors are open for new adventures in Washington State. Everyone welcomes you
with open arms at Edoc Incorporated, the company that gives you the responsibili-
ties and production knowledge for a perfect start on your future career. Learn about
design and manufacturing techniques for the steel industry and try lots of outdoor
activities. This is defnitely the place you will never forget.
WASHINGTON
THE STATE WITH ALL OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
TEXT: SIMON OLSSON
59
Up, left: My trip up in Canada to watch sailing competition together with Arty. Up, right: Scott, Mark, Leslie, Bill, Ed, Garrett, Pete, Elisha, Jonathan and Chet. Down,
left: View from Boulevard Park in Bellingham. Down, right: Me taking a swim in the ocean, celebrating 4 of July.
EDCO
SIMON OLSSON
stayed there for four days. It was a nice experience to go out
on the ocean and see all the racing boats competing against
each other. Vancouver Island is also famous for the incredible
nature with all the wild animals.
Another weekday Garrett from work took me and his friends
on a bike trip outside Bellingham. It was a lot of fun to bike on
the narrow trails down to the ocean. When we arrived we had
a picnic and went looking for some starfshs. Later that eve-
ning we had an American BBQ on his rooftop with a fantastic
view out over the bay of Bellingham.
Fonded: 1976
Situated: Mount Vernon, WA
Employes: 46
Bussiness area: Metal Manufacturer
Hosting interns since: 2006
Homepage: www.edcoonline.com
Born: June 11th, 1988 in Vsters
Present Education: B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
Worst memory: The bus communication
Best memory: All the friendly people
Future plans: Work for a year before I start my master studies
US nostalgia: Having BBQs with friends and family
Swedish nostalgia: Eating meatballs, because they are really
good
60
61
62

I was all motivated and

eager to start working
for Biolin Scientific
The day before I was going to board the plane to cross the
Atlantic for the U.S, I went on my frst business trip to Helsinki
in Finland. It was a sunny day when I was greeted by the appli-
cation scientist at BioNavis (a Biolin Scientifc company), Niko
Granqvist. Niko had planned a whole day of training on the
Surface Plasmon Resonance technology and the SPR instru-
ment - one of the instruments I was planning to work with in
the U.S.
The journey begun with a visit in New York City with some
friends from Chalmers before it was time to board the bus for
a four-hour drive to Baltimore. The fnancial manager, Patrice
Kirk, greeted me at the bus station and opened her arms to
give me a warm hug. We drove to the hotel where I would
spend a couple of days before moving to downtown Baltimore
to a 100 m
2
apartment at Avalon. The same day, Patrice and I
went to have some crab cakes in Fells Point, the oldest part of
Baltimore where I was introduced to the city. Afterwards, I was
all motivated and eager to start working for Biolin Scientifc.
Biolin Scientifc develops, provides and supports scientifc in-
strumentations and technologies for the nanoscale study of
interfaces. Their current product portfolio consists of Q-Sense,
BioNavis, Farfeld, KSV Nima, Attension and Osstell. These in-
strumentations and technologies are mainly used for char-
acterization of bio-interfaces and bio-interactions, where the
samples could be proteins to polymers to cells.
With the knowledge that the Q-Sense technology was dis-
covered and patented in 1995 by a group of researchers at
Chalmers University of Technology, I was proud to step into
Biolins sales and support ofce. At the Linthicum Heights of-
fce, situated south of Baltimore I was welcomed by Stephen
Hussey - National Sales Manager and my supervisor. There, I
was introduced to my role and main task, which was to gener-
ate leads to support the sales team with potential customers
around North America. The approach was to search through
scientifc databases and academic websites for research proj-
ects, where Biolins technologies and instruments could be a
valuable tool. A few of the research areas I focused on were
biomaterials, biosensors, drug delivery and believe it or not,
cosmetics. I remember Arnold Luk, one of the application sci-
entists, asked during his experiments, -What do you use to
remove mascara, water? when using the Q-Sense system to
look at the curing properties of makeup.
I learned a lot about the diferent applications of the instru-
ment and the technology behind the instrument. From the
marketing point of view I learned how to approach the sci-
entists and professors to be able to attract new potential cus-
tomers.
In addition to the scientifc experience, the cultural difer-
ences I experienced were also memorable. When I was trying
to explain our way of life and culture in Sweden, I sometimes
received some admiration and some other times confusion. I
will never forget the look on Nasira Latifs face when I was try-
ing to explain Smrgstrta. - You mean that you love to eat
a cake that tastes as a sandwich? I also enjoyed our Swedish
languages classes during lunch and the Friday Fika.
Aside from my great work place, I learned a lot about Balti-
more. Port of Baltimore was created in 1706 for the tobacco
trade and later on as a granary for the sugar production in the
Caribbean. This busy port city started to take a local cultural
shape with churches and monuments, hence the nickname
The Monumental City. This great location in the east coast
gave me the opportunity to travel to see more beside Balti-
more. A few of my East Coast trips included trips to Virginia
Beach to celebrate 4th of July, South Beach to experience the
crazy breeze of Miami, and some daytrips to Washington DC
and around Maryland.
I had a hard time trying to keep up with every activity that
was given. With light blue colored t-shirts with the printed
words: Baltimores Beach Volleyball Tournament, I joined a
great volleyball team. I met a high ranked squash coach who
Personalities such as Michael Phelps, Frank Zappa, David Hasselhof and Tupac
Shakur, all have a connection to The Greatest City in America - Baltimore. Now it
was my turn to be part of the family, not as a swimmer, actor or singer but as an intern
at Biolin Scientifc.
THE TWO GREAT Bs IN MY LIFE
BALTIMORE AND BIOLIN
TEXT: ROSE FASSIHI KARIMI
63
Up, left: Me, Yordanos, Tara and Enamu outside the visual art museum in Baltimore. Up, right: Baltimore, The greatest city in America. Down, left: Night lightning at
the inner harbour, Baltimore. Down, right: Greg, Patrice, Xiachun, Nasira, Steve, John, Patricia, me and Arnold on the phone.
BIOLIN SCIENTIFIC
Born: August 17th, 1986 in Gteborg
Present Education: M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering
Worst memory: When the electricity went out when me and
Tara were in the elevator at a hotel in Miami
Best memory: All the days spent with my newfound friends
Future plans: Continue with my internship and later on start
my master thesis abroad
US nostalgia: Playing beach volley with my team called Dig
my balls
Swedish nostalgia: Swedish summer nights near the lake
with friends and family.
ROSE FASSIHI KARIMI
ofered to teach me the difcult sport and I joined adventure
groups and got to experience the beautiful nature of America.
Besides these activities, Baltimore ofered street festivals, out-
door movies, sport and cultural events and after work kayak-
ing. Along with these activities came of course a lot of great,
newfound friends.
At last, I would like to give my highest gratitude to Biolin Sci-
entifc for giving me this opportunity and experience. Thank
you, Stephen Hussey for your wisdom, guidance and support.
Great appreciation to Patrice Kirk and Nasira Latif for all of your
eforts around my stay and for opening up your homes, with
the laughs and positive energy that came with it. Thank you
also Arnold Luk, Xiaochun Zhang, Archana Jaiswal and Patricia
Bradyhouse for always answering my questions and for being
great colleagues. Last but not least, this opportunity would
not be possibly without everyone involved in the USA Sum-
mer Internship Program.
Fonded: 1996
Situated: Linthicum Heights, MD
Employes: 75
Bussiness area: Scientifc instrumentation
Hosting interns since: 2010
Homepage: www.biolinscientifc.com
64
65
66
We were fnally reaping the fruit of a years hard work and
dedication. It felt unreal to know that I was going to live and
work in the United States. We started our journey together as
a celebration of our accomplishments, and the host of this joy-
ous occasion was the city of all cities, New York. The Big Apple
is without a doubt one of the busiest, craziest and most won-
derful cities in the world. It includes people of all nationalities
and culture. Diversity does not even start to explain the abun-
dance of food, shopping and the variety in personalities. My
afection for this remarkable city is never-ending.
After almost two wonderful weeks in New York I was ready to
head out to the south. I took a plane from La Guardia Airport
and had to touch down in North Carolina to switch planes.
When we landed, Sandy Rzetzuko met me at the Knoxville air-
port. Sandy gave me the best greeting I could imagine and
helped me to get settled. Before we went to my residence we
made a quick stop at Wal-Mart for groceries and other neces-
sities. My best description of Wal-Mart imagine the biggest
ICA store and multiply it times a hundred (maybe a slight over
exaggeration). My apartment is located in Maryville, situated
in an apartment complex called The Reserve. This place had
everything you would ever need, from a fully furnished apart-
ment, to a sand volleyball court and swimming pool. I was
amazed that this was going to be my living quarters for the
summer. I had it made!
The next morning I headed for Lenoir City for my frst day of
work.
Lenoir City is located in East Tennessee, about 20 miles from
Knoxville. East Tennessee includes beautiful scenery, grand
mountains, lush green nature and great wildlife. Storms are a
quite common occurrence in this part of the country. Heavy
rain, thunder, lighting and even tornadoes appear frequently.
I will not lie; anxiety has shown its face when driving during
a lightning storm. At times I felt like Dorothy from the movie,
The Wizard of OZ, recognizing that I was not in Sweden any-
more.
My frst impression of Lenoir City was somewhat unexpected.
I could not believe my eyes looking out the car as I was driving
through town. It was quite diferent from the New York metro-
politan panorama I had just experienced. The scenery seemed
to be taken from a movie, houses with a new old western look
and the people to match it. It only took about fve minutes to
drive through the main street of Lenoir City, even if you hit all
the fve red lights and crossroads. Either way it was impossible
to resist the charm of this small town, mainly because people
from the south are so friendly and hospitable. Oh, if you did
not drive a big truck and listen to Blue Grass Country then you
are not a real southerner.
SECO Tools ofers a comprehensive range of top quality cut-
ting tools and is considered to be one of the top international
companies in the business. I felt honored that they chose me
and made a leap of faith giving me the position as their Pro-
duction Planning & Control Specialist. This was a golden op-
portunity, and I was ecstatic to say the least. My project was
quite extensive and complicated, and would require me to use
my complete arsenal of knowledge that I have acquired from
Chalmers. First I was asked to gather information about the dif-
ferent product lines. Second, I needed to interpret and utilize
this information to map out the current production fow by
using CAD and process fow software. Third, SECO wanted me
to change the factory layout giving a more streamline produc-
tion. Last, I was going to present my project and future factory
layout in PowerPoint presentation for the entire staf.
My time of work has been all about creating many memories
with friends. For my birthday I went to New York, once again,
and celebrated 4th of July with Marko, Siros and Daniel. I made
a fve hour road trip to Georgia; I had driven through Atlanta
during rush hour - not a recommendation I would make to oth-
ers. I had a couple of nice weekends in Knoxville with Van and
Gustav, including hiking in the mountains, playing basketball
and going to down town Knoxville visiting the local bars.
This experience has been one major highlight reel, flled with
wonderful memories and new friendships. I have attained
great knowledge that will most defnitely help my upcoming
career. Most importantly this experience is unlike any educa-
tion and anything learned from a text book. I would like give
thanks to Hans Rydvall and all the people at SECO for being
the best hosts and work I could not asked for better. I will be
forever grateful for this time spent with SECO.
God Bless America!
More than a year has passed since I participated in the frst USA-SIP information meet-
ing. I would say it was one of the most important moments in my life. Why? Well, that
moment brought me over 7000 kilometers overseas for the most amazing experience
in my life.
FEELING THE FLOW
AT SECO
TEXT: NEBOJSA RADOSAVLJEVIC
67
Up, left: Oreo cookie ft for a giant. Up, right: Promoting SECO. Down, left: Working hard at my desk. Down, right: Manhattan bridge.
Fonded: 1936
Situated: Lenoir City, TN
Employes: 70
Bussiness area: Metal Cutting Tooling
Hosting interns since: 2010
Homepage: www.secotools.com
SECO TOOLS
Born: June 27th, 1987 in Gteborg
Present Education: B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
Worst memory: Getting lost in the middle of the night with
barely any gas and an uncharged cell phone
Best memory: The fve hour drive to Atlanta
Future plans: Work part time for Volvo and start my master
US nostalgia: The southern roads and countryside
Swedish nostalgia: My mothers cooking
NEBOJSA RADOSAVLJEVIC

This experience
has been one ma-
jor highlight reel,
overflowing with
wonderful memories
and new friends
Measuring distance with my new toy wheel
68
69
70

A watchword for the

design was; better too
much than too little
Montie Design is a small collaborative product design and de-
velopment frm with core competence in industrial design, me-
chanical engineering and product commercialization. Since
the founding in 2006, Montie Design has developed products
in diverse market spaces such as industrial, commercial and
military. The ofce is situated in technology-rich Research Tri-
angle region of North Carolina which generates access to an
active engineering community and cutting-edge trends in
mechanical and industrial engineering. In excess to the con-
sultancy business, Montie Design has its own line of products
including in particular shooting and outdoor equipment but
also furniture and apparel. At the moment Montie Designs
furniture collection only consists of a single cofee table. The
company wants to extend their furniture line and get in to the
ofce furniture market. Therefore my main project during this
summer was to develop a Montie Design conference table to-
gether with industrial designer Yi-Mu Chang.
Our project started of with a research part where we reviewed
the existing market, mapped the use situation and identifed
the needs and demands of potential users. During our re-
search we tried to adopt a holistic approach, why we spoke
to representatives for every involved participant in the furni-
ture industry. We gained tremendous amounts of information
throughout our study and summarized it all in a white paper
in which we also recommended a sales strategy for Montie
Design.
Our frst conclusion was that the market in general was already
saturated and that it would be very hard to compete with the
big, multinational ofce furniture vendors since they are able
to ofer extremely competitive prices due to outsourcing and
the size of their production. For price is often the most impor-
tant aspect for companies purchasing ofce supplies. But we
did fnd a gap in the existing market. There are customers who
are willing to spend money and who are looking for Ameri-
can made, durable tableware which stands out from normal
ofce furniture. Their needs are unfulflled. In addition, North
Carolina has traditionally been known as the furniture capi-
tal of the world. Hence, our conclusion was that Montie De-
sign should aim for a high-range, customizable and modular
conference table with an expression of genuine North Caro-
lina furniture. Due to the importance of not blending in with
existing furniture lines, a watchword for the design was bet-
ter too much than too little. Because of present vendor rela-
tions and the expressions of existing Montie Design products
our table was to be manufactured with water jet cutting as
the manufacturing method. Water jet cutting is an interesting
technique which enables you to cut almost anything without
interfering with the materials inherent structure or changing
intrinsic properties. The method is also limiting though, since
the operation is best suited for two-dimensional shapes.
After weeks of hard work during which we tested thousands
of design ideas and developed over hundred diferent tables,
we settled for a fnal concept. We are at the moment adding
tolerances and preparing the drawings for manufacturing.
Hopefully in about a week, any person who dares to peek in to
Montie Designs conference room will be stunned by looking
at the frst copy of Montie Designs brand new product.

During my internship Ive also been involved in three client ini-
tiated projects covering the areas of baby carriage, personal
alarm equipment and competitive shooting gear. In those
projects I have contributed by participating in brainstorm
sessions, following up emerged ideas, drawing presentation
sketches and feld testing prototypes. Furthermore Ive had
the chance to join customer meetings, visiting manufacturing
sites and negotiating with vendors.
This internship has given me an excellent opportunity to learn
the business of industrial design frms. My boss has been very
kind and buoyantly answered all my questions regarding frst
While I was trying to barbecue a biscuit on a stick over a wet camp fre in the trouble-
some gap of the Blue Ridge Mountains and enjoying the company of rigid lumberjacks
and story-telling Vietnam veterans, I realized that during my summer as an intern at
Montie Design I have been given unique opportunities, gained invaluable experience
and created lifelong memories.
DEVELOPING A
DURABLE DESIGN
TEXT: GRAN SMITH
71
Up, left: Resting by the campfre in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Up, right: Field testing a bendable bracket system. Down, left: Looking for waves at Carolina beach.
Down, right: Ideation sketching at the Montie Design ofce.
customer, advertisement, business profling etc. Ive also met
quite a few entrepreneurs with businesses in various com-
merce sections during my stay. They have all been very inspir-
ing! In the projects I have worked close together with prof-
cient mechanical engineers and the most brilliant industrial
designer Ive ever met. To sum up, I would like to note that I
gained a lot of priceless experience during my internship and
at the same time, I had a lot of fun.
Alongside the work, a lot of my time in Raleigh has been used
for playing soccer with Molson Safelite who plays in the pre-
mier division of the triangle adult soccer league. It didnt take
long before I realized that the Swedish referees are far more
accepting compared to their American equivalents. The week-
ends were more often than not spent at beautiful spots around
the east coast such as Virginia Beach, Blue Ridge Mountains
and Wilmington. Before I leave the country I will also spend
three weeks in California and visit a few must see locations
such as Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Lake Tahoe.
I would like to end this travelogue by sending out a big thank
you to my boss, Montie Roland for believing in me, all support-
ing companies for making this trip possible (especially Forex)
and all the members of USA Summer Internship Program for
their hard work and for their good spirit.
Thank you!
MONTIE DESIGN
GRAN SMITH
Fonded: 2006
Situated: Morrisville, NC
Employes: 7
Bussiness area: Product Development
Hosting interns since: 2011
Homepage: www.montie.com
Born: December 17th, 1988 in Lund
Present Education: B.Sc. in Industrial Design Engineering
Worst memory: Wendys square burger
Best memory: Camping in the mountains with conservative
but friendly old-timers
Future plans: A semester of studies at Queens University of
Belfast
US nostalgia: The combination of pick-up trucks, southern
accents and the confederate fag
Swedish nostalgia: Lund
72
73
74
It all started in the spring of 2010 when the members of the
group met for the frst time. We all had the same goal: an in-
ternship position in the USA during the summer of 2011. Back
then it seemed like we had a lifetime ahead of us before we
would board the fight heading across the Atlantic, but the
journey in fact already had begun. Before we left to begin our
internships we had made new friends for life, made valuable
connections for our careers and also gained plenty of experi-
ence. But that was all just a warm-up.
In the beginning of June we spent a week in New York togeth-
er as a group before everyone left for their internships. During
that week we saw must-see-sights like the Empire State Build-
ing, Statue of Liberty, Times Square and the Brooklyn Bridge.
They say that New York is the city that never sleeps. Probably
because if you want to experience it all, you do not have time
to sleep. Before the week was over, the group was divided into
two groups. One who could not wait to go back to New York,
and one that had had enough of it. Siros belonged the frst
category (before the summer was over he went back to the Big
Apple six times) and Chris belonged to the second. Impressed
by the Big Apple or not, it was now time to go our separate
ways and start our internships. Our choice of travel was a bus
company called NY Travel. A company located in Chinatown
that charged us no more than 20 dollars for a six-hour ride. It
sure was a little suspicious, especially when they wanted to
evacuate us from the bus when a police car drove by, but it is
pretty unbelievable that they could charge us that little. And
we thank them for that, of course.
When arriving in Virginia Beach we caught a taxi to Chesa-
peake, where we would live the frst two weeks of our stay.
This place is not far from where we would work and it is where
Volvo Penta interns stayed the summer before. Chris, our land-
lord, met us in the door and immediately made us feel wel-
come.
In Chesapeake there is really not much of interest besides Volvo
Penta. Also, you cannot go anywhere without a car since there
are no sidewalks and there is practically no public transporta-
tion. That is why we were very happy to move to Marie, one of
our coworkers. She and her husband Ed, lived in Virginia Beach
and were kind enough to rent us two of their empty rooms.
Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake form an area called
Hampton Roads. You get big city feelings in Norfolk, beaches
and tiki-bars in Virginia Beach and work in Chesapeake. Alto-
gether they form a nice composition that we enjoyed all sum-
mer long.
For more than a year we worked hard to make it to the States. We can both agree that
the reward was generous and that we would do it all over again. However one thing
we experienced was enough for an entire lifetime.
THROUGH THUNDERSTORMS,
POWERED BY VOLVO PENTA
TEXT: CHRISTOPHER CINADR AND SIROS JAHANFAR
At Eastern Shore right before boat trip from hell
75
Up, left: Christopher and Gran pretending to know how to surf in Sandbridge. Up, right: Ethan and Chris testing heat exchangers. Down, left: Siros in his rented kayak
in Sandbridge. Down, right: Sandbridge.
Fonded: 1907
Situated: Chesapeake, VA
Employes: 125
Bussiness area: Marine Engines
Hosting interns since: 2010
Homepage: www.volvopenta.com
VOLVO PENTA

We didn`t understand
what you guys were do-
ing, you were just spin-
ning around out there
One time we decided to visit our friends in Raleigh, North
Carolina. So we left right after work on Friday afternoon and
headed right into trafc. After driving on the bumpiest high-
ways we had ever seen (American highways are bumpier than
a roller coaster) we fnally arrived in Raleigh. After a quick bas-
ketball game, Gran told us that he knew of a good place to
party within walking distance. We left the house around mid-
night and after walking for nearly one and a half hour we still
were not even close. Gran had also forgot to tell us that the
nightclubs in Raleigh required passports as identifcation. The
combination of this and the fact that all places close at 2 am,
we had to call it a night and walk all the way back. Our week-
end in Raleigh was still something to remember though, with
highlights like a fea market, playing soccer and basketball
but mostly seeing our dear friends. A special thanks goes to
Gran!
One weekend we thought we were up for a nice and relaxing
boat trip to Eastern Shore with a group of people from work. It
really did turn out to be extremely nice and relaxing, but only
until we decided to return to Virginia Beach. We had spent
the day swimming in the comfortably warm water and hav-
ing lunch by the beach but half way back we were suddenly
met by a thunderstorm with all its signature features. First
came wind, then came rain, then more wind, then strikes of
lightning and fnally big pieces of hail. One person on the boat
seemed to think it all was hilariously funny, and afterwards he
still claimed that he did, but we suspect that he in fact was
more scared than anyone of us. We would like to thank Martin,
the driver of the boat, for bringing us back to land. Although
76
Installing engines and drives with Larry
77
SIROS JAHANFAR CHRISTOPHER CINADR
Born: July 25th, 1987 in Teheran, Iran
Present Education: B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
Worst memory: The boat trip from hell
Best memory: New York. The sights of course, but also all the
people I got to know in this wonderful city
Future plans: Stay at Volvo Penta until the end of the year,
and in 2012 start my masters degree.
US nostalgia: The fact that you could start a conversation
with a stranger without people thinking you are crazy
Swedish nostalgia: Family and friends
he is technically the one who drove us right into the storm, so
he should know that he at the same time bears most of the
blame. That night was ended with everyone having a pleasant
cook out together, and even though no one said it out loud we
all probably celebrated still being alive.
Siros at Volvo Penta
During my time at Volvo Penta, I worked mostly in Pro/Engi-
neer, as a part of the transmission group with Bill Gremminger
who was my manager, and engineers Emil Hasl and Richard
Jonsson. My tasks involved everything from correcting draw-
ings of diferent Volvo Penta parts to creating new parts for
production.
At frst I was given simple tasks to learn the process and un-
derstand what kind of standards and formats Volvo use. As
time went on I got more and more complex assignments. In
the beginning it felt like I made every mistake that could be
done, but for every mistake that I made, I learned how to solve
the problems that would come my way. This was very helpful
for me as I started working more independently, since I was
able to solve the simpler problems I came across, and could
then spend my time solving real problems that needed my at-
tention.
For a person with mostly self-taught experience in CAD-de-
sign it was extremely valuable to work with relevant problems,
with clear objectives and to learn exactly what a company like
Volvo Penta wanted in a designer. To say that the experience
at Volvo have been priceless would be a clich, but not saying
it would be ungrateful.
Christopher at Volvo Penta
Before showing up the frst day at work I already had an idea
of the theme of my internship. I knew that I somehow would
work with heat exchangers and cooling systems for engines.
In order to be prepared to impress people at work as much as
possible I had brought a heavy book full of equations and ta-
bles used for solving heat transfer related problems. It turned
out, believe it or not, that book was not completely useless.
However how impressive it helped make me, I do not know.
As anticipated, the frst thing I was introduced to at work was
related to engine cooling. One engine kept overheating, which
of course is a bad thing, but a good thing was that I because
of this got to go on one of the test boats and get the engine
cooling system explained to me. I will admit that it took me
some time to fully understand it, but eventually I knew what
all those diferent hoses and pumps were for.
After a few days I was given a project that kept me busy for
practically my entire stay. I was told that they would like to
have a tool to help determine the required size of engine heat
exchangers. That was when I actually had use of that terribly
heavy book that I had brought with me from Sweden. I started
writing a Matlab script based on a composition of theories
from the book that I remembered slightly from classes I took
a few months earlier. After some time the script was complete
and I thought So now what? Then it hit me, How do I know
that this is correct? Luckily I was given the chance to validate
my work using an engine dynamometer at the company test
center. There, together with an American summer intern, a lot
of time was spent tightening hose clamps, draining engine
coolant and cleaning up power steering fuid that we of course
had spilled out on the foor. However I can promise that a lot of
hard thinking went on as well.
I appreciate that people at work were willing to take a lot of
their time to help me and explain things, despite knowing that
my stay was very short. I also appreciate that I got to combine
a desk job with some manual labor. Once or twice I actually
came home from work with a dirty shirt.
If we did not make it clear enough, it was the boat trip through
the thunderstorm that we never want to experience again. Be-
sides that, it was all good! Thank you to our landlords, cowork-
ers and everyone else who treated us well during our time in
the States.
Born: April 14th, 1987 in Warwick, NY
Present Education: B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
Worst memory: Waiting hours for Gran Smith to pass air-
port immigration control
Best memory: Ocean kayaking accompanied by dolphins
Future plans: Start Master of Science at Universidad Politc-
nica de Madrid
US nostalgia: Listening to 106.9 The Fox while driving
Swedish nostalgia: Normal size onions and tomatoes
78
79
80

It didn`t take me long to

realize that the year of
hard work already put in
to this tri p was all worth
it
After a long trip from Gothenburg, Sweden I landed full of ex-
pectations at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North
Carolina after spending a few days in New York. It didnt take
me long to realize that the year of hard work already put in to
this trip was all worth it. But the frst thing that struck me was
the heat. For a person who grew up in the northern parts of a
generally cold country, stepping out of the airplane was a bit
of a chock. Therefore I soon got myself familiarized with my
new apartments pool, in which I spent a great deal of my frst
weekend in the US when I wasnt exploring the surroundings
in my new hometown Charlotte.
On the following Monday I got in my car for the frst time and
drove the 35 miles across the state line in to South Carolina
and Outokumpu Stainless Bar Inc. The plant is situated in the
small town of Richburg. Here they make stainless steel bars
for valves, fttings, fanges and other machine components in
chemical processing, oil exploration, food and beverage, pulp
and paper, aerospace, and in many consumer products. Outo-
kumpu provides steel bars in a wide selection of standard and
special materials and grades. This is an ideal place for a me-
chanical engineer to take his frst steps in the steel business.
I have had the pleasure to work in the quality department as
a quality engineer. Here I have been collecting and sending
samples of diferent kinds of stainless steels to the lab. I have
also been responsible for making test plans for these, stating
what the lab has to test. This is something we do so that our
customers get steel that meets their specifc requirements and
is of the best quality. When the test results came back some
days later I helped analyze them and in the rare case of a non-
conformity think of corrective actions to make the steel as
good as possible. Even though testing and samples was my
main task I have worked with several other parallel projects of
varying size. These projects has been anything from monitor-
ing the diferent test results of a new grade to designing new
systems to make sure that every piece of bar gets tested.
Working at Outokumpu have most of all been a continuous
learning experience. I have also had great use of the things I
learned at Chalmers in my courses in material technology. But
even more in what I have learned in areas such as problem
solving and system design which are skills that come to use as
often (if not more often than pure technical knowledge). This
has been an important lesson and something I will take with
me in my future studies.
Outokumpu Stainless bar Inc is doing very well which means
that there are a lot to do. This is something that really kept my
devotion up and I have always felt good while driving the 40
minutes across the state line to get to work. The interesting
work in combination with nice coworkers and the opportunity
to learn new things every day have given me a lot.
Since I only worked weekdays 8 am to 5 pm I have had plenty
of time to discover other parts of the US than the business
side. Since Outokumpu provided me with a car and gas is still
cheap here (at least compared to Sweden) I have had the op-
portunity to make several road trips. A favorite one was when
I went with a friend to Atlanta watching Baseball and looking
at the Olympic fre (it wasnt lit, but still). Another was going
to Charleston with my visiting girlfriend from Sweden and her
brother, hanging out on the beach, watching dolphins and just
walking around watching the old beautiful southern houses.
Despite this being the frst time for me in the US I had a very
clear picture in my head on what it was going to be like. I can
admit that it was mostly based on movies and TV-shows and
I was already convinced that I would love it, but it has been
even better than I imagined. The US just continued to surprise
Travelling to a new country is in many ways both challenging and rewarding. Working
in one is in my experience even more so. My time as an intern at Outokumpu in Rich-
burg, South Carolina has been packed with both interesting work and stimulating
spare time. It has truly been an experience of a lifetime, flled with new friends and
exciting new discoveries.
CAROLINA
A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO LIVE AND WORK
TEXT: CARL KRISTOFFERSSON
81
Up, left: Rows of steel bars in Outokumpus warehouse. Up, right: Me and Ellen by a river at South Mountains State Park, North Carolina. Down, left: Sitting on the top
of Crowders Mountain State Park in North Carolina. Down, right: Manhattan skyline.
Fonded: 1994
Situated: Richburg, SC
Employes: 8000 worldwide and 61 in Richburg
Bussiness area: Stainless Steel
Hosting interns since: Occasionally for a decade
Homepage: www.outokumpu.com
Born: October 5th, 1987 in stersund
Present Education: B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
Worst memory: The heat in my car when I was going home
from work after it had been standing in the sun all day
Best memory: Road trip with Ellen and Erik to Charleston
Future plans: Start my master studies
US nostalgia: Lazy days by the pool
Swedish nostalgia: Long Swedish summer nights with
friends and family
OUTOKUMPU
CARL KRISTOFFERSSON
me, especially the South with
its warm and welcoming
people.
I have to take this chance
to thank everyone at Outo-
kumpu for making me feel
so welcome and showing me
what southern hospitality is
all about. I also have to give a
special thanks to Lou Kern for
his support to USA Summer
Internship program 2011,
Mike Marcanio for everything
he has thought me and Louis
Rosborough for his endless
patience with all of my every
day questions.
Standing on Chalmers Street in Charles-
ton, South Carolina
82
83
84

Contributed a significant
amount to the strategy of
a smaller company with
a very current technology
Together with three of my future roommates at the airport
of Raleigh-Durham, I was welcomed by Flint Bradley; Head of
Sales & Marketing at F-Origin and my supervisor for the next
six months. Soon it was my frst day of work and I started the
week by getting to know F-Origin and understand details and
particulars of its technology. The less intense start allowed
me time for other preparations for life in the U.S. as many of
you know, theres no going anywhere without a vehicle in the
States; and for some people, a car purchased and used for two
weeks will break down during a stormy evening in the mid-
dle of a highway. Somehow we ended up at a lonely motel
surrounded with at least eight car retailers. With no respect
for the fnancial part, there was no harm. The broken car was
slowly rolling into a retailer store the next day and the second
car was purchased within a couple of hours.
F-Origin is a unique touch screen technology company with
great potential in its market space. The company is in the
phase of early growth and will absolutely increase its market
share. One beneft of F-Origins patented technology, called
zTouch, is the possibility of producing a touch screen in any
type of material; and by reducing the membrane, theres no
such thing as wear and tear of the surface. zTouch is a com-
pletely force based touch screen technology, that allows any
type of touch. By this, area of appliance that requires diferent
kinds of objects as input will fnd this benefcial; this meaning,
for the company, a solution of an existing problem. Also, to ft
diferent kinds of areas, the touch sensitivity is fully program-
mable; and on top of it all, by combining sensors and software,
the cost increases are kept low in relationship to the size of
displays.
Armed with enough technical information and a business un-
derstanding of the current state of the company and its goals
for the coming years as well as in the longer term, I started
market research. The ultimate goal was to further develop ex-
isting customers and to fnd new potential customers and new
application areas for zTouch. This of course is based upon the
companies market share, growth, suppliers, technology, com-
petitors, etc. With existing customers, research was focused on
an expansion point of view. How can we expand within a com-
pany that has already implemented zTouch technology?
Another project involved improving marketing communi-
cation materials. By being new to the company and not yet
completely into the technology, a fresh perspective and new
questions may come up for clarifcation of these materials.
Improvements were made and work concerning the website,
search engine ranking, blogs, press releases, and other types
of updates were in progress. I also got to work with the com-
panys database of customers by establishing the frst contact
and providing material for interested customers.
As for the weekends, we have been very fortunate to take ad-
vantage of the wide elevation range in the state of North Caro-
lina. We welcomed and experienced everything it had to ofer.
With a central location in our hands, weekends were flled with
great mountains, beaches, concerts, sporting events, metrop-
olis, old villages, and much more. In approximately three hours
one can hike, climb, camp, surf, and later on ski. It was hard to
stay put. To get more out of the stay, the list of things to do just
kept growing; from drive-in movies and monster truck shows,
to skydiving and experiencing typical American things. Being
located in RTP was completely more than I expected. We got
introduced to great heat; a lot of rush hour, which sometimes
could be frustrating; and of course plenty of wonderful local
personalities.
To summarize my internship I have to say, so far so good! I am
very thankful for my internship at F-Origin. Many experiences
have been gained as well as opportunities to apply theoretical
studies into practical situations. I have learned about and also
contributed a signifcant amount to the strategy of a smaller
company with a very current technology in the present time.
Starting in NYC, I gained my frst experience of the U.S complete with skyscrapers, yel-
low cabs and a city that never sleeps. That one week long kick-of was a much needed
celebration. After all, our journey was about to take its frst step. Mine began in the
well known Research Triangle Park (RTP), area of North Carolina; a home to numerous
high-tech, medical and pharmaceutical companies and enterprises.
STATE WITH ELEVATION RANGE
FROM SEA LEVEL TO 6,684 FEET
TEXT: MAI THAI
85
Up, left: The one with no rules. Me and Siros at the frst house in Raleigh. Up, right: Camping on Carolina beach with friends. Down, left: Me 12th of June, the very frst
morning in Raleigh. Down, right: Me and my colleagues at F-Orgin.
Fonded: 2006
Situated: Morrisville, NC
Employes: 14
Bussiness area: Touch screen technology
Hosting interns since: 2011
Homepage: www.f-origin.com
F-ORIGIN
MAI THAI
Born: May 11th, in Gteborg
Present Education: B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Man-
agement
Worst memory: The moment my car started to feel bumpy
and the engine made a load jerking sound. In between I
could hear Goran saying Mai... I think your car is about to
break
Best memory: The weekend I got to experience the Outer
Banks
Future plans: Work at F-Origin to mid December, thereafter
Hawaii before master studies.
Canada nostalgia: The must-do-things that keep coming up
Swedish nostalgia: The summer evenings in one of Gothen-
burgs open-air cafs
The diferences between U.S and Sweden, from living to busi-
ness strategy, have also been very interesting to experience.
A special thanks to Flint Bradley for making my internship here
at F-Origin great. Your time and efort has been more than sat-
isfying and I couldnt ask for a better supervisor. I would also
like to thank Anders Molne, CEO & President at F-Origin, and
all the sponsoring companies in Sweden and North America.
Without you, our internships wouldnt be possible. Finally,
thanks Global Cash Card from Forex for making my car pur-
chase easier and USA SIP 2011 for all the hard work. The result
of all this could have been like the size of the elevation range
in this state.
86
87
88

We both had high expec-

tations on our time in the
US and they were easily
surpassed
The start up of the USA Summer Internship Program in the fall
of 2010 was the beginning of an adventure that would lead us
to the beginning of an even bigger one. After nine months of
hard work involving both school and the USA-SIP it was fnally
time to reap the fruits of our labor. The hard work was about
to pay of!
After a week in New York City with our friends we set our sights
on the South. Once there the thermometer was kicked up sev-
eral notches for the second time after leaving Sweden and
then New York. Erik Andersson a.k.a. the senior intern picked
us up in Atlanta and introduced us to the town of Madison
with dinner at a Mexican restaurant. After dinner we headed
to the Chateau, our cabin home for the coming six months.
The Chateau has been used by Rema Tip Top to house interns
throughout the years and has four bedrooms, two bathrooms,
a big kitchen and living room and a big lawn perfect for frisbee
throwing.
The next day was our frst early morning since arriving in the
United States. It was time for work. After meeting our supervi-
sor David DiRocco for a quick breakfast we saw the rest of our
colleagues. We could immediately tell that they were used to
having interns as we were very well met. After a tour of the fac-
tory we got introduced to some of the projects that we would
be working on during our internships. These included prepar-
ing for a switch to more energy efcient warehouse lighting,
restructuring the racking system to increase storage capacity,
and to investigate state and federal tax rebates.
The Rema Tip Top factory in Madison manufactures tire repair
products and has expanded a lot during the past few years.
The business was going well and was seeing an increase of
sales both domestically and globally. In other words, this was
a great opportunity for us as interns to experience a growing
company. With growth comes change and we have been lucky
enough to get involved in the full spectrum of work that goes
into the planning and execution of expansion.
During our internship, Rema Tip Top was investigating the pos-
sibility of manufacturing products at the Madison facility that
were at the time being produced in Germany. This is where
we got involved. Questions to be answered were whether new
buildings would be needed for such production, what type of
storage that would be needed for the fammable chemicals
and if local environmental regulations would prevent such
production. So far only the surface has been scratched. There
is a large amount of work that still needs to be done in this
stage of the process.
Our days of work have included a lot of activities such as
skydiving, rafting, kite surfng, hiking, and road trips. The frst
road trip was an eight-hour drive to Virginia Beach where we
celebrated 4th July with some of the other Swedish interns.
This was shortly followed by a fve-hour road trip to Knoxville,
Tennessee. Eleven miles of that drive took us on the Tail of the
Dragon. A notorious road leading through the Great Smoky
Mountains consisting of 318 curves.
Madison has a great restaurant bar called Town 220 where we
have not only met the locals, but also television celebrities
from the show Extreme Home Makeover. Locally in Georgia
we spent many of our weekends in the college town Athens,
where we have made a lot of good friends. Southern hospi-
tality defnitely exists. What we have noticed of people in the
southern US are that they are very open, hospitable and easy
to befriend.
We both had high expectations on our time in the US and they
were easily surpassed. The main reason being that we have
met so many fun and friendly people. We would like to thank
our colleagues at Rema Tip Top, especially David DiRocco for
giving us this opportunity. We would also like to thank Erik An-
dersson for showing us some great times at the beginning of
our stay. We have only just begun this adventure and we are
looking forward to the remaining four months in the US.
In 2001 a place called Madison in Morgan County, Georgia was voted the prettiest
small town in the United States. This was to be our home for the coming six months
while on internships at Rema Tip Top. We were going to experience everything from
the intense heat of work in the wear house to the pressure of keeping deadlines in
time for big corporate meetings.
DISCOVERING
THE SOUTH
TEXT: VAN DO AND GUSTAV MOE
89
Up, left: View of the Great Smokey Mountains on our way to Knoxville, Tennessee. Up, right: Sushi in Marietta just north of Atlanta. Down, left: A huge American break-
fast at Wafe House. Down, right: Playing beach volleyball on Virginia Beach.
GUSTAV MOE
REMA TIP TOP
Fonded: 1953
Situated: Madison, GA
Employes: 300
Bussiness area: Industrial and Automotive
Hosting interns since: 2009
Homepage: www.rematiptop.com
VAN DO
Born: December 30th, 1986 in Abu Dhabi
Present Education: B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
Worst memory: My waterproof camera breaking while raft-
ing on Broad River
Best memory: Jumping out of airplane at 13,000 feet
Future plans: Work for six months in the USA before starting
my master studies
US nostalgia: The All-Star Special meal at Wafe House in the
middle of the night
Swedish nostalgia: Spending the Swedish summer with my
family
Born: November 26th, 1988 in Vrnamo
Present Education: B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Man-
agement
Worst memory: High temperatures combined with humidity
during the summer
Best memory: All the road trips to various places
Future plans: Work for six months in the USA before starting
my master studies
US nostalgia: Soul food
Swedish nostalgia: The long Swedish summer nights
90
91
Expert builders
of gas refueling stations!
The largest
supplier in the
Nordic area of
compressed natural
gas refuelling
stations.
www.tankstationsbyggarna.se
a part of Processkontroll GT
92

Realizing that I would

spend the summer in this
tropical paradise wasn`t
that bad
After a week of kick-of in the city that never sleeps it was time
to enter the plane that would take me to the southernmost
state of the US. Just one week after graduation at Chalmers I
was loaded with energy to apply my academic skills in prac-
tice. The moment I stepped out of the air-conditioned envi-
ronment in the airport terminal I was struck by the heat and
humidity, 95 degrees Fahrenheit and the bright sunshine of
southwest Florida. Realizing that I would spend the summer in
a tropical paradise wasnt that bad.
Maestroshield is located in the beautiful city of Naples on the
Gulf Coast in Southwest Florida. Since 2005 Maestroshield
have provided their customers with security shutters for build-
ings with the purpose to protect the inside environment from
the threatening outside. This can be burglars, hurricanes, rain
or UV light etc. Currently Maestroshield is in a highly growing
phase launching its product line in Latin America and is ex-
pected to increase its turnover several times within the next
year.
After an initial explanation of my role and a briefng about the
product, work at the R&D department started and a variety of
projects were assigned to me. For the past year Maestroshield
has been developing a new product in order to enter the ad-
ditional market of interior blinds, and now the product is in its
fnal phase before being launched.
What difers Maestroshield from its competitors is the high
level of innovation, and with a CEO who is passionate about
new and state of the art technology my frst tasks were to
re-engineer two crucial components that couldnt compete
with the market. After presenting diferent concepts, one was
pointed out as highly interesting so just a few days later 3d
models were sent to a company specialized in rapid proto-
typing. Less than two weeks after my arrival I was holding my
own designed component in my hands, and it is was work-
ing as expected, kind of a satisfying feeling. Negotiation with
vendors, proposing design changes to suit manufacturing re-
quirements and creating marketing material, just to mention a
few of all stages a product has to pass through before entering
the market, makes you realize that this is for real.
Mechanical design was not my only task though. The largest
project assigned to me was to create an integrated custom or-
der system that would cover up the order and production pro-
cess and after specifcations are typed in, automatically cre-
ate a purchase order for the customer - routine work that had
previously been done manually. When writing this, the system
I created has just been fnished and will now be up for testing
for a few weeks in order to determine that everything works
properly, so I am not really sure about the fnal outcome. But
hopefully, and probably, it will result in a reduction of many
hours of daily manual work and also reduce the probability of
wrong components being delivered.
In addition to my major projects I have been handling daily
work such as research, brainstorming sessions and meetings
through Skype with external consultants. Having had the op-
portunity to work with people from diferent professions all
the way from marketing and purchasing to production and
fnance makes me realize how complex and difcult the whole
business process really is. Also reporting to the CEO several
times a week with the discussions that follow have given me
an intense course in how the market place works, understand-
ing the demands from fabricators, vendors and end users etc.,
how to satisfy them all and most important, how to make
proft of it.
However, as much as this summer was an opportunity to trans-
form academic skills into hands on experience, it was a chance
to see the US, or at least a part of it. I used my weekends to
get around in Florida and I got to see everything from the wet
and swampy Everglades and alligator shows to the postcard-
perfect beaches of Florida and the vibrant city of Miami.
I also got the opportunity to spend Independence Day in a
true American style. Starting of with a barbeque at a friends
house with his family and friends and ending up at an amaz-
ing one-hour show of continuous freworks on the beach of
This summer I had the opportunity to participate in the rapid development of securi-
ty shutters. In a state, which has experienced the power of nature from its worst side,
Maestroshield is determined to provide their customers with high-end technology
for them to protect their homes.
HURRICANE PROTECTION IN
THE SUNSHINE STATE
TEXT: OSKAR STRAND
93
Up, left: View of the sunset from Naples beach. Up, right: Always working hard. Down, left: Lifeguards hut on South Beach, Miami. Down, right: Characteristic archi-
tecture of Naples,slightly inspired by Venice.
MAESTROSHIELD
Fonded: 2005
Situated: Naples, FL
Employes: 22
Bussiness area: Business to business within the following in-
dustries: Hurricane protection, Security and Exterior & Indoor
shading
Hosting interns since: 2009
Homepage: www.maestroshield.com
OSKAR STRAND
Naples. Something you notice wherever you go, is the curios-
ity and open mentality of Americans. They are always inter-
ested in discussing the diferences in your culture compared
to that of the US. And no, Sweden was never confused with
Switzerland.
I would like to give my greatest and honest thanks to all my
coworkers at Maestroshield, from whom I really have learned a
lot and who supported me throughout the summer. For those
of you who read this, it has been a pleasure from the begin-
ning to the end. I would also like to give a special thanks to you
Christer Kllstrm, who gave me this opportunity and let me
see how business really is done.
Born: September 20th, 1988 in Gteborg
Present Education: B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
Worst memory: When the AC in my apartment broke down
for three days, hot!
Best memory: Weekend trips to Miami
Future plans: Starting of my Masters with an exchange year
in Munich, Germany
US nostalgia: Corn on the cob and Key lime pie
Swedish nostalgia: The west coast archipelago during sum-
mertime
94
Jens Nielsen, Systembiologi
Rakesh Koppram och Lisbeth Olsson, Industriell bioteknik
Med kemi- och bioteknik tar vi oss an framtidens utmaningar
Kunskaper i kemi och bioteknik r centrala fr samhllets
fortsatta tillvxt och fr hllbara lsningar p samhllets kli-
matrelaterade utmaningar. Vid Chalmers strsta institution,
institutionen fr kemi- och bioteknik, bedrivs forskning och
utbildning fr hllbar utveckling, kad hlsa och livskvalitet.
Kontakterna med det omgivande samhllet r mnga genom
breda ntverk och samarbetsprojekt med industrin.
Forskningen vid institutionen tcker in hela fltet frn natur-
vetenskaplig kemi och biovetenskap, via tillmpad kemi till
bioteknik och kemiteknik. Bredden av mnen och framgng-
srika forskare har gjort det mjligt stta samman starka kon-
stellationer fr att ta hem stora forskningsanslag.
Under de senaste ren har institutionen gjort en omfattande
satsning inom bioteknikomrdet med nya professurer i in-
dustriell bioteknik och systembiologi. Lisbeth Olsson spe-
cialrekryterades 2008 till institutionen, fr att bygga upp en
forskargrupp kring industriell bioteknik. Hon hade med sig 14
rs erfarenhet frn Danmarks Tekniska Universitet med mn-
ga industrisamarbeten. Vid institutionen handlar hennes for-
skning om att utveckla jstsvampar till andra generationens
etanolproduktion, som ska utvinnas ur cellulosarvara som
tr och halm. Lisbeth Olsson r ven en av projektledarna i
Wallenberg Wood Science Centre, ett gemensam centra mel-
lan Chalmers och KTH med uppdrag att utveckla ny teknik
och produkter fr att strka den svenska skogsindustrin.
Jens Nielsen, professor i systembiologi och ledare fr Chal-
mers styrkeomrde livsvetenskaper, har ocks forsknings-
bakgrund frn Danmarks Tekniska universitet. ven han
rekryterades till institutionen 2008 och leder nu cirka 50
personer inom systembiologi. Forskningsfltet r multidisci-
plinrt med kemister, matematiker, biologer och ingenjrer,
som arbetar tillsammans fr att kartlgga och tolka funktion-
en hos levande celler.
Forskargruppen studerar de metaboliska reaktioner, som
alla celler anvnder fr att omvandla nringsmnen till oli-
ka freningar, som de behver fr att vxa och frka sig.
Av de 1 500 kemiska reaktionerna som anvnds i jstceller,
frekommer ca 1 000 ven i mnniskoceller. Resultaten kan
drfr anvndas fr att utveckla nya lkemedel eller efektiva
cellfabriker fr ekologiskt hllbar produktion av kemikalier.
Intresset och viljan till samverkan r stark p institutionen.
Samverkan ver grnserna sker med fretag, skolor, an-
dra universitet och andra institutioner p Chalmers. Ett
framgngsrikt forskningsomrde fr institutionen r utveck-
ling av egenskaper hos olika material. Hr utgr Mats Anders-
son ett gott exempel p internationell lyskraft. Mats forskning
kring organiska polymerer kan leda till att solceller blir mer
konkurrenskraftiga. I ett samarbete med en grupp i Linkping
tillverkar man solceller i labbskala. Solcellerna utvrderas med
hjlp av solsimulatorer fr att hitta strukturer som ger hgsta
mjliga efektivitet. Polymera solceller r nnu inte tillrckligt
efektiva fr kommersiell tillverkning av stora moduler, men
p sikt hoppas man att de kan erstta dagens solceller av ki-
sel, som r dyra att tillverka.
Tillmpningen av forskningsresultaten har stor nytta och be-
tydelse fr hllbara lsningar fr industrin. Inom energiom-
rdet leder Jan-Erik Svensson, professor i oorganisk miljke-
mi, projektet Nanobelggningar fr fastoixdbrnsleceller.
Projektet gr ut p att gra fastoxid-brnsleceller redo fr
marknaden. Frutom vtgas kan dessa drivas av biobrnslen,
vilket ger miljvinster. I nulget r livslngden nnu fr kort
p brnslecellerna, men med vrmetliga nanoskikt hoppas
forskarteamet i projektet kunna frlnga livslngden och
drigenom snka kostnaden fr denna teknik.
Fr mer information om forskningen inom kemi- och
bioteknik: www.chalmers.se/chem
ADVERTISEMENT
95
96
ADVERTISEMENT
97
Ny kunskap, nya processer och nya material
r frutsttningen fr ett socialt och ekologiskt
hllbart samhlle.
Plast- och kemibranschen r en av de mest
forskningsintensiva i Sverige. Ungefr 13 procent
av alla forskare som nns inom industrin arbetar
inom plast- och kemiindustrin. De esta nns
inom lkemedelsindustrin.
Plast- och kemiindustrin r en av Sveriges
strsta exportbranscher. 2008 exporterades
kemikalier fr strax under 130 miljarder kronor,
vilket motsvarar 11 procent av den totala expor-
ten inom tillverkningsindustrin i landet.
Det sammantagna exportvrdet i plast- och
kemiindustrin uppgick samma r till 204 miljar-
der kronor vilket utgr en femtedel av den totala
industriexporten.
Ungefr 57 000 personer arbetar inom plast-
och kemiindustrin i Sverige. Det motsvarar
ungefr 9 procent av samtliga industrianstllda
i Sverige.
Plast- & Kemifretagen r branschorganisa-
tionen fr tillverkare och leverantrer av
kemikalier och plastprodukter i Sverige. Vra
medlemmar driver utvecklingen med ny kunskap,
nya material och nya energilsningar.
www.plastkemiforetagen.se
Det mesta
r fortfarande
oupptckt!
98
ADVERTISEMENT
99
100
THANK YOU
Financial Contributers
Air Target Sweden AB
American Bureau of Shipping
Auxilium Frsljning
Dragan Kostic
Forex
GAC
Godhemsgatans Restaurang AB
Industri AB Korp & Son
Keyvent AB
Kvadrat AB
Medpro AB
Internship
Avalex
Biolin Scientifc
Bolt Depot
Edco
F-Origin
J.B. Hunt
Maestroshield
Mobile Climate Co
Monte Stott & Ass
Medpro Clinic ApS
Miljrent
Monitor Larm & Bevakning
Prefab i Tranemo AB
Restaurant Mayfower
Shore Safety A Milj AB
Stefan Edetoft
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions
Trollhtteplast AB
Wihelm Larsn
101
Hosts
ontrol
ociates
Other Supporters
American Scandinavian Foundation
Chalmers University of Technology
Swedish American Chamber of Commerce
U.S Embassy of Sweden
Montie Design
Outokumpu
Prema Canada
Rema Tip Top
Seco Tools
Volvo Penta
102
A
AB Scandinavian Motorcenter 90
AB Volvo 6
Addtech AB 56
Afrsmodellering 86
Akzo Nobel Nippon Paint AB 90
Alfakonsult AB 38
Arctic Paper AB 7
Ascom Sweden AB 87
AstraZeneca AB, AZ R&D 42
Atlas Copco Construction Tools AB 31
Atrax Energi och Milj 79
Autoliv Sverige AB 26
Avd. fr Operations Management 57
B
BASF AB 35
Bassoe Technology AB 82
Berg Propulsion Technology AB 0
BJS Group AB 87
Bodycote AB 64
Bohlins maskiner 65
Broccoli Engineering AB 87
Bygging-Uddemann AB 87
Byggnads AB Tornahem 57
C
Cambrex Karlskoga AB 87
Canea Consulting Group AB 82
Carryline AB 69
Cegumark AB 82
Cementa AB 53
Center for Business Innovation 30
Chalmers, Biomedical Engineering 73
Chalmers, Data - och info. teknik 78
Chalmers, Industrial Design Engineering 61
Chalmers, Inst. fr Bygg- och materialteknik 34
Chalmers, Inst. fr Kemi- och Bioteknik 95
Chalmers, Inst. fr Material- och Tillverkningsteknik 83
Chalmers, Inst. fr Tillmpad Mekanik 34
Chalmers, I-Programmet 14
Chalmers, Nukler teknik 64
Chalmers, Styrkeomrde Energi 42
Chalmers, Styrkeomrde Materialvetenskap 39
Chalmers, Styrkeomrdet Produktion 47
Chalmers, Teknisk Fysik 21
Chalmers, Teknisk Ytkemi 34
Concent AB 83
Cool Engineering 90
D
DIAB 73
Dormer Tools AB 86
Driconeg 87

E
Eka Chemicals AB 56
Eklandia Fastighets AB 43
Elos Fixturlaser AB 83
ELU Konsult AB 53
Empiro AB 46
Enmesh AB 87
Episurf Medical 86
Esma 65
Eugen Wiberger AB 68

F
Fabulous 61
Ferroman Engineering AB 78
Foilex Engineering AB 72
Foster Wheeler Energi AB 68
G
Grahnab AB 78
Gryaab AB 90
Gunnebo 64
Gustav Fagerberg AB 38
Gteborg & Co - Nringslivsgruppen 69
Gteborgs Byggmstarefrening 73

H
Halmstad Energi och Milj 27
Hamamatsu Photonics 39
Handelsbanken Finans AB 0
Hertz, First Rent a Car 60
HRM Ritline AB 30
Husqvarna AB 22
I
Industrifonden 60
Ingenjrsbyr Andersson & Hultmark AB 82
IRO AB 86
Isaberg Rapid AB 61
ITT Water & Wastewater AB 2
INDEX
103
K
Kadesjs Ingenjrsbyr AB 87
Kongsberg Automotive AB 90
KSB Mrck AB 38
L
Lindab AB 21
Logiksystem AB 91
Ludvig Svensson AB 43

M
Mellby Grd AB 69
Metso Power AB 22
Miljrent 95
Mobab AB 91
Mossens Pizzeria 82
Moventas AB 91
Mpc hydraulics 15

N
Nibe 72
Nya Lidkpings-Tidningen AB 82

P
Papyrus AB 83
Permanova Lasersystem AB 91
Perstorp Holding AB 65
Petrokraft AB 90
Pizzeria Gibraltar 79
Plast- & Kemifretagen Service PKS AB 97
Precomp Solutions AB 82
Processkontroll 91
Planalys i Gteborg AB 90

R
Ranaverken AB 83
Rathsman Arkitektkontor AB 79
Restaurang Santorini 82
Rotationsplast AB 79
Rrmontage i Nykping AB 86

S
S.E.P. Scandinavian Energy Project AB 91
Safc Alcan Nordic AB 79
Sandvik AB 95
Sandvik Powedermet AB 38
Santa Maria 23
Sapa Profler AB 72
SCA hygiene Products AB 23
Schunk Intec AB 20
Seco Tools AB 35
SEW-Eurodrive AB 43
SKF Mekan AB 60
SKF Sverige AB 10
Sprngkonsult AB 86
Stena Rederi 46
Stora Enso Fors AB 79
Stora Holms Trafkvningsplats AB 79
Strlskerhetsmyndigheten 65
SWECO Industry AB 57
Svenska Byggingenjrernas Riksfrbund AB 86
Svenskt Krntekniskt Centrum 98
Swedish American Green Alliance 43
Swerea IVF 83

T
TAWI AB 68
Teknikens Ekonomi & Organisation 26
TRUMPF maskin AB 69
TTS Marine AB 83

U
Uddeholms AB 20
Univar AB 4
Uponor AB 73


V
VBG Group AB 86
VBK Konsulterande ingenjrer AB 83
Verkstadstidningen Frlags AB 31
VIA Travel 90
Vrgrda Logistik AB 79

W
Wenell Management AB 68
Wingquist Laboratory 3

Z
ZamPort AB 27
104
The Board of USA Summer Internship Program 2012: From left: Jesper Frithiofsson - Editor, Camilla Vachet - Internship Coordinator, Jonas Bar-
kander - Salesmanager, Anna Hansson - Treasurer, Ellen Ahl - Chairman and Edward Lewenhaupt - Internship Coordinator
Most industries today operate globally and one day after fn-
ishing education all students will face a working life in a glo-
balized world where knowledge of diferent cultures is invalu-
able. It is a huge advantage to gain this unique opportunity
of going abroad for an internship and prepare for the future
challenges of a professional life. We are proud to present an
organization with the ambition to ofer students at Chalmers
University of Technology this exceptional opportunity.
Our journey towards the goal of working as interns in North
America has just begun and we are flled with enthusiasm
from the stories told by our friends in the committee of 2011.
We are well aware that this upcoming year will include many
trials and a lot of hard work. What we also know however is
that hard work pays of and that this year for all of us will be
one of much joy and personal development.
The committee of 2012 is very grateful to the committees that
have preceded us, without your dedication the good reputa-
tion of our organization would not be as widespread. A repu-
tation built during the forty-nine years the committee has ex-
isted and been developed by the eager hands of ambitious
students. We share the same belief as our former committees
that we have the ability to reach out to a major part of the stu-
dents at Chalmers to implement a mindset involving sustain-
able development. New to our organization this year is that
we have included the students studying Architecture and En-
gineering in our internship program, thereby further extend-
ing the wide spectrum of capabilities held by the interns. Fur-
thermore we have the ambition to create an alumni network
that will enable us to keep in contact with former members of
the internship program in an easier way.
The whole team of 2012 is ready to continue our journey to-
wards an exciting internship in North America this coming
summer. We are sure of our ability to keep up the good rela-
tions that former interns have created ahead of us. Our next
step will be the traditional fundraising kick-of in the capital of
Sweden, Stockholm that we are looking forward to. Our belief
is that this year will be something to remember forever and
that our time in North America will be the icing on the cake.

Finally, we would like to extend a sincere thank you to all
the hosting companies in North America for their hospitality
and all the Swedish companies that have been supporting
us throughout the years. We are looking forward to another
good year of cooperation. Without your support and help we
would never be able to gain this rare opportunity!
Thank you all very much.
GREETINGS FROM
USA SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 2012