As a farewell to my internship, I am writing this piece to reflect on my time working as a guest blogger for ANSYS. For my high school Senior Independent Study, I searched for companies involved in engineering around the upper valley. It was my friend’s father, Swaminathan Subbiah, the vice president of corporate product and market strategy at ANSYS,  who worked with me and helped me to establish an internship at ANSYS. He has been the catalyst for my involvement at ANSYS, by helping to educate me about ANSYS and finding an internship that suited me. Sandy Adam, the manager of social media marketing at ANSYS, then took over with a crash course on the art of blogging. She gave me ideas for articles and acted as my editor.

My first assignment was to research, conduct interviews, and draft an article on drones. I remember walking into the ANSYS office in Lebanon, N.H., one rainy Friday to interview Subbiah, Suti, and Rob for the article. Once I signed in and donned my visitor pass, I was led through a labyrinth of natural wood, green carpeting, and winding staircases. Eventually I found myself in Subbiah’s office. A floor-to-ceiling window circled the back of the room, while on the wall there was a large chalk board, detailing formulas and diagrams that looked like Einstein’s work.

Subbiah made time to meet and discuss ANSYS, in language that a 17-year-old could understand. He summarized it for me: “The basic technology of what we build is to predict what will happen in the world of science.” Considering the fundamentals of prediction, such as heat flow from one end of a rod to the other, is simple enough with a calculator. Yet when the calculations become more complicated, such as air flow over a wing, computers are needed; that’s where ANSYS software comes into play.

Later I met with Suti and Rob to discuss unmanned aerial vehicles and the role that ANSYS plays. We sat down in the ANSYS café and dived into conversation. Rob talked about trends in the aerospace and defense industry, while Sutti gave some insight into how ANSYS engineering software helps with these developments. I walked away with plenty of information about drones along with enough excitement to bug my family, gushing about this emerging technology over multiple dinners.

From writing a bit about the ANSYS Advantage magazine, as well as interviewing various staff members, I am convinced that it is more efficient to simulate models to find the best product than to build and test physical models. For example, if there are ten drone models, the time and cost needed to develop the top prototypes are drastically cut down by using simulation.

ANSYS has given me the opportunity to explore subjects that I am curious about, particularly unmanned aerial vehicles. The other day when I watched the movie Transformers, I jumped with excitement when a predator drone made an appearance in the film. Working at ANSYS has increased my passion for science and engineering. I will carry this experience through to college, with my plan to major in engineering. I appreciate all the help ANSYS has given me, and I plan to check in again in the future to see what new innovations the company has developed to change the world.