Hi everyone! My name is Ava Hartman and I am a freshman (soon to be sophomore!) industrial engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh. Outside of classes, I was involved with SWE (The Society of Women Engineers) this year. I also love to sing, play the piano, and I love playing tennis! I am really excited to meet new people on this trip, and I look forward to exploring many new experiences!

This summer I have an internship at Victaulic, which is the leading producer of mechanical pipe joining solutions, headquartered in Easton, PA. I am really looking forward to this incredible opportunity! I am excited at the chance to explore different companies and how they function on the Plus3 trip, as I know that this knowledge will help to prepare me for this internship. I look forward to being able to apply the knowledge that I will gain from these companies’ technical and business processes, to my internship.

I choose the Plus3: Netherlands trip because of its compatibility with my schedule and with my goals, and because of its topic matter. As an industrial engineering major, I am very interested in both the technical and business sides of companies, and I want to explore both! One of the main aspects that drew me to this program was the involvement of both business and engineering students, I am looking forward to the opportunity to branch out and meet students from the business school. I was also very interested in the main subject matter of this trip, the idea of “Concept to Consumer”. I believe that this topic covers a lot of areas in terms of both engineering and business ideas, and I am especially interested in gaining a better understanding of what goes into the execution of an idea and the development of a product, and everything in between.

After my two weeks in the Netherlands, I hope to have built a new network of connections, personally and professionally. I hope to learn more about different industries and how my major could apply to them. I also hoped to have learned more about the country’s culture and to have explored as much as I can in the cities that we are visiting! Amsterdam, see you soon!