Meet the OPP Interns - Jacob Maines

By Ali Sherretta, OPP Communications Intern

Jacob Maines is majoring in architectural engineering and will be a junior at Penn State this fall. He is currently interning at OPP as a project management intern under Jessica Dubler and Monica Reed.

Q: What made you choose to come to Penn State?

Jacob: I live pretty local, so just growing up I've always known a lot about Penn State and I've been a fan. As I got into researching what I want to do, I decided I wanted to do some kind of engineering, but I didn't decide until about a year ago. I saw that Penn State was one of the top engineering schools and it's a lot cheaper for me to go to school closer than out of state.

Q: How did you hear about the position you applied for?

Jacob: I saw the job posting online. I was looking for an internship for this summer, so I thought if I could find something through the College of Engineering, it would be good for me. I saw the Physical Plant listing and applied for it.

Q: Describe the main project(s) you will be working on for OPP.

Jacob: There are a lot of projects. I'll go through each of the customers. We have the College of Education and right now there's a pretty good-sized project for the Science wing. There are a couple of education labs in there and there's going to be a space for the graduate students and faculty to collaborate. The upstairs is the Advising Suite, which is being completely renovated too. It's going to be offices for academic advisors. We're also in the planning stages for the College of Education's north wing of the Chambers Building. That's still in the pre-planning phase. They don't have a design or anything yet, but I think that will be a pretty big project. We also do the College of Science. Different researchers come to the University and they need labs specialized to their research when they sign on. Part of that is finding out how many labs they will have, what their requirements are and what their budget is. We deal with all types of high-tech equipment. It's specific to every researcher, so the equipment doesn't really exist. We're engineering it here. Sometimes we'll have a lab that's the size of two or three classrooms and they'll be $1-2 million. College of Communications is another one of our customers. There isn’t much going on with them but I do work with Monica on planning for a major upcoming renovation on Willard building. We also lead the renovations for general purpose classrooms on campus. I think these have been the most educational for me because most of the classroom renovations are done in the summer so I get to see a full project from start to finish.

Q: You are in charge of event planning. What is it like?

Jacob: Since Jessica Dubler is the manager for the intern program, I do all of the coordinating, like who's going to give the tour, what time we can do it, or if we need vans. I call everyone who needs to be notified and make sure we have everything we need for all of the events.

Q: Can you describe your typical work day?

Jacob: It's pretty different every day with all of the different projects. I have a list of things that I keep up on. Most of the time I do whatever comes up. Every morning I check my email, see what I have to do, and go from there.

Q: What is Maximo and what is it like working with the system?

Jacob: Maximo is the system we use to catalog everything we have at Penn State. Everything we purchase goes through Maximo. We also use it for wage payroll. I just started working with the FAM group to develop a work flow for landscaping. They have four or five different people that are part of the process to order plants and materials they need for landscaping. It takes a lot of time. I've been going through and sitting with each person to find out what they do. Then, I'll create a process for what they do now, try to simplify it and bring it all together.

Q: What has your internship prepared you for thus far?

Jacob:  I'm thinking about doing the construction option. I see myself in a construction management field working for a general constructor or something similar to that. I haven't really done much technical engineering work here, but I would say 70-80 percent of the job as a project manager is going to be learning how to talk to people and coordinating different work. I've gotten a lot better at coordinating with different people and working with different people on different levels, especially in labs with researchers who have Ph.Ds and are super smart in their narrow path.

Q: How involved were you with Special Olympics? What was the most rewarding part?

Jacob: My job for Special Olympics, before it even started, was getting more interns to be involved. It was requested that we create a better tracking of OPP’s contribution to the Special Olympics. They put me in charge of coordinating all of the interns and tracking how many hours they were there and what we did so that there was a better description. My favorite part was the Opening Ceremony. We were in Pegula and it was full of people. The Special Olympics is different from other sporting events because it's not about money. Everyone is there to have a good time. It was great to be around so many people who are enjoying the day and are not worried about how much money they're going to make out of it.

Q: After reflecting on your internship, would you recommend this experience to others?

Jacob: Yes, it's definitely a good starting point. It's definitely a place you would get great experience and are forced to do a lot of different things. I think for someone starting out, it's a great learning experience.