We wake in the morning to the sound of the alarm clock ringing. We turn on the light. We toast bread. We work on computers. We play music on our iPods. We watch television. We listen to the radios in our cars.

     The function of each of these devices is the work of Adam Manty, a graduate student in Electrical Engineering at Michigan Tech. In a world of seemingly endless electrically operated devices, nearly everything we use in our daily lives is a possible project for Manty.

     Electricity has become an integral part of American life, a convenience that affects us without our realization. Power systems, Manty’s main interest, are specifically concerned with the generation and distribution of electricity from systems as large as a power plant down to functions of our individual iPods. “Things that everyone uses and no one thinks about,” Manty suggests.

     The North American power grid has been noted as one of the major achievements of the last century. This marvel allows us to forget that many people in the world still don’t have reliable electricity, or electricity at all. It is a luxury granted mostly to citizens of the first world, but one with many applications.

     In the summer of 2007 Manty was an intern for Great River Energy, doing work that one would imagine typical of an electrical engineer. His internship was focused on Great River’s DC line. This electrical line is one of the few in the world of its kind. The technology, first developed in the 1950s and brought into use in the 1990s, is cutting edge even today. It is useful for the long distance transmission of electricity. It conserves more energy than the typical AC line.

     But Electrical Engineering isn’t all about power plants. During the summers of 2004, 2005, and 2006 Manty was an intern for General Motors. Each summer was concerned with a very different power system. In 2005, Manty studied the development and integration of AM/FM radios in GM vehicles. The following summer he worked on advanced chassis and hybrid vehicle controls.

     This testing and development meant Manty had to make sure the products were working properly. He recalled that he and his colleagues would spend entire days taking the newest Corvette models out on the highways, or pass a few hours driving them around the test track.

      When Manty’s friends heard that his job was driving high-performance Corvettes and the then new H2, they said he wasn’t really going to work.

     “I am at work” he told them. “I’m on the test track.”

     Manty says opportunities for internships for electrical engineers are tremendous. Many companies are looking for students as interns and potential employees. Unlike internships in many other fields — many of them are paid.

     “You can make a difference or make fun gadgets,” Manty explains.

     Electricity surrounds us in ways we often don’t realize until we are without it. Most of us fail to understand how it works. The wonder of how things function is part of Manty’s interest and excitement in this field. As a child he visited Minnesota Power’s hydrogenation station, where his father still works today, and was amazed by the workings of the great machines.

     “To me they were cool and massive,” Manty recalls. “They were things that I never fully understood until I went to college.”

     Manty has found the intersection of wonder and reality. “I like so many things — space, cars —my varied interests have allowed my internships and schooling to always be interesting,” he says

Update: During the summer of 2008 worked as a research fellow at the Norwgian School of Science and Technology in Trondheim. This research focused new power transformer models and black start procedures.