SAN RAMON, CALIFORNIA – July 15, 2025
This summer, PASE brings on a select group of interns to grow their technical skills while contributing to live projects. One of this year’s interns is Christian, the third member of this year’s intern cohort. Christian enters his senior year at UC San Diego this fall, balances coursework with tennis and reading, and recently helped his team place 5th out of 46 in a seismic design wood-tower competition. Stationed in our San Ramon office, he’ll rotate among several PASE project teams, lending a hand while sharpening his design skills.
Christian recently took a moment to reflect on his background, interests, and what he’s learned during his time at PASE.
This is your first engineering internship. What were your expectations going in, and how have they matched the day-to-day reality so far?
“One thing I was looking forward to the most interning here was getting a taste of what being an engineer is really like. I expected to get a basic understanding of how engineers went about their day and the variety of different tasks and projects that encompass the field. I’m happy to say that it’s been a great experience so far, and I’ve been learning a lot about what engineers do in their day-to-day.”
Looking ahead to your final year at UC San Diego, how will this internship experience shape the electives or research topics you choose?
“Looking into my last year of undergraduate study, this experience has definitely made me anticipate taking courses on different materials. If there was one class I’ve taken that I feel has helped me the most this Summer, it would be my introduction to steel class; similarly because of that, I’m looking forward to deepening my understanding of steel, concrete, and timber in the coming year.”
What new skills or concepts have you picked up since starting here?
“I’ve learned to be more attentive to details and to use my intuition more since I started my internship. In class you’re often told specifically what problem you’re going to get and how to approach it, however, in reality there’s no professor to hold your hand along the way. Working here has allowed me to develop my own personal understanding of problem solving and taught me to be confident in applying my studies and engineering intuition.”
What has been the biggest technical challenge you’ve tackled during the internship?
“Personally, understanding different standards and technical language has been the biggest hurdle for me here. There are a numerous resources for numerous different types of problems at our disposal, and being able to pick up each manual or standard and know exactly where to go with it is something I haven’t grown accustomed to yet. However, despite the difficulty, I find myself getting better with it each day!”
Christian’s curiosity, adaptability, and drive to grow have made him a valuable addition to the PASE team this summer. As he heads into his final year at UC San Diego, we’re excited to see how his time here will continue to shape his path in structural engineering, and we look forward to the impact he’ll make in the years ahead!
About PASE
PASE is a premier structural engineering firm specializing in mission-critical, multi-family/residential, and mixed-use structures. Our team is dedicated to delivering innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable engineering solutions tailored to the needs of our clients.
For more information on PASE and our completed projects, click here!
Media Contact:
Azlan Ezaddin, S.E.
Email: aezaddin@pase.com
Direct: 408-957-9228