September 22, 2026
Learning by Doing: Toray’s Internship Program
Each summer, our internship program gives future engineers the opportunity to take what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply it to real-world challenges while gaining firsthand experience in the composites industry. Through projects, collaboration with experienced team members, and exposure to everything from research and development to manufacturing, our interns can build both their technical knowledge and professional confidence. As manager Swezin Than Tun shared, “I hope they take away a sense of curiosity and a desire to continue learning and developing as great engineers.” This summer, our interns brought that curiosity to their roles, making meaningful contributions to projects while developing new skills and perspectives along the way.
Name: Rowan Preedy
Department: Technical Services
Title/Role: Technical Engineering Intern
School and Major: University of Washington, Materials Science and Engineering
- What have you been working on during your internship, and what has been your favorite project or experience so far?
I’ve had projects this summer ranging from resin mixing to NIR spectroscopy to evaluating fabric handling properties. My favorite experience from the summer was making prepreg from start to finish on a small-scale pilot line. Being able to visualize the whole process at once gave me a new perspective on the prepreg I’ve been working with for years. - What’s something you’ve learned during your internship that you didn’t expect, whether about the industry, working in a professional environment or even about yourself?
Something I didn’t expect was just how little you’ll know about anything when you’re coming into the industry. School and clubs have given me the first principles of materials science that I needed, but I’ve learned more than I could’ve ever imagined during the course of this internship. - How has this internship helped you grow professionally or shape what you’d like to do in the future
This internship has reinforced my passion for structural composites. Now that I have a summer’s worth of experience with the best materials in their class, I’m more excited than ever to apply that experience to application development and refining my processing skills. - What has been your favorite part of the company culture or working with your team?
I enjoyed the independence my team gave me. As an intern, I was worried about being over-managed, but my team gave me real work to do and trusted me to get it done and ask for help when I needed it. I also greatly appreciate that Toray CMA puts safety first ahead of productivity, always. - What advice would you give to a future intern joining the company next summer?
Ask as many questions to as many people as you can. The wealth of knowledge at Toray CMA, from Technical, to Mechanical, to CMRL, etc. is astounding, and as an aspiring engineer having access to that is priceless.
Name: Jackson Scharf
Department: Technical
Title/Role: Technical Engineering Intern
School and Major: University of Washington, Industrial Engineering
- Now that it’s your second summer interning with Toray, how has your role evolved, and what new responsibilities or opportunities have you taken this year?
Coming back for a second year has given me the opportunity to explore projects with more depth, and a greater impact to the products produced at Toray. I was able to continue a project that was postponed last year; where I implemented Machine Learning principles I have been learning in school, with the composites hands-on experience gotten through internships and SAMPE. This helped me get a better idea of what it’s like to be a full-time engineer at Toray, and take more ownership when it came to my projects. - What’s something you’ve learned during your internship this summer that has given you a new perspective on the industry, the workplace, or your career insights?
This summer I was more exposed to the material development aspect of the industry, before I was shown more of the applications and parts manufacturing sides. Being a part of production experiments, developing test matrices, analyzing and presenting data has given me a small window into the world of material development. - How has returning for a second year allowed you to build on the skills and relationships you developed last summer?
I was able to just about pick up where I left off relationship wise, which has been incredibly helpful. And coming back, I believe I have made a greater impact than I did last summer. A good amount of my previous internship was data collection and helping other engineering with their projects. This summer I was able to implement those hands-on experiences towards my own projects and push my understanding further. A lot of the skills I use day-to-day were learned here, and I’ve gotten more of an opportunity to understand the purpose of tests and data collection with respect to the projects I have been given. - What has been your favorite part of the company culture or working with your team?
I have really enjoyed working with my team, and interacting with all the engineers at Toray. Everyone is extremely welcoming, kind, and personable. This was one of the driving factors when returning to Toray, the people. And my team was the perfect example of that; I had interacted with very few of them in my previous internship but was made to feel welcome on my first day. - Looking back at your first summer and where you are today, how have you grown as a professional and how has that growth influenced what you want to pursue next?
I feel that I have become more confident it proposing solutions and asking questions in the professional setting. Before I was nervous to propose a change or solution to my project, or contribute to discussions during meetings. Over this past summer I have felt myself become both more of an engineer and a contributing member of my team.