The internship selection process at Protomet Corporation in Oak Ridge is highly competitive, with fewer than one percent of applicants accepted. Marton Peintler Krivan distinguished himself from the moment he first interacted with company employees.
“His curiosity, breadth of experience, entrepreneurial spirit, and relentless drive set him apart,” said Kellen Catani, an engineer at Protomet, which designs, engineers, and produces components for manufacturers of boats. “At the core of it all, though, is something simpler: hunger. Marton doesn’t settle; he pushes for more.”
Krivan’s thirst for knowledge has been a defining characteristic since he arrived at the University of Tennessee in 2021. A rising senior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, Krivan has taken advantage of any opportunity presented to gain experience in the field.
Krivan has served three co-ops/internships while also operating his own consulting business. He started as a biomedical engineering major at UT. But after serving an internship, he realized it wasn’t his true passion and switched to ISE with a minor in engineering management.
“This is going to sound dramatic, but when you come back from a co-op or internship you are going to be a completely different person just because of all the things you’ve learned,” Krivan said. “It sort of puts everything that you learned into practice and gives you a picture of what it’s going to look like when you actually get a job within that field.”
Krivan is spending this summer working at Protomet, getting first-hand experience learning every job on the production floor and seeing how the company fosters a strong industrious culture.
“In just a month, Marton has already designed and begun building a cyclic corrosion testing apparatus on par with what companies like Toyota and Ford use to evaluate the long-term durability of parts in the field,” Catani said. “In our case, we’re focused on galvanic corrosion, and Marton has fine-tuned the device to test variables specific to our application.”
Early engineering spark
Krivan was born in Hungary and moved to the United States 10 years ago when his mother got a job opportunity at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His fascination with engineering was instilled at a young age.
“Even as a kid, I was building stuff and breaking things. As I got bigger, I just started building bigger things and breaking bigger things,” said Krivan, who races downhill mountain bikes and is a member of the UT Cycling Club. “I was always wanting to learn how things work and just trying new things.”
During his freshman year at UT, Krivan served an internship at UT Research Park through the Spark Scholars program.
“It was one of the greatest experiences that I could have because I got to work with six different start-ups, and each of them had a completely different project,” he said. “It was really cool as a freshman to be able to just throw myself into these companies and figure out what I’m good at.”
Krivan remained connected with one of the start-up companies—RAEV Mobility—and continued offering his services. He learned about acquiring funding for a business from his mentor at RAEV and eventually launched Krivan Innovation LLC, a consulting and engineering firm specializing in lean manufacturing, digital transformation, and product design.
“A lot of what I do for them involves manufacturing improvements and improving their business processes,” Krivan said. “I’ll visit their facility to complete an audit and make a list of things I notice, like what sort of cost this is accumulating to them, and then I’ll present them my ideas. I really like that freedom of working on projects that I want to work on.”
Building for the future
Krivan’s internships have allowed him to explore a wide range of companies, from their size to their work product. At RAEV, which aims to redesign travel rentals with smart low-speed vehicles (LSVs), he dived into product development, web design, and user experience while redesigning the company’s website from scratch. At Container Technologies Industries, he helped modernize the IT systems and increased network security.
“I thought it was really satisfying to optimize the system, and make sure it works reliably and it’s as cheap as possible,” he said. “I also built them a manufacturing dashboard that they updated every day, which helped them monitor their key performance indicators on safety, quality, cost, production, and their attendance.”
In 2023, Krivan participated in the Co-op Engineering Program offered through Engineering Professional Practice (EPP). He worked at DENSO, a global automotive parts manufacturer.
“It was really cool to see how a truly big company works,” he said. “There was manufacturing engineering and high-volume production, so I got to work with a lot of robots and automation.”
Krivan’s practical experience, combined with his classes at UT, have helped shaped his career goals and given him with a wealth of future options to explore. He aspires to become an “everything engineer” and not be limited by a specific subject matter.
“Through drive and determination, I’ve been able to learn anything I can put my mind to,” Krivan said. “I want to get into industry and obtain a bit more specific knowledge. Then, it would be great to really go into my business full time and see where that goes.”
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey (865-974-0683, [email protected])