While scanning through YOUTUBE, I found the link below and it reminded me of my first industrial strength job.
During the summer of 1949 right after our honeymoon, we went to Detroit while I interned at General Motors Research before going back to Purdue for my masters in the fall. My project for the summer was to develop the most sensitive sensor we could for sensing vibrations in automobiles.
By the end of the summer, I had a sensor that could detect the three ton monster in this video running over a penny laid on the highway in front of it. The vibration test vehicle that we used was the 1932 model of the one in the video since that was the quietest car they had available
I think that got me the real job with GM a year later!