Co-ops and internships can give students an edge in the job search. And they're a good way to "test drive" a career choice.
"A co-op can either reinforce a student's decision to major in a particular field of study, or warn them that they need to re-evaluate their career path," says David Potter, faculty co-op coordinator for electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University (Boston, MA).
Internships are generally paid summer positions; co-ops are three- to six-month work assignments that are part of a student's college program. Co-ops can mean an extra year before graduation, but both student employment options provide valuable work experience, and may help defray college costs. "Co-op students earn while they learn," explains Cheryl Cates of the division of professional practice at the University of Cincinnati (UC, Cincinnati, OH ). Cates reports that the average hourly wage in 2006 for all UC co-op students was $13.85 per hour.
Co-ops of many kinds
Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA) will have 4,000 students in co-ops this year, and 95 percent of all Drexel students will do at least one six-month co-op during their college years, according to Peter Franks, executive director and associate vice provost of the Steinbright Career Development Center. A co-op is a requirement for one-third of Drexel's academic disciplines, including engineering. The university works with over 2,000 employers each year to place students.
"For the hiring company a co-op can be a six-month-long interview. The company gets to know the student under real circumstances and can make a very well-informed decision about post-graduation employment," says Potter.
Kimberly Ware has worked with co-op students at Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA) for twenty years. She says co-ops are popular with employers. "Right now we are at virtually full capacity for co-op students, and actually have some disappointed companies that did not get a student."
Ware says that 50 percent of Virginia Tech co-op students get offers from the companies they worked for, and about half of those accept. Franks sees similar numbers at Drexel. Potter says that co-op students start at higher salaries than students without the experience. "It's the difference between entering the job market for the first time vs. coming out of school with a year of experience on the resume," he says.
As co-ops, students often have to live on their own in unfamiliar parts of the country or abroad. That experience can help them build life skills and maturity.
The individuals featured here got a lot out of their co-ops and internships, and are now making an impact in the high-tech world.
Internships are a plus at Booz Allen
Booz Allen Hamilton (McLean, VA) values internships. "Work experience is always an asset," says Heather Angerer, a university recruiter for the company. "It gives students a knowledge of different fields and how they can contribute to them."
Booz Allen established its formal internship program in 1998. Each summer the firm hires between 100 and 300 interns in various disciplines based on its needs. Angerer says interns are put on actual projects. The program shows them what the company does, and also serves as a pipeline for recruitment.
Jason Atkins: consultant at Booz Allen
Jason Atkins has been a consultant with the assurance and resilience team at Booz Allen Hamilton since June 2006. He began at the company after he received his BSME from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA). He had originally thought about becoming an orthopedic surgeon, but took introductory engineering courses at MIT, and decided to study engineering instead.
Atkins did several summer internships that contributed to his knowledge and competencies. During the summer of 2003 he was a research and development intern at Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati, OH), where he evaluated a test product and made recommendations for changes. He also led a team running comparison tests among consumers, which sharpened his interpersonal, communication and management skills.
The next summer Atkins was a field engineering intern for Slattery Skanska (Whitestone, NY), a civil engineering general contractor. He worked on the project management side of a construction project that revamped a New York City subway station. That experience exposed him to CAD.
In the summer of 2005 he interned in product development for Colgate Palmolive (New York, NY). He optimized the manufacturing process for Palmolive antibacterial dish detergent, and validated the process' compliance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regs. Atkins is certified as a current good manufacturing process engineer (cGMP) by the FDA, and is particularly proud of the work he did with the detergent, because it's a product that's widely known and used.
During his senior year at MIT he interviewed with Booz Allen. He received an offer before his classes ended, and started there shortly after graduation. He's helping to streamline his department's process management office, and researching security practices in the petroleum industry with Booz Allen Hamilton Japan.
Atkins says his internships prepared him for the working world and honed his analytical skills. They also provided him with an understanding of business, conflict resolution and team building.
Dion Stallings builds GPS devices at Rockwell Collins
Dion Stallings is a systems engineer for Rockwell Collins, Inc (Cedar Rapids, IA). He received his BSEE as well as a BS in electronics and computer technology in December 2005 from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (Greensboro, NC).
Stallings interned for three summers during college. He was a research assistant at the National Research and Development Center (Warminster, PA), where he tested GPS/INS sensors and receivers with a satellite signal simulator. The next year he managed the receiving and shipping process for GM parts and services, and supervised twenty-five employees at a General Motors plant in Charlotte, NC.
In the summer of 2005 he became a technical intern with Rockwell Collins' highly selective Summer Engineering Project Program (SEPP). SEPP interns work on projects that address real business needs. Stallings' was to figure out a cost-effective way to test commercial off-the-shelf and third-party products. "We thought it would be simple, but as we got into the project, we realized that there were so many factors involved," he says.
Stallings had a full-time job offer from the company by November of his senior year of college. That removed the pressures of finding a job, although he did interview with other companies.
Now he writes high-level requirements for the hardware and software systems of military GPS devices. Sometimes his customers are not technical, so he makes their requests understandable to engineers.
His internship at Rockwell Collins is still paying off. "There are things I learned on my internship that I'm using right now," says Stallings.
His next career move is heading back to school part time for his MBA. He'll begin classes at the University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA) this summer, and hopes to finish the degree in about two years. Rockwell Collins is footing the bill.
Stallings is a member of NSBE, the IEEE, the National Association of Radio and Telecommunication Engineers, and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
Stallings calls internships a great way to get a foot in the door. "And internships make the school-to-work transition much easier," he says.
Co-op rotations at DePuy
DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc (Warsaw, IN) is part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. The company designs, manufactures and distributes orthopedic devices and supplies, including hip, knee, extremity, trauma, orthobiologics and operating room products.
As a J&J company DePuy offers a number of co-op and internship programs. The traditional co-op includes three rotations, where students alternate semesters between school and DePuy.
Ted Burnworth, HR manager of recruitment and college relations, says co-ops give students the opportunity to understand engineering and get a feel for the company. "When jobs open here we look to co-ops first. They are proven performers and know a lot about the business that can't be learned from a textbook."
The company does its most active recruiting at local schools, as it's not always easy to attract people to northern Indiana. Of course candidates from other areas are welcome too, Burnworth says.
DePuy's Chelynne Lee designs patient-specific implants
Chelynne Lee is a project engineer for the custom services group at DePuy. She designs custom implants from patient data like films and CT scans. She earned her BSME in 2001 at Kettering University (Flint, MI), a private engineering school started by General Motors.
In 1997, '98 and '99 Lee did co-ops at automotive supplier TRW (Sterling Heights, MI), where she tested vehicles and analyzed data for engineering projects. But in 2000 she decided to change her focus to medical equipment design, and found a slot as a product development engineering co-op at DePuy. The job offered her an opportunity to combine medicine and engineering. She designed custom orthopedic instruments, formatted an instrument catalog, and managed other projects.
Lee became a full-time employee in 2001. She received a domestic and international patent for product enhancement to an implant system in 2003 and J&J Standards of Leadership awards in 2004 and 2005 for her work with patient-specific devices.
Her job is fast-paced with frequent, short turnarounds, and changes constantly. One of her biggest challenges is leaving at the end of the day. "There could be a patient waiting in the hospital," says Lee, who often puts in late hours.
Lee notes that her position today is very different from her co-op, but some of the skills and experience from the co-op have been useful.
Joycelyn Lue does cost control for DuPont
Joycelyn Lue is an investment engineer for DuPont (Wilmington, DE). She is also a 2003 BSChE graduate of Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA). She minored in business.
During her studies at Drexel, Lue participated in the cooperative education program and did several six-month assignments. The first was from 1999 to 2000 at the DuPont Marshall Laboratory (Philadelphia, PA) in process engineering. She helped senior engineers make production batches, supervised operators, and did troubleshooting and quality control.
Her next co-op, from September 2001 to March 2002, was with Johnson Matthey (Wayne, PA), a manufacturer of automotive catalysts. She was a process co-op, helping to optimize the manufacturing processes lines.
Lue says she enjoyed her experience at Johnson Matthey, but wanted a more diverse environment. For her next co-op, from September 2002 to March 2003, she returned to the Marshall Laboratory, this time to do engineering research. She ran small-scale lab experiments, including one that involved technology to speed up production of automobile paints.
After she went back to school for her senior year, she interviewed with DuPont. She got an offer before her June 2003 graduation, and started in the DuPont field engineering rotation program that October.
Her rotations were varied. She worked as an engineering knowledge management facilitator in Wilmington, DE, and as a chemical engineer and process control supervisor at a DuPont plant in Deepwater, NJ. She also designed, developed and implemented a database system to track inventory, and had an opportunity to present a technical paper at DuPont's Global Technical Conference in Hershey, PA in 2005.
Today Lue works on cost controls for multi-million dollar capital projects. She does estimates, and makes sure projects stay within those estimates.
Lue likes the variety of her work, and appreciates the diversity of her colleagues. She enjoys both the technical and business sides of her job, and wants to keep learning more.
Options for new grads at DuPont
The fact that Lue is using skills she honed during her co-ops doesn't surprise Sean McCue, co-op and intern coordinator for DuPont Engineering and a former DuPont co-op himself.
McCue says that a DuPont co-op lets students apply their education before graduation, then build on their experiences back in the classroom. He says that while internship experiences are also valuable, rotating between school and work as a co-op offers greater value for the student and the company. "DuPont puts a high value on co-op experience in industry," says McCue. "The students are more mature, more prepared and better able to work as part of a team."
DuPont hires many engineers each year into two different development programs. The field engineering rotation program moves engineers through a variety of sites and businesses. The operations program places candidates directly into a specific area. Both programs help candidates to develop and work toward career goals that match their interests.
Practical experience at Deere & Company
"The goal of Deere's internship program is to provide practical work experience to students," says Michele Williams-Hubbard, manager of college recruiting. Deere & Company (Moline, IL) makes John Deere agricultural, lawn and turf maintenance, construction and forestry equipment. "Ultimately our goal is to use our interns as a source for our entry-level full-time positions. The company offers challenging but rewarding opportunities for bright, ambitious candidates."
The internship program is geared for students majoring in engineering or manufacturing, IT, marketing and supply management, as well as accounting and finance. Internships are typically thirteen weeks long and take place during the summer. Students are placed in jobs that match their studies and interests, and are eligible for furnished housing and full benefits that include health care, 401K and tuition reimbursement.
They are encouraged to work 500 hours, or approximately forty hours per week, over the course of the internship. Completing these hours results in one year of service credit if they later become full-time employees.
Michelle Brown keeps a John Deere factory running smoothly
Michelle Brown is a product development engineer for the John Deere seeding group in Moline, IL. She supports factory production by helping to resolve electrical issues.
Brown works on a multidisciplinary team with supply managers, product support personnel and others that deals with the electronic aspects of machines like air seeding equipment and planters. She has developed electrical harnesses that comply with the ISO 11783 standard, and helped create an ISO 11783-compatible monitor. She also created an online electrical and hydraulic compatibility guide.
Before graduation Brown did several internships with John Deere. From 2003 to 2004 she was a test engineer at the Horicon, WI factory, ensuring parts quality. In 2005 she interned at John Deere's technology and innovation center in Moline, where she helped develop a hands-free wireless method of providing information to the point of use.
Brown got her BS, a dual major in EE and computer engineering, from the Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, IL) in 2005. Three months before graduation John Deere offered her a spot in its new Engineering Development Program. She did three four-month rotations in different functional areas, and then moved into her present position. She says it was a good experience, because she was not initially sure where in the company she wanted to work.
Brown says that working for John Deere is an enjoyable challenge. "I'm from the city, where there are no farms or tractors," she laughs.
There are only a few females in her department, but that's no novelty after engineering school. "I'm always treated equally here," she says. "The people I work with and for are great. It's a very family-oriented company."
At ITT Night Vision co-ops have an edge
Bruce Collier, VP/ director of human resources for ITT Night Vision (Roanoke, VA), says that not only do co-ops help students apply what they've learned in books, but they also provide them with a reality check on what businesses look for.
ITT Night Vision develops, produces and supplies Generation 3 image intensifier technology for U.S. and allied military forces as well as federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Night Vision's co-op program accepts six to ten students each year. The company actively recruits at regional schools like Virginia Tech, Virginia State, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech and the University of Tennessee.
"I go to co-ops first, since I know what I'm getting and they know what they're getting," says Collier. "It reduces the risk for both the company and the co-op.
"It's not unusual for co-ops to get better job offers, because their work is known and they can hit the ground running," Collier says. "Co-op experience coupled with good work ethic helps folks move up within the organization quickly."
Nicole Barbour: co-op to full time at ITT Night Vision
Nicole Barbour is a manager of production and inventory control for ITT Night Vision. Barbour received her BSME in 2002 from Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA), but she started at Night Vision as a co-op in 1999. She was recruited by the company on campus, and liked its nearby location. Night Vision even invited her back during school breaks.
As a co-op engineer in both manufacturing and operations, Barbour spent time on the production floor and learned both sides of the business. She worked on teams, and was involved in experiments that immersed her even further into the company culture. She also trained in Six Sigma/lean manufacturing, and now has a Black Belt.
By February of her senior year at Virginia Tech she had received multiple job offers, including one from Night Vision. Her comfort level and familiarity with the company helped make her decision easy.
Barbour started her full-time work at Night Vision as an operations engineer, and then did a two-year rotational program in Six Sigma that gave her a business background she didn't have as an engineer. She found that she liked logistics, and now manages Night Vision's inventory supply chain, which includes scheduling, shipping, receiving and stockroom management. She's learning new concepts like conflict management, and hopes to move further into management in the future.
Barbour is also pursuing her MSIE through Purdue University's distance learning program. She's specializing in supply chain management, and Night Vision is helping pay for her courses. She expects to finish in the spring of 2008.
Barbour says her co-ops were a major contributor to her success. "If it hadn't been for the co-ops, I'd be nowhere near the level I am now," she says. She advises engineering students to be flexible with regard to new opportunities and areas. "I had no idea I'd be in logistics, but here I am."
ARINC's Suzanne Alphin works on aviation programs
Suzanne Alphin is a software engineer for ARINC (Annapolis, MD). ARINC, formerly called Aeronautical Radio Inc, develops and operates communications and information processing systems, and provides systems engineering and integration solutions to airports, aviation, defense, government and surface transportation.
Alphin graduated from Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA) in May 2005 with a BS in computer science and engineering and a minor in mathematics. Her early inspiration was her grandfather, an engineer who "always brought me gadgets."
At Bucknell, Alphin worked on the school's engineering magazine. She also did two internships with ARINC, in the summers of 2003 and 2004, helping to merge a homegrown test-tracking system into a commercial database. Much of her job involved trial-and-error script writing.
The project was scheduled for the summers when interns like Alphin were available. After a successful first summer she was invited back the next year.
The internships were great learning experiences for her. "It was interesting to see what the workplace is like," says Alphin. "In school you have no idea."
She approached ARINC about a full-time position during her senior year, and received an offer soon after graduation. Her current boss is the same person who supervised her internships.
As a software engineer she designs, programs and codes applications for pilots to view documents and weather. She likes doing design, and says that coding on the job is vastly different from what she did in school. She codes in C++ and C#.
Alphin enjoys her small team and the ARINC community. She says it's easy to ask others for help or explanations.
DeeAnne Stirm: training program at Alabama Power
DeeAnne Stirm is an engineer in training at Southern Company's Alabama Power division (Mobile, AL). She got her BSEE from the University of South Alabama (Mobile, AL) in May 2006.
Stirm went into engineering because, like many engineers, she enjoyed math and science and working with hands-on challenges. She started out as a ChE major, but received a scholarship and a summer internship from Alabama Power, which inspired her to become an EE instead.
She spent the internship in a company pickup truck in the field, correcting the company maps by riding the line. Her task was to make the mapping system more reliable.
Afterward she accepted a three-semester co-op position with the company. She did load studies and computer studies, and worked with other engineers.
She is now in the middle of an eighteen-month training program, and is using the skills and knowledge she developed from both her internship and co-op. "The co-op, in particular, was a huge plus," says Stirm. "I'm trying to take full advantage of the training opportunities to learn about my job options."
The program includes several classes, many of which are held four hours away from her work site. Although this arrangement means spending a lot of time on the road, Stirm says she has a good work/life balance. "I love my job and my outside life too."
She's been exposed to various areas of the company, and so far is most interested in distribution. She looks forward to exploring other departments and meeting new people.
A fifty-year-old co-op program at Southern Co
Stirm's experience is not unusual at Southern Co. According to Jenna Tatum, university relations sourcing strategist, the company has a robust student program that recruits at ten core schools. It has 300 co-ops either on site or back at school during any given year, and hires 150 interns every summer. All are assigned meaningful work related to the degrees they are pursuing.
Engineering students do at least three alternating semesters at the company. They receive pay and benefits, and their time worked counts toward tenure if they become full-time employees.
The co-op program is more than fifty years old. Tatum says it's a feeder for full-time positions. The company's goal is to find full-time slots for 70 to 80 percent of the co-ops. "It's try before you buy" for student and employer, she remarks. "Students get work experience, and we get to tell if they'll be good engineers for us."
Southern Co internships are not quite as structured. Sophomores are preferred, because they can be brought back again if the experience goes well. Most internships are offered in the summer.
Kevin Watts: engineering rotations at Ford
Kevin Watts is a process engineer for Ford Motor Company (Dearborn, MI), based in Livonia, MI. He is in his third and last year of the Ford College Graduate (FCG) program, a rotation program that provides broad experience and training. Each of his rotations is six to ten months long.
Watts is a December 2002 graduate of Kettering University (Flint, MI), where he earned his BSME. His 2004 MSME is from the University of Illinois (Chicago, IL).
As an undergrad Watts did a co-op with United Parcel Service (UPS, Atlanta, GA) in Hodgkins, IL, working on timing for a package sorter. He looked at cost efficiencies, and later used CAD programs to design facility break rooms and fire escape plans.
After he finished his BSME, Watts accepted a GEM fellowship sponsored by Ford. The National GEM Consortium (www.gemfellowship.org) supports graduate study in engineering and science for members of underrepresented minority groups. Corporate members provide both grad school grants and summer work.
In the summer of 2003, before his first semester of grad school, Watts interned as a process engineer for Ford. He implemented a plant-wide production instruction process for heavy press operations, and helped prepare the facility for its QS-9000 audit.
He graduated in December 2004, and started working full time for Ford in January 2005. He spent his first two months in orientation, and then began the FCG program. For the bulk of 2005 and first half of 2006 he worked in Livonia as a process engineer, a quality engineer and a production supervisor. From June through December 2006 he was a process/launch engineer in Oakville, ON, Canada.
Watts is currently working in Sharonville, OH on the production and manufacturing of gears for the transmissions of a variety of Ford vehicles. He's looking at the effects of heat treating, material hardness and min/max tolerances. He is especially proud of his work on the U38X program, which involved a new model launch for 2007.
Watts enjoys the dynamics of his job. "Each day is a different challenge," he says. "There are always new ways to solve problems." His Ford mentor, Jeff Klenczar, has been particularly helpful.
"The co-op introduced me to a lot of things, gave me exposure to the work environment, and familiarized me with team work," says Watts. He recommends that engineering students be assertive, so they can get the most out of co-op experiences. "Don't let yourself get brushed aside," he warns. "Demand challenging and meaningful assignments."
Ford's Talisa Norton: CGP engineer
Talisa Norton graduated from Kettering University (Flint, MI) in December 2001 with a BSME. Two years later she received her masters in engineering in manufacturing from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI).
As an undergrad Norton was both a National Association of Black Automotive Suppliers Scholar and a Mott Foundation Scholar. She did four years of co-ops at the stamping plant of Flex-N-Gate (Warren, MI), a maker of metal and plastic automotive components. She implemented lean manufacturing principles in the pressroom production process, and also developed testing procedures and designed improvements for a seat bonding process.
After graduation Norton too became a Ford GEM Fellow. She interned at Ford in Livonia during the summers of 2001, 2002 and 2003, working in manufacturing process engineering and material planning and logistics.
She joined the Ford College Graduate program after graduation in 2003. So far she has worked in gears, manufacturing and transmissions, and now material planning and logistics. Her current project is improving efficiency in freight and shipping. She'll finish her rotations in September 2007 and move into a permanent position in engine machining.
Norton says she's using the information she gathered and the people skills she developed during her co-ops and internships. She also learned to be results-driven and confident in her abilities. "You have to prove yourself on each job," says Norton. "I've been blessed so far."
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