Panasonic supports NJIT students
Students show what they can do and earn scholarships. Panasonic connects with future employees
By Christine Heinrichs
Senior Contributing Editor
 Panasonic focuses its corporate support on education, which accounts for around three quarters of its giving. The company funds five annual scholarships of $5,000 each at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT, Newark, NJ), a twenty-minute drive away, and provides summer internship slots for the recipients.
Recipients are identified through NJIT's Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), which offers academic and financial help to new students with family economic difficulties, gaps in academic preparation or other challenges. Students from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM and related professions are targeted, with the goal of increasing representation, explains Penny (Marilyn) Joseph, director of corporate outreach programs.
Scholarship helps Bryan Louvado defray costs
The program paid for all Bryan Louvado's books through four years at NJIT. He earned his BS in computer engineering in August 2011 with minors in mathematics and business management. The money carried him through some difficult times.
"It's amazing how much of a difference even $1,000 or $2,000 can make in whether a young person stays in school," Joseph says. "They use the money to buy books, pay lab fees."
Louvado's father immigrated from Venezuela and his mother from Portugal, with few assets beyond each other to start life in their new country. His father learned drafting and engineering on the job at New Jersey businesses and encouraged his three sons to get the formal education he lacked.
Louvado's dad died of cancer in 2010, but Louvado maintained a 4.0 GPA in his father's honor.
"I was blessed to have such wonderful parents to help me succeed, especially my father. He taught me how to learn and how to make something out of my life," he says. "My mother is my hero for immigrating from Portugal with nothing but the clothes on her back and for bringing three sons into the world who all turned out to be successful."
Louvado presently works for the town of Kearny, NJ as a computer operator and network administrator.
Panasonic reaches out to high school students
Panasonic also runs the Creative Design Challenge, which organizes high school students into teams to build robots. First prize is $5,000 in scholarship money to each team member, with additional scholarship prizes through fourth place. "We want to make them aware of the creative design in robotics and engineering. It's part of a broader STEM outreach," says Terri Seeney, planner of corporate outreach programs.
The contest is managed by Panasonic's college interns, many of whom are veterans of the challenge themselves. Interns are paid professional wages.
"Part of the intent of hiring interns is to give them practical experience and move them into the talent pipeline as permanent employees," says Joseph.
Internship helps Monica Franco refine career goals
Panasonic intern Monica Franco works on the Creative Design Challenge part time while she pursues both her BS in industrial design and MS in industrial engineering through NJIT's combined program. She expects to finish in May 2013.
She originally came to NJIT to become an architect. Participating in the challenge helped her recognize that industrial design was the career she wanted.
"That was exactly what I wanted to do," she says. "Industrial designers can design anything: computers, cars, chairs, packaging, anything they want."
Franco connected with Panasonic through NJIT's career development services office. After her assignment with the challenge ended, Seeney invited her to continue working one day a week during the school year on support documentation for the contest. She's also preparing videos about the contest for the website.
Interns get personalized attention
Joseph and Seeney take a personal interest in the interns, many of whom call Joseph "Penny Mom." The intense ten-week summer program brought forty-two college students from colleges across the nation to New Jersey in 2011. Most enter as rising sophomores and continue for three consecutive years.
The schedule includes orientation to the Japanese company and its culture, Panasonic's basic business philosophy and practices, and networking opportunities with Panasonic businesses and even its suppliers. Franco connected with Panasonic's product design firm in New York through the program.
Interns get personal guidance in financial management for young adults and hear motivational speakers. They have fun, attending Broadway plays, dining in New York City and coming together for pizza parties. They work on community service projects, like the "extreme makeover" of a boys' group home in Paterson, NJ.
Rommel Fernandez benefits from the Panasonic-NJIT partnership
After earning his 2006 BSEE at NJIT, Rommel Fernandez joined Panasonic's industrial products division as an application engineer. He traveled to Japan and Malaysia for training and attends conferences and shows to stay on top of changes in the marketplace.
Understanding the customer's needs for HVAC components like variable speed compressors has involved visiting customers and manufacturers around the world.
"I can see what's going on in the market and in the industry and see where our products can be applied," he says. "It's great to experience different cultures. I like the food in Malaysia."
Fernandez is now earning a masters in engineering management at NJIT through Panasonic's tuition support program. He'll complete the academic work by the end of 2011 and receive his degree in the May 2012 ceremony.
"It's one of the ways Panasonic encourages its employees to gain more knowledge," he says. "The partnership with NJIT is working for me."
Fernandez devotes part of his time to the Creative Design Challenge. He helps hire the college interns and promotes the challenge to high schools. He also works with the interns to devise an interesting obstacle course for the robots to navigate.
"I'm very happy that I chose to be part of Panasonic," he says. "It's been a great experience."
About Panasonic
Panasonic Corporation of North America is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation and the hub of its branding, marketing, sales, service, product development and R&D operations in the U.S. and Canada.
Panasonic's consumer electronics and technology products range from Viera high-definition plasma and LCD TVs and Lumix digital cameras to ruggedized Toughbook laptop computers, communications solutions, networkable office solutions, security systems, home appliances, personal care products, components and entire in-flight entertainment and information systems.
Operations in North America include R&D centers, manufacturing bases, the Panasonic customer call center in Chesapeake, VA, business-to-business and industrial solutions companies, and consumer products, sales and service networks throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Panasonic Corporation of North America and its subsidiaries and affiliates employ about 12,000 people.
"If it's electronic, Panasonic probably makes it somewhere in the world," says Joseph. "NJIT is a natural fit for us, a natural link to Panasonic's overall business goals and objectives."
About NJIT
NJIT, located in Newark's inner city, has a predominantly minority student body, ranking fifteenth nationally in total minority graduates in computer science, twenty-fifth in engineering and twenty-ninth in engineering technology. At the graduate level, NJIT ranks fourth in engineering masters degrees awarded to African Americans, fifth in engineering technologies degrees awarded to Asian Americans, and third in engineering technologies degrees awarded to Hispanics. Nearly 90 percent of students received financial aid in 2006-2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
NJIT has twenty-six buildings on forty-five acres in Newark, housing the Newark College of Engineering and five other colleges. There are 6,000 undergraduates and 3,000 graduate students overall.
A history of partnering
Panasonic and NJIT have been working together to support minority students for more than ten years. Joseph is easily recognized on campus, where the parking guards wave her through.
"We can only hope that our contributions to the NJIT EOP program have in some small way helped some very deserving minority students fulfill their dreams of higher education and becoming contributing members of society," says Joseph. "As we look to diversify our workforce, we would hope that they will consider Panasonic as a place of employment."
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Christine Heinrichs is a freelance writer who lives in Cambria, CA. |
