| |
    
|
Internship programs in the Institute of Technology
by Steve Gigl
It is a well-known paradox: to get a job, you need experience, but to get experience, you need a job. There is always a healthy demand for engineers in this country, but companies tend to look for applicants with experience in the field, those who can make a contribution right away. Participating in a cooperative internship program within their academic department may help students qualify for such positions.
Internships and co-ops give students experience in industry, an environment totally different from that of the University. The time they spend on industrial assignment looks enticing to employers on a resume, and students learn about the requirements of at least one job in their chosen field before they graduate. Companies benefit as well: they hire short-term employees at a relatively low salary and have the opportunity to evaluate them for possible full-time positions.
Three of the major engineering internship programs at the University of Minnesota belong to the Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil Engineering departments. Companies in (and sometimes out of) the area contact each department and inform them of their needs for the next work period. In some cases, they are responding to invitations from the department to offer internships. Students accepted into the programs are given the chance to interview with one or more of the companies and are told soon after whether they have been offered a position. After that, students alternate working with going to classes, the exact schedule of which depends on the department.
The E.E. Co-Op Program is set up for students to alternate working quarters with study quarters, for a total of three working quarters (the fourth is optional). Candidates can apply any time during the year, but mass interviews are only held during fall and spring quarters. "Nearly everyone who applies will get a job. The only problem in placing a student occurs when that student only wishes to work in a certain area of electrical engineering," said Kathleen Propp, the E.E. Co-Op Program Coordinator. E.E. co-op students must be admitted into the upper division and have completed certain courses before their co-op experience begins. Companies like Honeywell, NSP, and Cypress Semiconductor want to be sure that the students they hire will be able to perform the tasks they are assigned.
Co-op students often get involved in design work, research, and other technical jobs performed by a regular engineer. "The first quarter primarily consisted of getting used to the company by doing smaller projects," said Robert Vinje, a senior E.E. co-op student. "Most of the small projects required asking multiple groups or people for information, which only helped in getting to know the company and everyone in it." Holly Prato, another E.E. co-op senior, worked on mainly technical projects for her host company, Fisher-Rosemount. She designed hardware and software for test fixtures on products and conducted tests on competitors' products, the results of which she presented to a conference of marketing executives and engineers. Now in her third quarter of work, she is responsible for the design of a more efficient sensor board that combines both the digital and analog boards of a meter.
"During the quarter, I will work on creating a working, tested prototype and hopefully start it into production," she said. During their work periods, E.E. co-op students take the 2-credit industrial assignment and are encouraged to take nontechnical classes, for a total of about six credits. To get credit for the industrial assignment, students must write a technical report on their work, excluding any sensitive details their employers would rather not have released. These reports are generally 15-25 pages and follow guidelines given in the co-op handbook. As students progress through work assignments, the reports begin to have themes: working in a team and participating in a design project, for example.
One drawback of the co-op program is that graduation is usually delayed by a few quarters. Co-op students feel that the money and experience are worth the extra time. "The two or three quarters that it slows you down from graduating are made up for by the ability to get a job easily and the additional money that is offered because of the relative experience," said Vinje.
The Department of Civil Engineering runs two programs to help students get experience in their field. The Career Development Program helps undergraduates in civil and geological engineering find temporary and part-time jobs. No credit for this work is offered, but students get experience that looks good on a resume. The C.E. department keeps a file of employers that have responded favorably to their search for openings, and students consult the file for companies to contact. Interviews and terms of employment are worked out between the student and the employer. "Over the last five or six years, my guess is that we've had about one hundred students a year find jobs through the program," said Dr. Steven Crouch, head of the Civil and Mineral Engineering Department and Director of the C.E. Internship Program.
Civil Engineering also runs a more formal internship program open to both civil and geological engineering majors. Since the work of civil engineering interns is usually at least partly done outdoors, Minnesota winters can limit the usefulness of students who intern over winter quarter. To maintain the system of alternating periods of work and classes, C.E. internships are run as six-month work assignments (running either from March to September or June to December) followed by two or three quarters of classroom study. To get into the program, a civil or geological engineering major must have a GPA of at least 2.5 and have taken classes in surveying, soil mechanics, and construction materials.
The department loosely matches students and companies or agencies, then gives the students some information on each potential employer. The student is encouraged to find out as much as possible about each in order to help the interviews proceed smoothly. The interviews are then arranged by the student, unless prearranged by the employer and the department.
C.E. interns work in a variety of fields including soils and materials testing, surveying, construction, municipal engineering, and consulting. They are employed mainly by local businesses and government agencies. "One of the challenges that we have is identifying students who are prepared to work in some of the locations where the job opportunities are," said Dr. Crouch.
C.E. interns are also required to write a report about their work to get credit for the internship. Writing skills, from the technical report due at the end of the internship to cover letters on resumes, are an important part of being a professional engineer, so students are encouraged to get as much writing practice as possible. "You might think that being able to design a good steel structure is going to be what it's all about, but the person who designs that good steel structure and can't tell anybody about it, either orally or in writing, will soon fall by the wayside in favor of someone who can write better and speak better," said Dr. Crouch.
The Mechanical Engineering Co-Op Program (MECP) is another large co-op program at the University. Like the E.E. co-op, the MECP is a four quarter per year program in which the student alternates work and school. The MECP, however, requires that students take four industrial assignments to get credit for them as technical electives.
To apply, students with a GPA of at least 2.8 must enter their application onto a computer in Room 121 Mechanical Engineering. If accepted, a student must create a resume and sign up with individual companies for interviews, which are conducted through IT Career Services. MECP has changed its interviewing methods this year from holding mass interviews in a single week to scheduling interviews throughout the year. "Now we are going to allow the students to interview all year long and companies to come in all year long," said Professor Virgil Marple, Director of the MECP. This and other changes in the co-op program are a result of budget cuts in the Mechanical Engineering Department and the elimination of the position of the assistant who arranged interviews in the past. This change, however, may help students in the long run. "I think there are going to be more companies from outside of Minneapolis [that are willing to interview for co-op positions]," said Dr. Marple. With interviews occurring throughout the year, companies that couldn't come for the interview week between winter and spring quarters would be more likely to interview here, especially out-of-town companies that only pass through once a year. Also, with much of the responsibility for setting up interviews and finding a position left up to the students, they get more experience with the interview process than they would have before. "It's going to give them a running start when they graduate, because they've already been through the process once," said Dr. Marple.
Mechanical engineering co-op students work at a variety of companies and government agencies. Daniel Butterfield, a fifth-year senior in MECP, interned with NASA at the Johnson Space Center. His work there over four quarters covered everything from developing computer programs to designing components for use in space. "[My] first assignment consisted of independently verifying a test matrix used to program SPIFEX, a detailed flight experiment [that flew] last year." He went on to design an augmented orbital debris shield mockup for international space station Alpha and perform an analysis on the Russian docking system. A prototype of another of his designs will be flying on the shuttle in March. After he graduates this spring, Butterfield will be working for Andersen Consulting here in Minneapolis. He is a strong supporter of the co-op program and was sorry to see its budget cut. "It's really too bad that the M.E. co-op program had to be cut when it was one of the best in the U.S. It reflects heavily on the University as a whole."
Despite the advantages of co-oping and the proliferation of such programs throughout the University, most students choose not to pursue the programs in their departments. One of the reasons students avoid co-oping is that it can delay graduation. That is not always the case, however. "We did a study some years ago and found out that the students in the [M.E.] co-op program actually graduated sooner than students that weren't in the program," said Dr. Marple. "It probably is an indication that most of our students are working part-time anyway," he added. This would likely cause non-co-op students to take fewer credits each quarter and even the field a bit between the two, since co-op students get credit for their work assignment and are encouraged to attend class during their working quarters. "I think they might possibly be a little more motivated [to graduate sooner] if they are working for a company where they think that they might be able to get on with that company as an engineer when they graduate," said Dr. Marple.
Co-op/internship programs are generally considered one of the best ways to improve a student's chances at starting a career after graduation. "A lot of people seem to shy away from it, but experience only leads to better things," said Prato. Butterfield concurred, saying, "I have friends now that are suffering due to lack of experience." In a decade of cutbacks in business and government, finding a job in any given field is only going to become more competitive, and the experience that co-op programs and internships provide can only help students find work after graduation.
