| "These students offer fresh technical background and can bring new ideas to projects." R&D Manager (Appleton Wire) Dave Rougvie |
When chemical engineering major Joe Rehbein returned to the classroom in the spring of 1999, it was with much greater insight into his chosen field. Having just spent a semester working for the Division of Albany International, a supplier to the paper industry, he had experienced firsthand what engineers do in the real world and why the materials he'd been studying in class were important.
For his supervisor, R&D manager Dave Rougvie, the experience had also been rewarding as he watched Rehbein learn and perform essential functions such as running pilot machinery, processing data and reporting the results.
UW-Madison senior Joe Rehbein (right) and his supervisor, Dave Rougvie, examine fiber formations in sheets just produced on a dynamic sheet former at the Appleton Wire Division of Albany International. The company is a supplier to the paper industry.
|
Rehbein's introduction to hands-on engineering at Albany came through a cooperative educational experience (or co-op) -- a break from engineering studies to work full time in industry, performing duties comparable to those of professional engineers. Every year, hundreds of students from UW-Madison's College of Engineering participate in co-op terms or internships (the summer-only version). In fact, in the 1997-98 school year, the most recent period for which data is available, students completed a record 842 such terms.
"These students offer fresh technical background and can bring new ideas to projects," says Rougvie, who has supervised four co-op participants in recent years. "They know they have a limited time to work on their projects and are aggressive about making progress."
A co-op consists of two to three work terms (minimum of one semester and one summer) for a company or government unit, interrupted by at least one semester back in class. The benefits of the experience are particularly noticeable when the students return for the second term, notes Rougvie. "They have met everyone on their first term and understand some of our business. They come back more mature, and with more of their technical course work completed, they are ready to step into projects directly."
Rehbein says his co-op term helped him gain human relations skills crucial to the workplace. For example, he was able to overcome the intimidation of conversing with high-level supervisors. The experience was also a confidence builder. He says he enjoyed working with people who considered him an equal--"not just a co-op "--and who appreciated his input on various projects.
"I will now be able to relate class work to the real world instead of wondering why I need to learn certain material," adds Rehbein. "It will increase my class participation."
Faculty members, such as Professor Søren Bisgaard-Frantzen, agree that co-ops and internships develop well-prepared students. "The program provides them with an understanding of problems engineers in industry have to cope with," he says. "Their class participation, understanding of homework and maturity in class projects are also much higher."
In addition to the career-enhancing skills that students gain from these work experiences, they benefit from salaries that are much higher than those they'd earn flipping burgers or waiting tables. The average monthly income for co-ops and internships ranges from about $1,650 for geological engineering students to $2,400 for chemical engineering majors.
In the 1997-98 academic year, more than 180 Wisconsin employers from 27 counties hired co-op students and interns from the College of Engineering. Overall, 85 percent of the placements are in the Midwest, with the majority of them spread throughout Wisconsin.
Over half of the College of Engineering's students complete either a co-op or internship before they graduate, says John Archambault, director of the college's Co-op Education/Internship Program. And recently, there hasn't been much of a problem finding employers willing to hire students. "Right now the market is so good that employers are coming to us," he says. "About three or four employers a week call up to say they are looking at starting a co-op program." This is particularly true in the areas of electrical and computer engineering as well as civil and environmental engineering, where the strongest need for talented engineers exists, he explains.
Archambault and his staff are glad to help link firms with the college's undergraduates. "This is the tool employers use to recruit people in a tight market," he says "They find out if they're a good fit."
Adds the program's assistant director Amy Huseth, "Work terms not only help students know that they're studying the right things, they help them confirm that they really want to be engineers."
--By Paul Bauman--
| For further information, please contact: |
John Archambault, 608/262-5691
archambault@engr.wisc.edu
Copyright 1999 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
Content by perspective@engr.wisc.edu
Markup by webmaster@engr.wisc.edu
Date last modified: Wednesday, 03-Mar-1999 12:00:00 CST
Date created: 03-Mar-1999
