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CHAPTER 7 Broadening Your Education

We are not just our behavior. We are the person managing our behavior.

—Kenneth Blanchard

INTRODUCTION How do you view your education? A narrow view would be that you

get an education by passing a prescribed set of courses. A quality education, however, is much more than that. This chapter will introduce you to ways you can broaden your education and in doing so be significantly better prepared for a successful career.

First, we will discuss the value of participating in student organizations and extracurricular life. The skills you can develop through this participation could be as important to your success as those you gain through your formal academic work.

Next, we will describe opportunities for you to gain practical engineering experience by participating in student design competitions, technical paper contests, design clinics, and research projects.

Then, we will discuss strategies and approaches for seeking pre- professional employment, including summer jobs, part-time jobs, and cooperative education work experiences. Through such pre-professional employment, you can gain valuable practical experience, better define your career goals, and earn money to help cover the cost of your education.

Next, we will discuss study abroad. There is perhaps nothing you could do that would be more broadening than spending a portion of your undergraduate time living and studying in another country. And by doing so, you will develop skills and amass experiences that will improve your employability with multinational companies working in today’s global economy.

Finally, we will discuss opportunities for you to give something back to your educational institution. Opportunities for service can range from visiting high schools to recruit students to serving as a volunteer tutor to providing feedback to faculty so they can improve the quality of their teaching.

7.1 PARTICIPATION IN STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

In Chapter 1 we presented two models for viewing your education. T he Student Involvement Model and the Employment Model both suggested that you should participate actively in student organizations and extracurricular campus life (See Pages $$ and $$) The reasons were slightly different for each model, but very much related. The Student Involvement Model indicated that the quality of your education will be enhanced through participation in student organizations. The Employment Model identified two attributes that are highly valued by employers – “functions effectively on a team” and “possesses the ability to think … cooperatively” – that you can strengthen by involvement in student organizations.

If you do not participate in student organizations, I expect you have your own reasons. You may have never considered getting involved or you may not be aware of the benefits of such participation. On the other hand, you may have considered getting involved, but decided you don’t have enough time or maybe you are shy, and therefore reluctant to join a group of people you don’t know.

I hope I can persuade you to let go of these or other reasons you might have. Participation in student organizations can contribute significantly to the quality of your education. Through such participation, you can:

Meet your social needs Develop your leadership and organizational skills Engage in professional development activities Receive academic support Participate in service activities

And, once again, these benefits are highly valued by employers

Imagine yourself, as you near graduation, interviewing for a position with a local company. You can bet one of the questions you will be asked by the interviewer is, “Can you give me any examples of your involvement in student organizations, particularly those in which you took on leadership roles?” How do you think it will be viewed when you answer, “Not really. I

was too busy studying.”

A word of caution, though: Be selective about your involvement in such activities, since the opportunities to participate are so numerous that you could wind up neglecting your studies.

Your university could have literally hundreds of student organizations. These include recreational organizations, service organizations, social fraternities and sororities, ethnic- and gender- based organizations, and academic and professional organizations.

ENGINEERING STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS Of the many different student organizations, the ones immediately

accessible to you and offering the greatest potential for benefit are those within your engineering college. Most of these student organizations fall into one of three categories:

(1) Student chapters of discipline-specific national engineering societies

(2) National engineering honor societies (3) Student chapters of national ethnic- and gender-based engineering

organizations STUDENT CHAPTERS OF DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC NATIONAL ENGINEERING SOCIETIES. It is very likely that your engineering college has a student chapter corresponding to your engineering discipline. For example, if you are an electrical or computer engineering major, you could join the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) student chapter. As a mechanical engineering major, you would want to become involved in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) student chapter, and so forth.

There could be multiple student organizations for a particular discipline, each representing a specialization within that discipline. For example, in addition to the ASME student chapter, the mechanical engineering department at your institution could also be home to student chapters of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Society for the Advancement of Material

and Process Engineering (SAMPE), and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Similarly, a civil engineering department could have, in addition to an American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapter, student chapters of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), the Structural Engineers Association (SEA), the American Concrete Institute (ACI), and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). NATIONAL ENGINEERING HONOR SOCIETIES. Many engineering disciplines also have an honor society. Examples of honor societies for specific disciplines are:

Civil Engineering - Chi Epsilon Electrical and Computer Engineering - Eta Kappa Nu Mechanical Engineering - Pi Tau Sigma Industrial Engineering - Alpha Pi Mu Chemical Engineering - Omega Chi Epsilon Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering - Sigma Gamma Tau Nuclear Engineering – Alpha Nu Sigma Agricultural and Biological Engineering – Alpha Epsilon Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering – Alpha Eta Mu Beta Environmental Engineering – Tau Chi Alpha Petroleum Engineering – Pi Epsilon Tau Materials Science and Engineering - Alpha Sigma Mu

In addition to honor societies for each discipline, there is an honor society covering all engineering disciplines: Tau Beta Pi . Tau Beta Pi is the engineering counterpart of Phi Beta Kappa, the honor society for liberal arts students.

You cannot choose to join honor societies; instead you must be invited. These invitations are extended to junior or senior students who have achieved an academic record that places them in the top percentage of students in their major.

I encourage you to set a personal goal of gaining membership in Tau Beta Pi. Striving to be in the top 20 percent of your peers is a lofty yet achievable goal, and one that is well worth shooting for. Membership in Tau Beta Pi is a very prestigious honor. There is almost nothing you can put on your resume that will impress employers more than membership in Tau Beta Pi. To learn more about Tau Beta Pi , visit the society’s webpage at: www.tbp.org. ETHNIC- AND GENDER-BASED STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS. Your engineering college may also have one or more ethnic-based engineering student organizations. The most common of these organizations are:

National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Society of Mexican-American Engineers and Scientists (MAES) American-Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)

Society of Asian Scientists & Engineers (SASE)

The purpose of these organizations is to increase the representation of these ethnic groups in the engineering profession. However, membership is not restricted, and all who are committed to the purpose of the organization are welcome.

Your campus may also have a student chapter of:

Society of Women Engineers (SWE)

The purpose of SWE is to increase the representation of women in the engineering profession. Again, membership is open to all students.

Each of the above six ethic- and gender-based student organizations operate under the auspices of a national organization. You can learn more about these organizations by visiting their websites:

National Society of Black Engineers -www.nsbe.org Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers - www.shpe.org Society of Mexican-American Engineers and Scientists - www.maes-natl.org American-Indian Society of Engineers and Scientists - www.aises.org Society of Asian Scientists & Engineers - www.saseconnect.org Society of Women Engineers - www.swe.org

These websites also contain information about how to start a new student chapter of the organization. If a student chapter does not currently exist on your campus, you may be just the person to get one started. ENGINEERING STUDENT COUNCIL. All of the engineering student organizations on your campus are typically organized into an engineering student council. The purpose of such an umbrella organization is to coordinate activities sponsored jointly by the student organizations, such as industry career days or events held during National Engineers Week each February.

BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATION IN STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS. When you join an organization that is a student chapter of a national

engineering society, either discipline-based or ethnic- or gender-based, (e.g., IEEE, ASME, ASCE, SHPE, SWE), by paying your dues you become a member of the national organization, and you will benefit from student activities conducted by the professional society. You will receive society publications and, in some cases, student magazines. You will be eligible to attend local, regional, and national meetings and conferences of the society. You will be eligible to compete for various awards, scholarships, and fellowships. You also will be eligible to use any career guidance or job placement services offered by the national organization.

With that said, actually your greatest benefits will come from participating in the activities of your institution’s student chapter. These benefits fall into five major categories:

(1) Social interaction (2) Personal development (3) Professional development (4) Academic development (5) Service to the college and the community

Let’s explore each of these briefly. SOCIAL INTERACTION. Participation in engineering student

organizations can help you develop relationships with students who have similar backgrounds, interests, and academic and career goals as you. Close association with such students can enhance your academic success through the sharing of information and group study. The relationships you develop with fellow engineering students can continue long after your college days are over.

Student organizations promote this social interaction through social functions such as mixers, parties, picnics, and athletic competitions. Fund-raising activities such as car washes, raffles, jog-a-thons, and banquets also facilitate social interaction among members. Many organizations have a student lounge or study center that can greatly enhance the social environment for members. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT. Through participation in engineering student organizations, you can develop leadership, organizational, and interpersonal skills so important to your success as an engineering professional. You will learn from your involvement in student organizations that it is a significant challenge to get a group of people to agree on a direction and move collectively in that direction. As you learn to do this, you will acquire important skills in communicating, persuading, listening, cooperating, delegating, reporting, managing, and scheduling.

An engineering student organization can assist members in developing leadership and organizational skills by conducting leadership workshops or retreats, and by sponsoring speakers and seminars on organizational management. The greatest lessons, however, result from opportunities to practice these skills. Such opportunities can be provided to the maximum number of members by putting a committee structure in place to accomplish the various objectives appropriate to an organization (e.g., Membership Committee, Social Committee, Professional Development Committee, Academic Support Committee, High School Outreach Committee, etc.).

REFLECTION Reflect on your skills in the following areas: communicating, persuading, listening, cooperating, delegating, reporting, managing, scheduling. Would you like to improve in any of these areas? Do you think participation in an engineering student organization would help you in doing so? Would taking on leadership roles help you even more?

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. Participation in engineering student organizations can enhance your understanding of the engineering profession and the engineering work world. Much of the material presented in Chapter 2 can be brought to life through professional development activities conducted by student organizations.

Student organizations can sponsor speakers and field trips to industry. They can organize career days in which industry representatives meet with students to discuss employment need and opportunities. And they can sponsor workshops in important career development areas such as resume writing, interviewing skills, and job search strategies. ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT. Participation in engineering student organizations can enhance your academic performance through direct academic support activities.

Student organizations can sponsor mentor programs in which upper- division (junior and senior) students assist lower-division (freshman and sophomore) students. Organizations can arrange for volunteer tutors, organize review sessions and study groups, and maintain files of past lab reports, exams, and homework assignments. Some student organizations have their own study space to promote group study and information exchange among members. By establishing group challenge goals, such as an overall average GPA target for members, student organizations can motivate members to excel academically. SERVICE TO COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY. Participation in engineering student organizations can provide you with a vehicle for service to the engineering college and the surrounding community.

Student organizations can sponsor visits to high schools to recruit students into engineering, raise money to establish a scholarship, sponsor activities during National Engineers Week, organize a “Meet the Dean” event, or perform other service projects that benefit the engineering college.

REFLECTION Imagine that you are the chair of the professional development subcommittee for your engineering student organization. Your purpose is to help members learn more about engineering and to strengthen

their commitment to success in becoming an engineer. What sort of activities would you propose? Seek ideas from other students you come in contact with.

PARTICIPATION IN OTHER EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES Beyond participation in engineering student organizations, there are

other extracurricular activities that can contribute to your personal development. Examples of these are writing for your campus newspaper, joining a debate club, or participating in musical or dramatic productions.

And don’t forget student government – another excellent opportunity for personal growth and development. Eventually you may want to run for one of the many elected offices, but many leadership positions are filled through appointments. Visit your Associated Students office, and ask how you can become involved. Who knows? Maybe in a few years you’ll be running for student body president!

7.2 PARTICIPATION IN ENGINEERING PROJECTS

The quality of your education can be significantly enhanced through participation in engineering projects, contests, and competitions. Four such opportunities will be discussed here:

(1) Student design competitions (2) Technical paper contests (3) Design clinics (4) Undergraduate research

STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITIONS In recent years, the number of engineering student design

competitions has grown steadily. Some of these are paper studies, but most involve the design and fabrication of an engineering device, often followed by competition against entries from other universities. Many of these competitions are sponsored by professional engineering societies

listed at the end of Chapter 2. Most of the competitions involve teams of engineering students rather than individual student participation. Most have prizes, like trophies or cash awards.

Participation in one of these design competitions will give you practical, “real-world” engineering experience. You will learn to work on a complex project that is subject to strict deadlines and requires a high degree of cooperation and coordination. You will experience the type of design tradeoffs and difficult decisions that are characteristic of engineering projects. A significant investment of time will be required, but the rewards will be well worth the effort.

Your engineering college may participate in one or more of these competitions already. Check with the appropriate engineering department. If you have an interest in an event that your college does not participate in, consider taking the initiative to persuade them to do so.

The following is a representative list of these engineering student design competitions, including the name of the contest, a brief description of it, and its sponsor. To obtain more information, either go to the website of the organization listed or enter the name of the competition into a search engine such as Google.

Competition Sponsor Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program - Propose, design, fabricate, fly, and assess a reduced-gravity experiment

NASA Johnson Space Center www.microgravityuniversity .jsc.nasa.gov

Chem-E-Car Competition -Design and construct a chemically-powered vehicle to carry a specified cargo a specified distance

American Institute of Chemical Engineers www.aiche.org

Human-Powered Helicopter Competition - $250,000 (one time only) prize for controlled flight (hover for 1 min; reach 3 m altitude; stay in 10 m sq)

American Helicopter Society www.vtol.org

Annual Student Design Competition - Design a rotorcraft which meets specific requirements

American Helicopter Society www.vtol.org

¼-Scale Tractor Design Competition - Design and build a ¼- scale tractor

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers www.asabe.org

AGCO National Student Design Competition - Design an engineering project useful to agriculture

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers www.asabe.org

ASABE Robotics Competition - Develop innovative robotic solutions to real-life problems in the agricultural arena

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers www.asabe.org

Fountain Wars Design Competition - Design a fountain to be assembled in real time to perform specific functions

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers www.asabe.org

EcoCAR2 - Reduce the environmental U.S. Department of

impact of a Chevrolet Malibu Energy/General Motors www.ecocar2.orgSolar Splash - Design, build, and race

a solar-powered boat Solar Splash HQ www.solarsplash.com

Solar Decathlon - Design, build, and operate a solar-powered home

U.S. Department of Energy www.solardecathlon.gov

ASME Student Design Competition - Design, construct, and operate a prototype

American Society of Mechanical Engineers www.asme.org

Human-Powered Vehicle Challenge - Design, build, and race a streamlined bicycle

American Society of Mechanical Engineers www.asme.org

Student Mechanism & Robot Design Competition - Design a mechanism and robot and fabricate a prototype

American Society of Mechanical Engineers www.asme.org

The Great Moonbuggy Race - Design and build a vehicle that can carry two students over a half-mile simulated lunar terrain course

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center www.moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov

Concrete Canoe - Regional and national competition to design, build, and race a canoe constructed from concrete

American Society of Civil Engineers www.asce.org

AIAA Design Competitions - Several annual competitions to design engines, aircraft, and space satellites

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics www.aiaa.org

ASCE/AISC National Steel Bridge Competition - Design a steel bridge that meets given specifications and build a 1:10 scale model

ASCE and American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) www.aisc.org

IEEE Presidents’ Change the World Competition - Demonstrate how you can change the world

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers www.ieee.org

IEEEXtreme Global Programming Competition - Compete in a 24-hour

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

time span to solve a set of programming problems

www.ieee.org

Digilent Design Contest - Innovative digital design and microcontroller projects using Digilent products.

Digilent, Inc. www.digilentinc.com (Click on “Digilent Design Contest”)

International Submarine Races - Design and build human-powered submarine

Foundation for Undersea Research and Education www.isrsubrace.org

Aero Design - Conceive, design, fabricate, and test a radio-controlled aircraft

Society of Automotive Engineers www.students.sae.org

Super Mileage - Design and build a vehicle powered by 3.5-HP Briggs & Stratton engine

Society of Automotive Engineers www.students.sae.org

Clean Snowmobile Challenge - Re- engineer an existing snowmobile

Society of Automotive Engineers www.students.sae.org

Formula SAE - Conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racing cars

Society of Automotive Engineers www.students.sae.org

Collegiate Inventors Competition - Submit original and inventive new ideas, processes, or technologies

National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation www.invent.org/Collegiate

Baja SAE - Design, build, and race off-road vehicle powered by 10- horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine

Society of Automotive Engineers www.students.sae.org

ASHRAE Student Design Project Competition - Invent or optimize equipment technologies in order to solve market or societal problems

American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers www.ashrae.org

Design for Direct Digital Manufacturing - Use direct digital manufacturing to develop a new and innovative product

Society of Manufacturing Engineers www.sme.org

Rube Goldberg Contest - Design and build a machine that uses the most complex process to complete a simple task

Purdue University www.purdue.edu/newsroom /rubegoldberg/index.html

American Solar Challenge - Design, build, and race a solar-powered electric vehicle

U.S. Dept of Energy www.americansolar challenge.org

World Solar Challenge - Solar- electric vehicle race across Australian outback every two years

South Australian Motor Sports Board www.wsc.org.au

You can find a directory of over 300 national and international engineering design competitions at: www.studentcompetitions.com (Click on “Tech & Engineering”).

REFLECTION Read the brief descriptions of each of the 33 engineering student design competitions listed above. Take a few seconds right now and imagine yourself involved in the design and fabrication of a human- powered submarine, an agricultural robot, a concrete canoe, or a machine that uses the most complex process to complete a simple task (Rube Goldberg). Think through what would be involved in taking one of these projects from start to successful completion. These projects are excellent examples of the exciting challenges engineering offers.

TECHNICAL PAPER CONTESTS Many of the professional engineering societies listed at the end of

Chapter 2 sponsor technical paper contests. The contests are conducted annually and generally start with a regional competition. In most cases, regional winners progress to a national or international competition. Cash prizes are given to the top-place finishers in both the regional and national competitions. Following are some of the societies that sponsor such contests:

American Ceramic Society American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics American Institute of Chemical Engineers American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers American Society of Mechanical Engineers American Society of Civil Engineers Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Institute of Industrial Engineers Society of Automotive Engineers Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Society of Petroleum Engineers The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society

For more information on society-sponsored student paper contests, visit the society webpage listed at the end of Chapter 2, inquire at the engineering department office, or go see the faculty advisor of your engineering student chapter.

DESIGN CLINICS The “design clinic” concept was pioneered at Harvey Mudd College

[1] and has been adopted by a growing number of engineering colleges across the country. (Note: In 2012, three Harvey Mudd professors received the prestigious Bernard M. Gordon Prize from the National Academy of Engineering for creating and disseminating the “design clinic” concept).

Through participation in a design clinic, you can work as part of a team of undergraduate students on a problem provided by industry. Design clinic problems could involve an engineering design problem, software development, performance testing of a product, or a theoretical study.

The design clinic work conducted by a student team is supervised by a faculty advisor. Funding is generally provided to the university by the company sponsoring the project. In some cases, students working on a design clinic may be paid. In other cases, they may receive academic credit.

Design clinics are a true “win-win” situation. Companies win by having important problems solved at a modest cost. Companies also are given the opportunity to observe the work of some of the best engineering students. As a student participating in a design clinic, you win by having the opportunity to work on a practical industry problem under the supervision of a faculty member. You also benefit from contact with practicing engineers and from getting a “foot in the door” of a company you may want to work for when you graduate.

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH You can also broaden your education by working for engineering

professors on their research projects. Research projects differ from design clinics in that research generally involves creating and organizing new knowledge and disseminating that knowledge through publications in technical journals and presentations at scholarly meetings.

Most likely, you only see engineering faculty as teachers. You may not realize they are also expected to conduct research. The amount of research expected of engineering professors varies from one university to the next.

Most of this research work is supported by external funding. Professors submit proposals to outside agencies requesting money to cover the costs of conducting the proposed research. One of the primary uses of the funding is to hire students to do the work. Although most of the students working on research projects are graduate students pursuing either their M.S. or Ph.D. degree, opportunities also exist for undergraduate students.

I encourage you to seek out opportunities to work on research projects during your period of undergraduate study. Openings may be listed at your institution’s career center, but more likely you will have to speak to individual professors or ask about funded projects at engineering department offices.

The benefits of an undergraduate research experience can be significant. You will earn money to support the costs of your education. You will have the opportunity to work closely with an engineering professor. Since other students will probably be working on the project, you will learn how to work as part of a team.

An undergraduate research experience also gives you a chance to try out research to see if graduate school is for you. Depending on the nature of the project, you will develop your skills in specific areas such as

laboratory work, computing, or engineering analysis. It is possible that you will be listed as a co-author on papers resulting from the research, and you may even have the opportunity to present the results of your work at a student research conference.

7.3 PRE-PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT An employer considering whether to hire you when you graduate

would like to see that you have had previous work experience, preferably engineering-related. Engineering-related work experience not only demonstrates interest, initiative, and commitment on your part; it also provides you with references – people you have worked for who can vouch for your abilities. Prospective employers also feel that the experience you have gained will reduce the time it takes for you to become productive in their company.

BENEFITS OF PRE-PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT Pre-professional employment can benefit you in many other ways.

Most obvious is that you will earn money to support the cost of your education. In addition, the process of seeking pre-professional employment can be viewed as a rehearsal for the search you will eventually conduct for a permanent job. You will develop important skills related to preparing yourself for a job search, identifying potential employers, and presenting yourself in the best light to those employers.

Pre-professional employment will enhance your professional development as well. You will gain exposure to engineering practice that will assist you in selecting your major course of study. You will gain a better understanding of the various engineering job functions. You will have an opportunity to apply your knowledge, skills, and abilities. When you return to school following your employment experience, you will have a better picture of how your academic coursework relates to the engineering work world. All of this should increase your motivation to succeed in engineering study.

TYPES OF PRE-PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT Pre-professional employment can take the form of:

Each of these is briefly discussed in the following sections. SUMMER JOBS. Most engineering employers hire engineering students during the summer. Many employers have a formal summer job program in which they bring in a specific number of students each year.

Summer jobs Part-time jobs Cooperative education (“co-op”) experiences

An engineering-related summer job will not only provide you with the many benefits discussed in the previous section, it will also provide you with a welcome break from the grind of the academic year. Summer can be a time for rejuvenation. After a meaningful summer work experience, you are likely to return to school reenergized with renewed commitment.

I suggest that you set a personal goal of working in an engineering- related summer job for one or more of the summers during your undergraduate years. You need to realize, though, that student demand for summer jobs outpaces the supply. You need to adopt the positive, assertive attitude that if anyone is going to get a summer job, it’s going to be you. Approaches for conducting a job search are presented in subsequent sections of this chapter.

PART-TIME JOBS. You may also want to work in an engineering- related job on a part-time basis during the academic year. The availability of engineering-related jobs will depend on the location of your institution. If it is located in a major urban area, opportunities may be abundant. In contrast, if it is located in a small town, there may be no engineering employers within commuting distance.

Often students who do well in a summer job are invited to continue working on a part-time basis during the academic year. Although the employer may benefit by having you continue to work, this may not be the best situation for you. It can be flattering to be invited to continue working during the academic year, and the money may be tempting. Just make sure that you make a wise decision – one that takes your overall academic and career goals into account.

There are some tradeoffs to consider when choosing between working in a non-professional job on campus and an engineering-related job off campus. The on-campus job will take less of your time since you will not have to commute. And it will probably be easier to fit in a few hours here and there. On the other hand, you will get more relevant experience from an engineering-related job, and the pay will probably

be better. If you do decide to work on campus, try to find a job that will

complement your academic work. Working as a tutor, peer counselor, teaching assistant or grader, undergraduate research assistant, or engineering lab assistant are examples of such positions.

One final thing to remember: Full-time engineering study is a full- time commitment. You can probably work up to ten hours per week and take a full course load. If you work more than ten hours per week, you should consider reducing your course load. Recall the guidelines from Chapter 1:

Hours worked Maximum course load 10 hrs/wk Full load 20 hrs/wk 12 units 40 hrs/wk 8 units

Keep in mind that these are only guidelines. There are students who are able to work full-time and take a full load of courses. You will have to experiment with what works for you given your ability, background, energy level, and willingness to make personal sacrifices.

COOPERATIVE EDUCATION. The federal government defines cooperative education as:

“a program of study at an institution of higher education under which regular students undertake academic study for specified periods of time alternating with work experience in government, industry, [or] business.…” [2]

The work periods can range from part-time work while engaging in part-time study (parallel co-op) to the more traditional “six-months-on, six-months-off” (traditional co-op) arrangement. The opportunity for parallel co-op is generally limited to institutions located in areas having many nearby engineering employers.

Cooperative education provides students with some distinct benefits.

Among them are: Practical experience in industry Money to support college expenses A “foot in the door” in terms of seeking permanent employment upon graduation

Traditional co-op experiences will provide you with all the benefits described above, but because of the lengthier period of full-time employment, the experience gained is generally more meaningful than summer or part-time jobs. More challenging assignments can be given as progressively more experience is gained over the six-month period. The benefits of co-op are even more pronounced when the student participates in a second or third co-op experience at the same company.

The down sides of co-op are minimal. Participation in one or more traditional cooperative education work experiences will delay your graduation by up to one year. Also, some students have difficulty adjusting to their return to academia after a co-op experience. Six months of earning a good salary and having your nights and weekends free can become habit-forming.

At some institutions, co-op is a mandatory part of the engineering program. At most, however, participation is something that the student may elect. Often, students receive academic credit for the co-op assignment, but this can vary from institution to institution.

The degree of assistance that institutions provide to students seeking placement in co-op positions also varies. Places that have a mandatory co-op program will generally have a well-staffed engineering co-op office that identifies positions and matches students with them. At the other extreme, students may be virtually on their own to find co-op positions.

HOW DO YOU MEASURE UP? Regardless of the form of pre-professional employment you seek,

your competitive position will be based on three main factors:

(1) Your class level (2) Your academic performance (3) Your personal qualifications

As a freshman or sophomore, you will have more difficulty finding employment because companies generally prefer juniors and seniors – students closer to graduation. Companies value the opportunity to take a look at a student who will soon be a candidate for permanent employment. And junior and senior students bring a stronger technical background to their work.

But you can make up for your freshman or sophomore status by being strong in items #2 and #3. If you are a top student academically, companies will be interested in developing an early relationship with you.

The competition for top engineering students is keen. Companies are well aware that hiring you after your freshman or sophomore year will give them an advantage in hiring for a full-time position when you graduate. The question they will ask themselves is, “Are you worth the wait?”

Your personal qualifications will be a third factor in your ability to land a pre-professional employment position. The bottom-line question prospective employers will ask themselves is, “Will we enjoy having this student in our organization?” The answer will be based on an overall evaluation of your enthusiasm, initiative, communication skills,

and ability to work with others. An employer will not be disappointed if you fail to solve their most pressing technical problem, but they will be very disappointed if you bring a negative, uncooperative, or unfriendly attitude to your work.

Regardless of how you measure up against the three factors discussed above, your chances of landing an engineering-related job while you are a student will depend to a great extent on how you go about your job search. Effort and approach were discussed in Chapter 1 as keys to your academic success. Similarly, effort and approach will be primary factors in your success in landing a summer job, part-time job, or co-op position. Conducting a job search not only takes considerable time and effort, it also requires that you put into practice certain strategies and approaches.

And as you start your job search, keep in mind that the opportunity exists to work abroad through international cooperative education or internships. Such experiences combine all of the benefits of pre- professional employment discussed in this section with the benefits of studying abroad discussed later in this chapter.

A job search can be divided into the following steps:

(1) Preparing yourself for the job search (2) Identifying opportunities (3) Applying for positions (4) Following up on interviews

Each of these steps in the job search process is described in the following sections.

PREPARING YOURSELF FOR A JOB SEARCH Aside from getting the best grades you possibly can and developing

yourself personally using the principles presented in Chapter 6, there are specific things you need to do for a successful job search. You need to develop a resume, learn how to write cover letters, and hone your interviewing skills. PREPARING A RESUME. A resume is a written document that lists your

work experience, skills, and educational background. A resume is your main vehicle for presenting yourself to a potential employer. The central question to ask in preparing your resume is, “If you were an employer, would you want to read this resume?” Employers generally prefer smartly written one-page chronological resumes. Visual impact and appearance are extremely important. Content should include:

Identifying data (name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address) Employment objective Education to date Work experience Specialized skills Activities and affiliations Honors and awards

Assistance in developing your resume should be available through your career center. You can also find extensive resources on resume preparation, including formats and templates, on the Internet. One such

source is the CollegeGrad.com website: www.collegegrad.com/resumes. Click on “Resume Help” for guidance in preparing your resume. There are also a number of excellent books on resume writing [3, 4].

REFLECTION Locate a template for your resume by either going to the CollegeGrad.com website indicated above or by googling “resume template” or “resume format.” Create your resume using this template. Make a commitment to having your resume ready-to-go at all times during your period of engineering study. You never know when it will come in handy.

Most important of all, you need to tailor your resume to match the company with which you seek employment, (as this cartoon illustrates).

PREPARING A COVER LETTER. Whether you contact prospective employers by email, regular mail, or in person, you should always include a cover letter with your resume. And you should write a customized cover letter for each resume you send out. According to an article in the National Business Employment Weekly [5], if you want

your cover letter “to score a direct hit in your quest for interviews” you should:

Write to a specific person in the firm, using name and title. This should be the person who makes the hiring decision or for whom you’d work, if hired. In your opening paragraph, write something that demonstrates your knowledge of the organization and shows that your letter isn’t a form letter. Communicate something about yourself that relates to the employer’s needs and discusses what you can contribute. In your closing, ask for a meeting (do not call it an interview) and state that you will call in a few days to schedule a time. Limit your letter to one page, preferably printed on personalized stationery.

One additional “must”: As you prepare your cover letter, pay careful attention to your organization of ideas, grammar, spelling, and the overall appearance of the letter. Many employers use cover letters to evaluate candidates’ writing skills and professionalism.

The importance of your cover letter is reflected in the fact that there are whole books available to help you write a cover letter [6].

DEVELOPING YOUR INTERVIEWING SKILLS. The final area in which you need to prepare yourself is in the area of interviewing skills. Think of an interview like the final examination in a course. You wouldn’t consider taking a final exam without extensive preparation.

If you want to gain some feedback on whether or not you are prepared to perform well in an interview, seek out a friend or fellow student and have them ask you the following questions:

How would you describe yourself? What are your long-term career goals? Why did you choose engineering as your major? How would you describe your ideal job? What was your favorite course? Have you ever had a professor you didn’t like? Explain. What is your grade point average? Have you taken on any leadership roles in student organizations? Can you give any examples of working effectively on teams? What are your greatest strengths? What are your major shortcomings? How would your skills meet our needs? What have you accomplished that you are the proudest of? What would you like to know about us?

I expect that the above exercise will convince you of the need to put significant effort into preparing yourself for interviews. You can’t over- prepare for an interview. And even if you aren’t asked a specific question you prepared for, you can usually find a place to work in the responses you have prepared.

You can find many more questions by googling “interview questions.”

A Personal Story When I applied for the position of Dean of Engineering, I

spent an enormous amount of time preparing for the interview. I called a number of deans of engineering and asked them to tell me about the important issues facing engineering education.

I then put together a list of questions I expected to be asked and prepared written answers for each one. I practiced answering the questions on anyone I could get to ask them and sought their critique of my answers.

I think I knew more about the dean’s job on the day of my interview than I did after serving in the position for many years!

In addition to practicing questions and answers, there are other ways to prepare for an interview. Learn as much as you can about the company, the job you are seeking, and the person who will be interviewing you. This task is so much easier than it used to be because of the wealth of information readily available to you on each company’s website. And if the website doesn’t answer all your questions, research the company at your career center or call the company directly. Also, be sure to develop a list of questions to ask the interviewer. Being inquisitive and asking good questions are sure ways to impress a person.

Aside from providing you information about a company, your campus career center can assist you in other critical ways. Most career centers offer interviewing workshops and mock interviews. In mock interviews, you are queried by a staff member assuming the role of a corporate recruiter, who then gives you valuable feedback.

Another way for you to gain insight into how well you interview is to video record yourself responding to interview questions. Video recording is a powerful tool that you should try to use.

Finally, there are many excellent references, both Internet sites and books, that can help you develop your interviewing skills [7].

IDENTIFYING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES There are many avenues you can take to identify pre-professional

employment opportunities. Your career center is a good place to start. One of the career center’s main functions is to arrange on-campus interviews. Although most of the interview opportunities will be for students seeking permanent employment, some may include interviews

for summer or part-time jobs. Even if your career center doesn’t provide these opportunities, it will have a list of companies that conduct on- campus interviews for engineering graduates – an excellent source of leads for you to pursue on your own. Your career center probably also maintains a bulletin board on which it posts pre-professional job listings.

Another strategy for identifying pre-professional job opportunities is to attend any job fairs or career day programs held on your campus. Try to establish personal relationships with the industry representatives there. Be friendly and sell yourself – maybe wrangle an invitation to visit their facility. It’s also a good idea to carry along your resume. NETWORKING. Networking is defined as:

“the process of exchanging information, contacts, and experience for professional purposes.”

In plain language, it means talking to friends, fellow students, seniors about to graduate, professors, or anyone else who might have information about job availabilities.

Other candidates for networking include practicing engineers who come to your campus to give a talk or engineering professionals you encounter at meetings of engineering societies. And don’t forget alumni of your engineering program. Your college or university alumni association or engineering professors can help you identify successful alumni. But anyone, from neighbors and relatives to your doctor or people you know through church or other community affiliations, may be able to open a door for you.

Studies of successful job searches indicate networking is one of the best ways to find a job.

View everyone you know or meet as a possible lead to a job!

Remember, people enjoy helping others. If you ask people for

advice, they will gladly offer it. One warning, however: People do not like being responsible for others. So don’t make others feel that getting you a job is their responsibility.

One last point about networking. Don’t think of it as a one-way street. Just as others can be a resource for you, you can be a resource for others. As you progress through the process of preparing and searching for jobs, you will gain valuable information that could be useful to others. Who knows? You may help a fellow student get a summer job this year, which will result in that student opening doors for you next year. OTHER SOURCES OF EMPLOYMENT LEADS. There are many other sources of information about engineering employers. The classified ads in the newspaper can give you a clue as to who is hiring, even though the positions advertised might not be for you. Your institution’s reference librarian can assist you in finding publications that list employers you can contact directly.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) discussed in Chapter 2 can be used to research industries that employ engineers. First identify a specific industry (one of the 1,065 industries identified by a five- or six-digit 2012 NAICS classification code) and choose a product or service that you’d like to be involved in. Next, google the name of the product or service to identify companies that manufacture the product or deliver the service. Go to each of these companies’ webpages to learn as much as you can about them. Pick one or more of the companies and contact them about employment possibilities. Concentrating your job search on companies you find interesting and know a lot about will give you a distinct advantage. USING THE INTERNET. The Internet provides an inexhaustible resource for tracking down job opportunities. You can seek help and direction about the best websites from your career center, or you can do it on your own. Following are some of the largest and best of the many Internet websites that could help you in your job search. (And all of these services are free!) Monster www.monster.com Monster.com is the largest job search website on the Internet, claiming over a million job postings at any time and over 41 million resumes in its database. It also features employer profiles, job search and career advice, and links to other career sites.

MonsterCollege www.college.monster.com MonsterCollege is the most visited entry-level job search website. You’ll find lots of general job search information on the MonsterCollege website, and you will be able to upload your current resume or create a new one online. Jobs are posted by type (entry-level, internships), location, and discipline. CareerBuilder www.careerbuilder.com This site contains engineering job listings, a monthly newsletter, and resume and cover letter advice. Indeed www.indeed.com This is a metasearch engine that uncovers job opportunities from the major job search engines and job search boards out there. You cannot submit your resume through Indeed.com, but the job search engine more than makes up for that by uncovering lots of jobs that you wouldn’t find on other job search sites.

USAJobs www.usajobs.gov

This is your gateway into the huge arena of U.S. government jobs. You’ll find a wealth of resources here to help you find jobs working for Uncle Sam. EngineerJobs www.engineerjobs.com This is the world’s most visited job website that focuses only on engineering jobs. You can post a resume and submit an application for many jobs directly from this site. CollegeRecruiter www.collegerecruiter.com This is the leading job board for college students searching for internships and recent graduates hunting for entry-level jobs. Craigslist www.craigslist.org Is there anything you can’t find there? Go to the website and enter a location and then under “jobs,” click on “arch/engineering” to find engineering job listings. OTHER WAYS TO USE THE INTERNET. You will also find job listings on the webpages of most of the professional engineering societies. For mechanical engineering jobs, go to jobboard.asme.org. Click on “Find Your Job” and under “Quick Job Search” enter “Mechanical Engineering.”

All the major Internet search engines (e.g., Google, Bing, AltaVista, Yahoo, etc.) can be useful in exploring job opportunities. Go to any of them and enter “engineering job search.”

You probably realize by now that a few hours on the Internet can provide you with more employment leads than you will ever be able to pursue. Your challenge will be to select those few that best match your needs. In the next section we tell you how to follow up on those leads.

EXERCISE

Go to www.careerbuilder.com. Under “Find Jobs,” enter “engineering” and conduct a search for a listing of engineering jobs. How many are listed? Redo your search for a specific engineering discipline (e.g., civil engineering) and a specific geographical area (e.g., your state). How many jobs are listed? Scroll through the listing and identify several positions that look interesting to you. Review the detailed job description and qualifications for those positions.

APPLYING FOR POSITIONS The most straightforward way to pursue a lead is to call the company

and ask for the name and title of the individual in charge of the company’s student-hiring program. Send this person a cover letter and resume. In the cover letter, state that you will follow up with a telephone call within two weeks.

Your primary goal should be to get to an interview. An interview will give you the best opportunity to sell yourself using the interviewing skills you have developed. Getting an interview is not easy, however. Industry representatives, whether they be in the human relations department or in the engineering line organization, are generally very busy. They have too many candidates for employment and too little time to evaluate applications.

If you do get an interview, follow the guidelines presented previously in the section on Developing Your Interviewing Skills . But you don’t have to wait to be invited for an interview. You can take the initiative by arranging an “informational interview.” INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS. The informational interview is not a job interview. It is an information-gathering session. In a job interview, the employer is interviewing you. In an informational interview, you are interviewing the employer.

How do you arrange an informational interview? Sometimes one of your Introduction to Engineering course assignments will be to do an informational interview – in which case your professor will provide suggested individuals or corporations to contact. But you can, and should, arrange an informational interview on your own.

A good way to start is through networking. Perhaps through a friend or a member of your family you can get the name of an engineering manager at a local company. You then telephone that person, using the name of your friend or family member as a reference, and request 20 to 30 minutes of the person’s time to learn about the company and the kind of work done there.

Although personal referrals are helpful, you can arrange informational interviews without them. Any alumnus of your engineering program would very likely be willing to meet with you. Or you can just use the fact that you are an engineering student and would like to learn more about career opportunities in engineering. Your position as a student can get you through more doors than you think. Consider the following ideas.

Student Power Power – “the ability to influence others” – comes to people

primarily from three sources: (1) their position, (2) their

knowledge, and (3) their person. You probably don’t realize how much power you derive from your position as a student. You are in an excellent position to influence others, and you may not even realize it.

The basis for this power is very obvious. Almost anyone you would want to influence spent many years in the very position you now hold – i.e., the position of student. And that person most likely has lots of warm, fuzzy feelings about that period of his or her life. Even more important, such people realize they owe much of their success to their education.

So when you call an engineering executive and explain, “I’m a first-year engineering student and need just 15 minutes of your time to ask you a few questions for an important project I am doing,” nine times out of ten that person will agree to meet with you. Try it!

To use this newfound power, especially if you lack a personal referral, call a local engineering firm and ask to speak to the chief engineer. If you can’t reach him or her, you will probably be referred to someone at a lower level. You can then truthfully say that you were referred by the chief engineer’s office and would like to meet with that person to learn more about what the company does.

In preparing for the informational interview, make up a list of questions you plan to ask. The following are some examples:

What are your responsibilities in your current position? What are the most satisfying aspects of your work? What is your educational background? Which of the courses you took in college have been most useful to you in your career? What was your first job after graduating from college? How did you go about getting that position? How is your company’s business picture? What is the future hiring situation?

How important is it for engineering students to gain engineering-related work experience? Can you advise me as to how I might get such a position that will give me that experience?

Once again, remember that people enjoy helping others and giving advice. They also like to talk about themselves. Recall the story of the coal salesman, Mr. Knaphle, in Chapter 4. By showing that you are interested in other people and want to learn from them, they will become interested in you. You may find that they offer to help you get a summer job without your even asking. Even if they don’t, you can always send them an application for employment at a future date.

FOLLOWING UP ON INTERVIEWS Whether you have a job interview or an informational interview, it is

important that you follow up. Always send a thank-you letter. Few people do, so if you do, you will be remembered positively. In your letter, thank the interviewer for his or her time and interest. Be sure to mention some specific information you learned that you found particularly useful. If you are following up on a job interview, express genuine interest in the job opportunity. Conclude by leaving the door open for you to contact the person in the future.

7.4 STUDY ABROAD In this section, we talk about study abroad. There is perhaps nothing

you could do that would be more broadening than spending a portion of your undergraduate time living and studying in another country.

Studying abroad is not new. For many years, it was the purview of liberal arts students desiring to learn a foreign language through a period of immersion in a non-English speaking culture or of students just wanting to have fun “seeing the world.”

But there is a growing emphasis on studying abroad within engineering education. With the onset of globalization, many engineering colleges are strongly encouraging their students to have a study-abroad experience, and some are even making such an experience mandatory.

The primary reason for this increased focus in engineering is that to a greater extent than ever before multinational corporations are seeking engineering graduates who have the experience to operate across national boundaries. In our global economy it is vital for engineers to understand cultural nuances and have the sensitivities needed to work successfully with engineers from other countries.

This priority on a global experience is reflected in the fact that one of the attributes ABET requires of all engineering graduates is

“the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global … context.”

You can learn something about the impact of engineering solutions in a global context in your classes, but a much better way to develop this attribute is to spend a portion of your undergraduate years living and studying abroad.

Benefits of Study Abroad Studying abroad offers life-changing and enduring academic, career,

intercultural, personal, and social benefits. A few of these benefits are: Developing greater self-confidence, independence, self-reliance, and maturity Broadening your world understanding and gaining a new perspective on the world Improving your cross-cultural communication skills Developing your ability to adapt to new and unfamiliar environments Building second language skills Making new and lasting contacts and friendships Distinguishing yourself from your peers in a future job search

Can You Do It? Arranging a study-abroad experience will take time, and so you can’t

start too soon. Generally making all of the decisions and doing all of the planning will take about one year, so if you want to study abroad during your sophomore year you need to start planning it now. If you want to do it during your junior year or later, you can wait a bit.

To get started, locate the resources on your campus that are available to help you. Just google “<name of your institution> study abroad” and you should find lots of information about these resources. It is likely that

there is a Study Abroad Office or International Programs Office with advisors to assist you. Find out whether these offices conduct periodic information sessions and attend one to help you get started.

Plenty of information about study-abroad opportunities is available on the Internet. For example, go to: www.studyabroad.com and enter “Engineering” as the subject.

There’s the “good news” and the “bad news” about study abroad experiences. The good news is that there are enormous number and types of exciting opportunities. And the bad news is the same. There are an enormous number and types of opportunities. It can be daunting to have to choose:

Length of time abroad When to go abroad Host country Method of financing What to study while abroad

There’s an enormous world out there: many countries, many universities in each country, and many choices of coursework within each university. So it can be a difficult but exciting challenge to find the perfect situation for you. The following sections discuss each of these factors briefly. Length of Time Abroad. Study abroad experiences vary in length. The

choices you will have are: Few weeks (during the summer or intersession) Summer-long One semester (either fall or spring) Academic year (two semesters)

Certainly if you can arrange it and can afford it, the longer the experience the greater the benefits you will reap. When to Go Abroad. Many universities require that you complete one- year of study with a certain grade point average (e.g., 2.5) before you are eligible for a study-abroad program under the institution’s sponsorship. So you have a choice to go during your sophomore, junior, or senior year. Junior year is the most popular year to go abroad. This gives you more time to develop your second-language skills and more time to mature before leaving family, friends, and everything familiar. Sophomore year would generally give you more flexibility in choosing coursework that will transfer back.

Host Country. Study-abroad opportunities are available in many countries. Among the most popular for engineering study are Australia, England, New Zealand, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Germany, France, China, and Canada, but there are many others.

Here are some global destinations that are ideal for students in engineering. All are “hotbeds” of technology and engineering development and have universities with strong engineering programs.

Tokyo Bangalore Seoul Singapore London Shanghai Helsinki Tel Aviv Hong Kong Munich

REFLECTION How would you like to spend a semester or a whole year living and studying in one of the cities listed above? Can you imagine doing it? What do you think such an experience would do to develop you personally? Do you think it would be valuable in preparing you to work as an engineer in a global economy?

Among the factors to be considered is whether you want to go to an English-speaking country or whether you want to go to a non-English- speaking country. Even if you go to a non-English-speaking country, your instruction may still be in English.

Finding a Study Abroad Program There are two categories of programs: 1) programs sponsored by

your university, and 2) programs not sponsored by your university.

You will find information about programs sponsored by your university either on your Study Abroad Office website or by visiting the Study Abroad Office on your campus in person. Some advantages of university-sponsored programs:

You remain registered at the university while abroad Your regular tuition is likely to cover most of the costs You will have an easier time getting credit for the courses you take abroad You are less likely to extend your time to graduation Any financial aid you are receiving can be used to support your study abroad And there are programs not sponsored by your university. For these

programs, you need to: Research available programs and apply for the program you choose individually Work with your registrar’s office or academic department to arrange transfer credit (may be more difficult to avoid extending your time to graduation) Take a leave of absence from the university during the time spent abroad Determine whether your financial aid can be used to support your study abroad You can find information on non-university-sponsored programs on

the Internet. Some of the best sites are:

www.studyabroad.com www.goabroad.com www.iiepassport.org www.transitionsabroad.com

Many countries have excellent websites for locating study abroad opportunities in that country. Two examples are:

Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji - www.australearn.org Germany - www.daad.de/en

Financing Study Abroad. You may think you can’t afford to have a study abroad experience. But depending on the program you choose, the cost may be less than or equal to what you are already paying. Work up a budget for your current academic year costs, work up a budget for your study-abroad experience, and compare the two. Then set about making up the difference through scholarships, financial aid, loans, or fund- raising efforts. Don’t let money stand between you and the experience of a lifetime.

7.5 PUTTING SOMETHING BACK I’m sure you have heard someone say, “I’m not going to vote. My

vote doesn’t really count.” In one way, that view makes sense. After all, with millions of votes cast, one vote isn’t really likely to make a difference. But what if everyone held the view that one vote isn’t important? Since we can’t afford to have everyone decide not to vote, it’s not right for one person to do so.

How do you view your relationship with your university or college? Do you feel that you have something to offer your institution? Or do you feel that your contributions are not important – that what one student does cannot really make a difference? I hope you see the parallel with the importance of voting and realize that it is important to cast your vote with your university – that is, you put something back into the institution that is giving you so much.

President John F. Kennedy motivated an entire generation of young

Americans when he said:

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

Following the spirit of President Kennedy’s exhortation, ask yourself, “What can I do for my institution?” Doing things that benefit your institution is bound to be a real “win-win” situation. The institution wins because what you do will make it a better place for its students, faculty, and staff. You win in two ways. You will reap direct rewards from experiences gained from what you do. And you will benefit because the quality and reputation of your institution will be improved.

Giving to your institution can and should continue throughout your lifetime. After you graduate, you will become an alumna or alumnus (“alum”) of the university. As an alum, you will have the ongoing opportunity to enhance your institution through contributions of both your time and money. To some extent, the value of your education is related to the image others have of your institution. If the image of it improves, even many years after you have graduated, the value of your education will be enhanced. So whether you want it or not, you and your institution will be permanently linked.

Following are some of the ways you can put something back into your university or college, even as an undergraduate student. Doing many of

the things we have already discussed, such as performing well in your classes and becoming actively involved in extracurricular activities, will by their very nature benefit your institution. But there are other ways you can contribute:

(1) Providing feedback (2) Serving as an ambassador (3) Helping other students This is not a complete listing, and I’m sure you can think of other

ways to give something back to your college or university. But let’s consider these three suggestions for now.

PROVIDING FEEDBACK You are your institution’s primary customer. You know best whether

you are getting what you need. You therefore should make every effort to let those in decision-making positions know how the institution is serving its customers. Don’t restrict your feedback to negative remarks. Positive feedback can have as much, or even more, value in bringing about positive change than negative feedback.

You will have some formal opportunities to provide this kind of feedback. The best example is when you are invited to complete student opinion surveys about your professors’ classroom performance. Please

take these surveys seriously. They give feedback to your professors that they can use for self-improvement. Additionally, the results of the student opinion surveys are used in important decisions about tenure, promotion, and merit salary increases. Generally, these surveys consist of a series of numerical questions followed by a place for you to write narrative comments. I strongly encourage you to write detailed comments. As a professor, I found the comments far more informative and useful than the numerical results.

You will undoubtedly have other opportunities to provide feedback about your education and your institution. You may be invited to write letters of support for professors; you may receive surveys designed to measure the overall campus climate; or you may see an invitation to students to meet with the dean or department chair to give feedback. I hope you take full advantage of these and other opportunities to give feedback.

You can also give unsolicited input. Be liberal with positive feedback. As we discussed in Chapter 4, let your professors know when you like the subject or value their teaching. Tell the dean or department chairs about anything you like. People are less receptive to negative feedback, so you should be more selective with negative criticism. But if you really feel that something important is not right, don’t hesitate to make an appointment to see the dean or the department chair to air your grievances. If you do, make every effort to present yourself in a tactful, respectful, and rational manner.

SERVING AS AN AMBASSADOR You are also your institution’s best ambassador. There are both

formal and informal opportunities for you to serve in ambassador roles. Your college or university may have a formal ambassadors’ organization of students who represent it at a variety of events. Such ambassadors conduct special tours; host receptions, dinners, or special events; serve as ushers; or escort distinguished visitors and alumni.

Your institution may also have a community service organization similar to the Educational Participation in Communities (EPIC) program. Through this type of organization, you can volunteer for community service assignments in schools, hospitals, community centers, and other service agencies.

You can create your own ambassador activities as well. Return to your high school or other high schools and speak to teachers and students there on behalf of your institution. Word of mouth is one of the institution’s best image-builders. When you speak to anyone off campus, take the view that you are representing your college or university. Put forth the most positive perspective you are capable of. Keep in mind that any time you “bad mouth” your institution, you are diminishing the value of your education. Keep your complaints on campus and tell them to someone who can do something about them.

HELPING OTHER STUDENTS Can you recall times when others students helped you? What did they

do for you? Perhaps they pointed you toward a great teacher, provided you with information about some regulation or campus resource that really benefited you, or gave you some free tutoring that clarified a point you were stuck on.

Don’t always be the one seeking help from others. Look for opportunities to help other students. Although what you have to offer

will increase as you progress through the curriculum, even as a freshman you can help other students. This help can be either informal through contacts you initiate or through work as a volunteer in more structured situations. Volunteer to serve as a computer consultant in the engineering computer lab. Volunteer to work as a peer tutor in your university learning resource center. Or volunteer to work as a peer advisor in special programs for “at risk” students.

You will find that when you help others, you will get as much out of it as they do. You will develop your communication skills, increase your knowledge, and feel good about yourself for having done it.

SUMMARY The purpose of this chapter was to introduce you to a number of

activities, in addition to your formal academic work, that will broaden and enhance the quality of your education. Through participation in these activities, you will build your interpersonal communication, teamwork, organizational, and leadership skills – skills that will be important to your success in your career.

First, we described opportunities for participation in student organizations, particularly those organizations based in the engineering college, and we noted the benefits of such participation. These benefits include establishing relationships with other engineering students, developing your organizational and leadership skills, gaining valuable career information, improving your academic performance, and bolstering your self-esteem by giving something back to your engineering college or community.

Next, we discussed the value of participating in engineering projects such as student design competitions, technical paper contests, design clinics, and research projects. These activities require considerable time on your part, but the return can be enormous.

Then we discussed the value of gaining engineering-related work experience through pre-professional employment such as summer jobs, part-time jobs, and cooperative education experiences. We also presented approaches and strategies you can use in conducting

successful job searches. Developing job search skills now will be invaluable to you when you seek employment as you near graduation.

Next we discussed one of the most enriching experiences you could have: studying abroad. Not only could study abroad provide you with the experience of a lifetime, you can gain a competitive edge in seeking employment in this global economy.

Finally, we described several ways you can give something back to your college or university. As your institution’s most important customer, you can provide invaluable feedback. As its ambassador, you can represent it best with external constituencies. And you can be of great help to other students, just as other students have been and will continue to be of help to you.

Taking advantage of the activities described in this chapter takes initiative on your part. Unlike your formal academic work, no one will require you to do them, and no one will check up on whether you do. But the return on your investment can be even greater than the return you receive from your formal coursework. The activities outlined in this chapter truly offer opportunities for you to take responsibility for the quality of your education.

REFERENCES 1. Remer, Donald S., “Experiential Education for College Students:

The Clinic – What It Is, How It Works, and How to Start One,” Monograph Series of the New Liberal Arts Program, Research Foundation of the State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, 1992.

2. Buonopane, Ralph A., “Cooperative Education – Keeping Abreast of New Technologies,” ChAPTER One, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, May, 1990.

3. Beshara, Tony, Unbeatable Resumes: America’s Top Recruiter Reveals What REALLY Gets You Hired, AMACOM Books, June, 2011.

4. Ireland, Susan, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Resume, 5th Edition, Alpha Books, January, 2010.

5. Jackson, Tom, “Resumes, Cover Letters, and Interviews,” National Business Employment Weekly, October, 1991.

6. Mayer, Dale, Career Essentials: The Cover Letter, Valley Publishing, July, 2011.

7. Deluca, Matthew, Best Answers to the 201 Most Frequently Asked Interview Question, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 2010.

PROBLEMS 1. Make a list of all the engineering student organizations at your

institution. Are you an active member of one or more of these organizations? If not, join the one you are most interested in.

2. Visit the website of the national engineering society you are most interested in. Locate information on scholarships and awards given to students by the society. Share this information with fellow students in your Introduction to Engineering class. Determine whether you are eligible for one of the scholarships or awards, and if so, apply for it.

3. Determine whether there is a local section of the national engineering society you are most interested in. Find out when the local section holds its meetings and attend one of them. While at the meeting, try to meet as many members as you can. Ask one of them if you can visit them to conduct an informational interview.

4. Find out if the student chapter you joined is organized to accomplish the five purposes outlined in Section 7.1. If not, suggest that a committee structure be put in place to address any missing purpose (e.g., Social Committee, Professional Development Committee, Personal Development Committee, Academic Development Committee, Service Committee). Volunteer to chair one of these committees and develop a plan for the next year’s activities.

5. Visit the office of your institution’s student government. Arrange to meet the student body president and ask him or her whether there are any open committee assignments you could volunteer for.

6. Find out whether your engineering college has participated in any of

the engineering student design competitions listed in Section 7.2. If there is one or more, which one(s)? Consider getting involved in the competition.

7. If the answer to Problem 6 is “none,” pick the one you are most interested in. Contact the sponsor of the competition to obtain detailed information on the event. Try to persuade your engineering college to participate.

8. Find out if your engineering college has a design clinic program in which undergraduate students work in teams on real-world engineering problems. Find out how you can participate.

9. Find out how many full-time faculty members are in your college of engineering. Determine which ones have funded research projects. Find out how many of them employ undergraduate students to work on their research projects. Make a commitment to seek such an opportunity.

10. Determine whether your engineering college has a formal cooperative education program. (Note: The co-op program may be operated university-wide rather than by each academic unit.) If there is a formal co-op program, visit the co-op office and find out how one applies for a co-op position.

11. Visit your campus career center. Ask for a list of all companies that interview on campus for engineering graduates. Pick one of the companies and research it through its website. Write a 500-word essay about the company.

12. Do a personal assessment based on the three factors listed in the section on “How Do You Measure Up?” to find out how well you will do in competing for pre-professional employment positions. If you are not satisfied with your competitiveness, make a plan for improvement. Implement the plan.

13. Acquire one of the books on conducting job searches listed in the references for this chapter (References. 3, 4, 6, or 7). Pick three sections you are interested in and read them. Write a two-page explanation of what you learned. (Note: All of the books are available through www.amazon.com).

14. Based on the instructions given in the section on “Preparing a Resume,” create your own resume. Ask several people to critique it. These could be fellow students, professors, career center staff, or practicing engineers. Revise your resume based on the input you get, and develop plans to participate in activities that would make your resume more impressive (e.g., join and participate in student organizations; find out how to earn academic awards, scholarships, or recognition; map out strategies for landing pre-professional engineering jobs; etc.). Commit to having a resume that is ready-to-go throughout your college years.

15. Write a cover letter seeking a summer job as an engineering aide with the company you selected in Problem 11. Have the cover letter critiqued by several people and revise it until you are satisfied with it. Send the letter and your resume to the company early in the spring term. Follow up on your application as explained in Section 7.3.

16. Get a friend or fellow student to ask you the questions presented in the section on “Developing Your Interviewing Skills.” Have the person critique your answers.

17. Prepare a written response to each of the questions presented in the section on “Developing Your Interviewing Skills.” Practice your answers and then repeat Problem 16. Did you note any difference?

18. Make up ten additional questions that you think you might be asked in an interview for a summer job. Prepare responses to those questions.

19. Use the Internet to do the following: a. Go to www.census.gov/naics. Click on “2012 NAICS” under

“Downloads/Reference Files/Tools” to find the 24 major economic sectors.

b. Explore one or more of the major economic sectors to identify an industry (as identified by its five- or six-digit 2012 NAICS classification code) that you are interested in.

c. Pick a product or a service in that industry. d. Google the name of the product or service and identify the names

of companies that make the product or deliver the service.

e. Pick one of those companies, go to their webpage, and learn as much as you can about that company.

f. Contact the company (by email or telephone). Find out if it has summer job positions for engineering students and, if so, how one can apply for such positions.

20. Make a list of ten companies you would like to work for in the summer using the methods outlined in the section on “Identifying Employment Opportunities.” Plan a campaign to apply for a pre- professional employment position with three of them.

21. Pick one of the companies you found in Problem 19. Either through networking or through a telephone call to the chief engineer of the company, identify a person with whom you can conduct an informational interview. Arrange an interview to be conducted either in person or by telephone. Conduct the interview and write a critique discussing how the interview went. Don’t forget to send a thank you letter or email after the interview.

22. Evaluate the list of questions presented in the section on informational interviews. Rate each question on a scale of one to ten. Think up five additional questions that you might ask. Rate those questions. Take the total list of 15 questions and select ten you would feel comfortable asking a practicing engineer. Put the questions in what you feel is the most logical order to ask. Use this list when you conduct any informational interviews.

23. Make up a list of questions you would ask a professor during an informational interview. Pick one of the engineering professors and arrange a 20-30 minute meeting with him or her. Write a critique of the interview.

24. Go to the CollegeMonster website: www.college.monster.com. Search under “Internships” for any part-time or summer job listings in engineering in your state. Prepare a short (two to three minutes) presentation for your Introduction to Engineering class on what you found there.

25. Access the EngineerJobs website: www.engineerjobs.com. Explore the jobs listed for several engineering disciplines of interest to you.

Write a two-page summary about the jobs you found there. 26. Go to the “CareerBuilder” website at www.careerbuilder.com.

Explore the job search resources available there. Prepare a three- minute oral presentation for your Introduction to Engineering classmates describing what you learned.

27. Review the benefits of a study abroad experience listed below:

Build greater self-confidence, self-reliance, and maturity Broaden your world understanding and gain a new perspective on the world Improve your cross-cultural communication skills Develop your ability to adapt to new and unfamiliar environments Acquire second language skills Make new, lasting contacts and friendships Distinguish yourself from your peers in future job searches

Are these benefits you would like to have? Write a short paper on where you are on two of these items and how a study-abroad experience would change you.

28. Google “<name of your institution> study abroad” to locate the website of your college or university’s Study Abroad Office. Review the resources there to help you find a study abroad opportunity. Find out whether the office offers periodic information sessions. Attend one of these sessions and write a one-page paper on what you learned.

29. Go to the “StudyAbroad” website: www.studyabroad.com. Pick a city or country you might be interested in and search for programs under the subject “Engineering.” Review the programs there. Prepare a 2-3 minute presentation for your Introduction to Engineering class on what you learned.

30. Write down ten positive features of your college or university. Rank them in order of importance. Pick ten different people (students, faculty members, department chair, dean) and tell each person about one of the features on your list. How did they respond?

31. Find out whether your institution or your engineering college has any service-oriented clubs. Write a one-page description of what one of the service organizations does. Plan to participate in the service club for at least one term during your undergraduate years.