{"id":30338,"date":"2013-08-29T10:09:21","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T15:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=30338"},"modified":"2016-07-28T14:35:43","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T19:35:43","slug":"september-engineering-e-newsletter-student-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/september-engineering-e-newsletter-student-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineering Students Maximize Their Co-Op Experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Colin Wattigney<\/p><\/div>\n

OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 In today\u2019s competitive job markets, college students are under great pressure to make themselves stand out among higher numbers of job seekers for lower numbers of positions. Ole Miss engineering students such as Colin Wattigney of New Orleans and Paul Furr of Pontotoc are taking advantage of cooperative education programs to give themselves a competitive edge.<\/p>\n

More commonly known as \u201cco-ops,\u201d the program allows undergraduate engineering students to earn valuable experience in their area of potential career interest for a full academic semester.\u00a0 Many co-ops are paid positions and give students a chance to become more deeply involved with projects as opposed to a part-time internship.<\/p>\n

Wattigney, a senior, is confident that his co-op experiences will serve him well in the future and make him a more viable candidate for job prospects. A mechanical engineering major, he has worked with General Electric Aviation<\/a> in Batesville and BorgWarner Transmission Systems<\/a> in Water Valley. Wattigney is also earning an emphasis in manufacturing through the Center for Manufacturing Excellence, where he serves as chairman of the CME Student Advisory Board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to either pursue a career in the automotive manufacturing industry or in a private engineering consulting firm,\u201d Wattigney said. \u201cI firmly believe my co-op experience has enhanced my career opportunities. I learned a great deal of engineering and manufacturing skills that have expanded my classroom education such as 3-D CAD, prototype design and product flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furr, a senior chemical engineering student, has had a similar experience and feels that he benefitted from his time completing a co-op with Toyota Motor Manufacturing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking at Toyota was an exciting experience in a lot of ways that I did not expect,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew about their reputation for building quality vehicles and their forward-thinking business practices, but I was not expecting to be exposed to an entirely new culture in the process. My business, data analysis and public speaking skills improved greatly.\u201d<\/p>\n

His preliminary goal is to earn a position as an engineer in the area of manufacturing or design after graduation next May. He has been involved with Tau Beta Pi and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies.<\/p>\n

Both students encourage others considering a co-op to be well-prepared for the process, to take advantage of available resources and to start their search for a co-op early.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpend time perfecting your resume and attend the co-op and internship fairs on campus,\u201d Wattigney said. \u201cBe sure to follow through appropriately with any company with which you initiate communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just began working in another co-op position with ExxonMobil because of an Ole Miss alumnus who cares about his alma mater and came here to recruit at Ole Miss,\u201d Furr said. \u201cNetworking and making connections is very important in getting a co-op or full-time position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Upshaw, assistant dean for student services and co-op coordinator for the School of Engineering praised the students for their professionalism as interns.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul and Colin are excellent examples of how Ole Miss engineering students are pursuing the highest levels of excellence,\u201d Upshaw said. \u201cThey are making the most of their college experience by preparing themselves for the future today.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on the School of Engineering or co-op opportunities, visit the Engineering Dean\u2019s Office, the UM Career Center or visit www.engineering.olemiss.edu.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 In today\u2019s competitive job markets, college students are under great pressure to make themselves stand out among higher numbers of job seekers for lower numbers of positions. Ole Miss engineering students such as Colin Wattigney of New Orleans and Paul Furr of Pontotoc are taking advantage of cooperative education programs to giveRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[765,1297],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nEngineering Students Maximize Their Co-Op Experiences - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/september-engineering-e-newsletter-student-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Engineering Students Maximize Their Co-Op Experiences - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 In today\u2019s competitive job markets, college students are under great pressure to make themselves stand out among higher numbers of job seekers for lower numbers of positions. Ole Miss engineering students such as Colin Wattigney of New Orleans and Paul Furr of Pontotoc are taking advantage of cooperative education programs to giveRead the story …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/september-engineering-e-newsletter-student-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-29T15:09:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-28T19:35:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Colin-Wattigney-168x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Ole Miss News\",\"description\":\"The official source for University of Mississippi news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/september-engineering-e-newsletter-student-story\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Colin-Wattigney-168x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/september-engineering-e-newsletter-student-story\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/september-engineering-e-newsletter-student-story\/\",\"name\":\"Engineering Students Maximize Their Co-Op Experiences - Ole Miss News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/september-engineering-e-newsletter-student-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-29T15:09:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-28T19:35:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/6f4ed6d2875ea26cc820d0eb0568d652\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/september-engineering-e-newsletter-student-story\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/6f4ed6d2875ea26cc820d0eb0568d652\",\"name\":\"esmith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47640a561d7e19d1e29d52a4797cff04?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"esmith\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30338"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31482,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30338\/revisions\/31482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}