Experience Matters - Grand Valley State University

2nd Engineering Co-op Rotation ME

Erich
Major: Mechanical Engineering During my second rotation I completed tasks such as performing FEA on various components of the trailer suspensions. I was a part of a team to develop a brand new product. I made component designs, etc. I was able to work in the test lab. There I continued to improve my welding skills, along with other fabricating and mechanical skills. I visited a shell molding foundry.

Miller Johnson Attorneys Internship

Estefany
Major: Political Science During my time at Miller Johnson, I completed a variety of tasks and projects. I conducted legal research and fact investigation, reviewed legal documents, wrote reports, and drafted legal memorandums, analyzed active litigation and supported case preparation, filed Freedom of Information Act requests, and acquired police reports.

Co-op

Tyler
Major: Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering I was responsible for supporting and performing tests on Pro Pilot Assist (our semi-autonomous system) vehicles. I identified leading competitive vehicles which we used to evaluate the Pro Pilot Park feature. I attended the evaluation, performed some tests independently, and supported on others. I designed and performed a study to determine the appropriateness of the Pro-Pilot traffic jam timeout threshold. I also attended tuning for the new 2019 Altima. I assisted throughout the term with proposals, test route development, and instrumenting vehicles with test equipment.

Zeeland Recreation Youth Sports Intern

Rachel
Major: Sport Management I chose a few programs to take the lead on and work with the instructors to ensure they had their rosters, equipment, and everything they needed to run the program. I worked with Zeeland varsity coaches to gather coaching resources and create packets for the youth volunteer coaches. I attended and participated in board meetings, staff meetings, little league drafts, and coaches meetings. I researched and developed new program ideas and initiated the launch of youth pickle ball. I distributed post program surveys, analyzed the feedback from the surveys, and created reports of recommendations and advancement ideas. I helped run one time events such as the daddy daughter prom and little league showcase day. I created flyers for upcoming events and programs. I created program schedules and designed t-shirt logos for live arm, coach pitch, and tee-ball teams. I took inventory and organized over 600 little league hats and uniforms. I have worked with local partnering businesses in picking up equipment and making orders.

Co-Op II at Herman Miller

Cameron
Major: Mechanical Engineering Over the course of the first two semesters, I was responsible for designed and implemented several fixtures that were used for producing products. I also provided engineering support for Lateral Assembly Lines production. I also worked with another engineer to justify purchasing an bottom sealing bander for shipping as a capital project. Working with another engineer we outsourced product to an outside vendor. I also worked to develop a roll formed part on an automated bender. This would bring a part back in house from an outside vendor.

Co-Op I

Michael
Major: Electrical Engineering Tasks include supporting the product manufacturing team with Work Instructions, updating Bill of Materials, and releasing Engineering Change Notices. Projects include creating Testing Fixtures that ensure all of our shipped products meet specification.

Controls Engineer Intern

Seth
Major: Computer Engineering I was not treated like an intern during this rotation. The project I was assigned to demanded that I learn fast and become a real part of the team. I believe I rose to the challenge and was able to hold my own for the project.

Athletics Intern

Ethan
Major: Sport Management Online work scheduling games, refs, and checking contracts. Receive and send emails, work during games and events. Some work would include announcing, scoreboard, tickets, and parking.

Holland Community Recreation

Josh
Major: Sport Management I was a site supervisor for basketball and softball practices, basketball, volleyball, and lacrosse games and tournaments, and for a basketball league that was played in multiple locations. I was in charge of facilities and making sure coaches had what they needed to be successful. I helped run the Lakeshore youth basketball league by uploading scores as well. I assisted in the marketing of the Spring Fever basketball tournament. I planned and coordinated a Junior Adventure Club for elementary kids during their spring break. I was also tasked with researching national recreational trends and comparing offerings with what Holland has. I got to help run one time events such as daddy daughter dances and parents nights out, too.

District Intern

Martin
Major: Political Science As an intern, I did a plethora of tasks. Day to day things like answering phone calls, This was important because phone calls are a big way constituents are able to contact their representative. I would go through the current news in and around the district, to be sure that all staff members were up to date with the news. Also, I did thongs such as entering mail into the computer system. This was important because this ensured a response to peoples questions.

3rd Co-op At Gentex

Zachary
Major: Computer Engineering I worked on a wide collection of projects that, while varied in their details, all served to improve the performance of our production processes. For example, one of my projects was to work on automating product quality testing. Another project helped to alert technicians and other support staff if any maintenance was required on production lines or equipment. Finally, my last big project focused on creating efficiencies and other improvements to software used across various departments.

Herman Miller Coop 3

Sean
Major: Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering This semester I was given much more responsibility. I was taking on projects where I was the main engineer from start to finish. Some of these included figuring out the problem, designing the drawings needed, writing the program, purchasing the parts, and overseeing the install of the machine.

Engineering Co-op 3: Trans-matic Manufacturing

Cade
Major: Mechanical Engineering I handled the responsibilities of a tool design engineer. As this was my third co-op semester, I had significant experience and was given corresponding responsibility. I led several design projects of varying size and complexity. Most of my time was spent doing design work in a CAD system.

Mechanical Engineer CO-OP 3

Patrick
Major: Mechanical Engineering Designed a test bench for a new Photometry Lab. Developed a positioning fixture for lighting devices.

Dematic Co-Op III

Zach
Major: Mechanical Engineering During my final Co-op semester at Dematic I was able to work on several different projects, completing a wide range of tasks. I worked primarily on the material handling systems within Amazon Fulfillment Centers located in Joliet, IL and Sacramento, CA. In my previous Co-op rotation I worked on the installation drawings and ordered parts for these sites. During this Co-op rotation the installation team was onsite, near the end of the installation process. I aided the installation team and mechanical project lead in ordering priority parts to site. I was also given the opportunity to travel to both of these sites to commission. After the completion of these jobs, I started working on a Fulfillment Center in Long Beach, Ca. I completed several different sets of installation drawings and ordered various parts for this site.

Arconic - M.E. Co-op 3

Clark
Major: Mechanical Engineering This semester was split between the Whitehall, MI campus and the Morristown, TN plant. In Whitehall I worked primarily on a special project throughout the semester, on which I was lead project engineer and designer. I also worked on small furnace updates and system redesigns. In the Morristown plant I worked primarily as a project engineer helping to design the layout for the new plant going up the middle of next year. This involved a lot of quoting and working with the plant to define their process and what improvements can be made in the new plant.

Co-op 3 - EGR 490

Jacob
Major: Mechanical Engineering This semester I have taken over creating drawings for almost all of our standardized filter presses.

3rd Co-op Rotation

Adan
Major: Mechanical Engineering As new products are enrolled into RDI, my job is to design the gating pattern's that will allow molten iron to flow into casting molds. A large machine, called DISAMATIC, produces green-sand molds that contain negative space within them. Iron is poured into an opening at the top of the mold until the negative space is completely filled, and eventually solidifies. Each mold is capable of producing multiple castings, depending on the size and overall geometry of the casting. My job is to layout a design of how the castings will be positioned in the mold and a system of channels that will supply the entire mold with iron at an optimum rate. Iron must also feed into casting cavities as the castings solidify and shrink, which requires integrating reservoirs of iron, called risers, into the layout.

Green Team

Mara
Major: Communications While working for the Green team, I worked for Campus Dining Marketing, creating sustainability guides, plans, social media posts, infographics and revamping their website. During the Fall semester, I conducted four audits for the Green Team at four dining locations (numbering sixteen audits in total). I completed and published a final Green Team report based on those audits from the 2016-2017 academic year, outlining the data that has been collected throughout the year. This report includes maps, audit analyses, recorded data and recommendations for each dining location. I worked to recruit Green Team volunteers, ultimately doubling the members from last year, and promoted the Green Team through the GVSU food social media platforms. In addition to this, I trained volunteers in bin monitoring, audit procedures, and waste sorting, created bin monitoring schedules for volunteers, and led two Zero-Waste football games.

SAF-HOLLAND Co-Op III

Joseph
Major: Mechanical Engineering My time at SAF-HOLLAND this semester was devoted to the development of a steer lock for our passive steering auxiliary lift axle suspension, the LSZ13. I was given responsibility for this project from the initial stage of concept development through to the final phase, start of production. The tasks I completed while working on this project include: concept design, FEA, sourcing prototype parts, prototype builds, test fixture design, prototype degradation and lifecycle testing, test data acquisition and analysis, DFMEAs (Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis), and project management tasks. Other tasks I completed during this semester included analysis of a fifth wheel mounting bracket with ANSYS, GD&T training, and the creation of a database for quick part identification.

Electrical Engineering Third Rotation

Chris
Major: Electrical Engineering During this semester I was able to work on multiple projects. I was assigned the task of designing and fabrication an end of line for our production line. This project involved a circuit layout, Linux and C coding, and mounting and fabrication of the enclosure. I was also able to design and work on multiple different products for out customers.

Firmware Engineering Co-op

David
Major: Computer Engineering During my final rotation of my engineering co-op experience, I was largely treated as an entry level engineer. In this time I was tasked with designing and implementing embedded system programs.

Grand Valley Athletics Game and Event Operations Intern

Jamie
Major: Sport Management During my time here I was tasked with making sure that football, volleyball, basketball game days ran smoothly. Solving any issues that may have arose during game days quickly and effectively.

Co-op 3

Nicholas
Major: Electrical Engineering I was part of the daily tasks that would help keep production running smoothly while also being part of the bigger projects associated with testing. I specifically was in charge of designing a brand new test station that was to be used in the testing of batteries before a product is shipped out. The process in creating such a station included both hardware elements and software elements that taught me a variety of skills.

Yanfeng Co-op 3

Morgan
Major: Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering Various tasks for the product engineering team on the launch of a BMW center console. Projects mostly related to part design changes, root cause analysis for quality issues, fulfilling testing requirements, and updating technical drawings. In this rotation, I traveled to two YFAI facilities out of state to support production work there and had a level of responsibility equal to a full-time hired engineer.