First Co-op Rotation
Olivia
Experience Information
Employer: Corteva AgriScience
Job Title: Mechanical Engineer Co-op Student
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Corteva AgriScience is a world wide company. Corteva is in North America, Europe, Australasia, Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin American and the Caribbean. There are 21,000 employees that together can bring in 14.217 billion dollars.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
I was on a team that want confined space entries to be significantly reduced due to them being unsafe and very expensive. I worked on a mechanical arm that would be able to do the tasks that a human would normally do during these confined space entries. I was able to get feedback from the inspectors and then further improve the pole. I oversaw an underground pipe inspection which was a lot of emails, calls, and meetings with lots of different companies. I helped in the risk management software that Corteva has, which was exciting to use a new software.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I was really scared going into work on my first day because I had no idea what to expect. I was especially nervous about how to interact with my boss and other engineers. I was so used to the teacher/student relationship that I almost called my boss Professor. It took about 3 weeks for me to realize that my boss was my peer and so were all the other engineers. After realizing this it made asking questions a lot easier.
Favorite Part of the Experience
I was very excited to be doing engineering stuff. I was preparing myself to be okay with just doing excel sheets as some past students mentioned about their co-ops. Everything I did was very valuable and I learned so much.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
This confirmed that I want to be an engineer.
Internship Format
Hybrid (some in person and some remote)