Manufacturing industries will offer our students what we in the educational environment can’t. They offer the large scale -- the big equipment, the real-world problems and the complex strategies of the workplace. Students also gain exposure to the business side of engineering enterprises, an important dimension that is not always included as part of their campus educational experience.
2. How will the program work?
We will not select students for jobs, companies will select the students. We will provide a mechanism to facilitate this process. To do this, we will provide students with a computer disk for recording their resumes, pertinent background information, plans and career objectives. The entire process will be computerized and accessible to participating industries to enable them to select the "right" candidate.
3. What types of assignments student interns are expected to receive?
They will work side-by-side with the company’s full-time engineers. They may be part of a team or work with a single professional engineer to work on real-life manufacturing problems to gain hands-on practical experience.
4. What is expected out of students completing the internship program?
Students are expected to demonstrate that they have been resourceful ,to have done well in the fluctuating environment, to have become more mature and more assertive, and academically better prepared. Students will prepare a written technical report for its review by a faculty member from their department. The employer sends us a written evaluation of the student’s performance and the student is asked to evaluate the company.
5. How do we prepare students for their internships?
We will prepare students for the culture of the work-a-day world, in terms of corporate protocol, so that they will have some appreciation for how things are done and what they should expect. Students interns will be required to demonstrate polished oral and written communication skills.
6. What benefits will employers derive as a result of their participation in the program?
One of the most important feature is the screening process. It gives employers an opportunity to test prospective employers before hiring them. As a result of the internship program, employers get a good reading on whether an individual will fit into their organization.
7. Why is this program good for the university?
In addition to providing useful work and educational opportunities for students, internships offer the potential for research contacts for our faculty. A student might recommend drawing on the university engineering and technology laboratories, even though the student is working on an industrial problem. Equally important, these students promote the university through their performance. They are very positive reflections of the quality of education found at the university. This is a big bonus for CSLA.
If you are interested, please contact:
Dr. Ram Manvi, P.E
Director, CSLA Manufacturing Engineering Center
(323) 343-4496
rmanvi@calstatela.edu