Search - Experience Matters - Grand Valley State University

Twisthink Co-op Round 2

Audrey
Major: Electrical Engineering This round of co-op I was able to expand upon my programming skills by learning C#, and created several WPF applications during the planning and exploration phase of a project TT was working on. I studied the feasibility of various concepts such as drag and drop, reading/writing XML documents, and custom styles in WPF by creating these demo apps. In addition, I did a fair amount of hardware validation testing. This included taking measurements such as ripple voltage with different applied loads or transient response, and then making modifications to improve the performance. Similarly, I wrote some software unit tests to verify another board's performance for a separate project, as well as taking physical measurements and constructing graphs to display the data. I also did some research on live streaming, and extracted information about the various protocols, streaming providers, and how products that exist in the market accomplish streaming.

Engineering Co-op at Magna Mirrors

Jay
Major: Electrical Engineering I received a wide variety of task throughout the semester. I spent a lot of my time making mockup mirrors. This required me taking mirrors apart, making some form of modification to an area of interest inside the mirror, building the mirrors back up, and then testing the new mirrors for desired performances. In doing this I spent a lot of time in our shop, gaining familiarity using some of our machining equipment. I also was exposed to a number of different testing procedures including current draw, vibration, water spray, wind tunnel, and several others. In addition to these tasks, I was able to gain some electrical engineering experiences as well. I performed circuit analysis on a few turn signal modules, populated and modified a few sets of PCBs, soldered together multiple wire harnesses, and was even able to run some EMC testing.

EBW Electronics Co-op II

Bryan
Major: Electrical Engineering Throughout the semester I did some electronics hardware development as well as a write some firmware for a microcontroller. Some projects included use of electronics lab equipment. I also attended meetings with customers and suppliers, as well as learn more about other areas such as manufacturing processes.

Co-op II: Innotec Group

Lauren
Major: Electrical Engineering In terms of electrical projects, I completed a limit switch project, thermolator project, planned a large controls project, and learned about extensive relay logic. With these projects I learned new 2D CAD software, how to properly draw my own electrical wiring diagrams from scratch, how to work with relays, how to use auxiliary contacts, and much more. I also worked on putting together on-line electrical-check stations for some of the products that my team produces, fixed countless wire and connector damage, updated sensors, and x-rayed parts to help understand electrical failures. Mechanically, I learned how to operate a manual three-axis mill,successfully milling limit switch stops, an entirely new electronic-check station for one of our products with over ten detailed parts needed, and color check stations. Additionally, this semester I assisted our launch team. I made over a dozen unique prototypes for a new product on a CNC machine, which required learning a new CAM software and a new milling interface. I measured light intensity and color data for thousands of parts for multiple new products. I also helped perform analysis on diode functions and analyzed multiple different design performances to choose which scheme should be kept for a final product launch. There were so many more amazing experiences that I worked on, from presenting at company meetings, attending design reviews, ordering materials [working with supply chain], to assisting with 5S projects. I learned something new every single day at work, and I highly recommend Innotec to anyone who wants a fast-paced, hands-on job!

GE Aviation Electrical Engineering-Dayton

Aaron
Major: Electrical Engineering Some C-programming, little circuit design, lots of hardware debugging and rework (soldering).

Controls Engineering Co-op

Marshall
Major: Electrical Engineering Over the course of the semester, I worked in a manufacturing facility operating controls equipment such as PLC's, safety equipment, and network communications equipment. I used ladder logic to solve issues with machines' programming, AutoCad Electrical to generate electrical wiring diagrams and panel layout prints, and physical components to modify and update machinery.

Co-Op at Magna

Alexander
Major: Electrical Engineering This semester I participated in a variety of EMC, Spot meter, Illuminance Reduction, Current Draw, Extreme Environmental Resistance, and Light Consistency Tests. I also assisted with various design alterations and testing concerning a prototype rearview camera design and several prototype light indicator module designs.

Electrical Engineering in the Architecture/Engineering Industry

Greg
Major: Electrical Engineering I aided in the layout and design of lighting systems in new construction buildings as well as historical renovations. I also provided design assistance in the layout of power distribution systems within these buildings according to local, state and national electric codes. I provided assistance on a variety of different building projects for K-12 education, higher education (including projects for Grand Valley State University), historical building renovations, healthcare facilities, and large scale airport renovations.

Test Software Engineer Intern

John
Major: Electrical Engineering During the time spent here, I was able to be involved in many different areas. Anywhere from fixing problems that arouse in the production line (both hardware and software), to developing software and hardware used to test new units going through qualification testing. The task that I was able to spend the most time on was writing/updating code for stations that were being upgraded from Windows XP machines to Windows 7. Much of the hardware used in Windows XP is not supported in Windows 7, therefore the code had to be altered to communicate with a new pieces of hardware. This gave me the opportunity to learn how many different communication protocols work, and how to interface with many different components.

Co-op at JR Automation

Kevin
Major: Electrical Engineering Projects and tasks included writing a PLC program to control and monitor equipment (heat gun) via interfacing Allen Bradley ControlLogix systems with hardware by generated tags (timer and control). Also, it included creating a Macro to assist in importing and generating data for use in software. It also included human machine interface design and implementation on machines to interface between machine and operator and also included data transfer via machine to databases.

Co-op I: Innotec Group

Lauren
Major: Electrical Engineering I helped wire machines, build machines, create and update schematics, use CAD to design solutions, and helped move a launch product into production. I also was able to learn how to use different electrical equipment and conduct studies directly for our customer.

Working and Learning at a Great Company

Isaac
Major: Electrical Engineering I worked on many projects for different engineers this semester ranging in size and complexity. I worked on schematic updates, PLC programming, circuit design, and circuit building. I also received the opportunity to go to Mexico as a new machine was being assembled there and assist an engineer. It has been a great experience being at Shape learning and working with the engineers here.

Controls Engineering Co-op

Marshall
Major: Electrical Engineering This summer, I worked with machine controls, handling electrical drawings and documentation. I set up inputs and outputs in electrical panels and had them installed according to my design. I installed safety features and the electrical systems controlling them. I worked with PLC installation and programming, setting up and modifying the controls that determine how machinery behaves under certain conditions.

JR Auto

Adam
Major: Electrical Engineering As a controls intern at JR Automation I was tasked with a variety of goals and jobs. This could have ranged from computer programming and debugging to swapping parts in and out of a machine trying to find the perfect solution to setting up a camera to accurately analyze a part.

Electrical Engineering Co-op

John
Major: Electrical Engineering My main focus of this semester was trolling motors, however, I was able to spend a little bit of time in lighting. I soldered and potted boards, working on my coding skills and used a thermal imaging to find hot spots on boards during testing. I also designed an LED board for task lights.

More than just 9-5

Josiah
Major: Electrical Engineering While at Disher I was able to work on many different interesting projects that I cannot describe to thoroughly. I was able to work with a company that makes car visors, on a project that is meant to redefine how visors are made and installed. I also was able to work on a project for a company that makes smart tables as well. There were plenty of smaller projects as well, but these were the two most important and interesting ones.

Engineering Co-op

Emily
Major: Electrical Engineering I would split my work into three categories: projects, reports and busy work. Projects were things given to me that took more than a few days. Tasks of this nature occupied about 60-70% of my time. Reports were things that required the acquisition of data, the transformation of raw data, and the actual writing of a report. I had 4 of these within my 3 months at Gill. The last category is busy work. This is the doing of miscellaneous and small tasks. This ranged anywhere from cleaning, to assembling products and this is where the remainder of my time was allocated.

Twisthink Co-op Round 1

Audrey
Major: Electrical Engineering I did a lot of research on machine learning algorithms for various applications Twisthink is working on, and also wrote some MATLAB functions. I also worked on a detection project, which included determining the optimal sensor for the project's application by researching and then testing. In addition to those projects, I did some temperature testing on several resistors by creating a circuit that simulated what would be happening in the product, and used an IR camera and an oscilloscope to capture the temperature at different time intervals.

Summer 2015 Engineering Co-op #1

Drew
Major: Electrical Engineering electrical drawing changes, setting up PCs, setting up and wiring CNCs, backing up PCs, printing manuals, and assembling vendor manuals to name a few.

A Grand Experience, at Johnson Controls

Omar
Major: Electrical Engineering I learned the specifications for two products that are being released in a future model of a major car brand, and applied that to the testing that was conducted on the software. I automated the testing on certain features to save time on current/future testing on this product and future products similar to it.

Welding Robot

Corey
Major: Electrical Engineering I was assigned to the headrest launch division where we assemble machines that bend and put notches in the metal headrest tubes. My major task for the summer was to help assemble, program the PLC and program the HMI for a Weld Cell that used a robot arm to weld up to six different stations around a 7 sided structure.

DornerWorks EE Internship Rotation 1

Josh
Major: Electrical Engineering I was placed as a Custom Logic Intern at day one. I had to quickly pick up the basics of Python and C++, as well as become loosely proficient in VHDL, 3 languages of which I'd never done any work in. Some of the main tasks I've completed were writing test cases for a Single Port RAM, and adapting a VHDL Pseudo-Random Number Generator to our libraries and adding functionality to it.

Third Engineering Co-op at Johnson Controls

Xu
Major: Electrical Engineering I worked on software detail design documentation for software architecture design. I also participated in updating a database and project management documentation maintenance activities.

Future Gadgets

Omar
Major: Electrical Engineering I worked on a product that will be released in a future model car, that I cannot disclose.

Project Coordinator

Sam
Major: Electrical Engineering Coordinated an industrial automation upgrade project, to include researching available options, coordinating vendor meetings, creating and submitting request for quote (RFQ) documents, evaluating potential solutions. Future work to be performed includes negotiating terms of purchase, generating statement of work (SOW) documents, installing and testing hardware and software, developing a high-level user interface, and providing long-term support for the finished product. Purchased components for, assembled, programmed and installed a large-format ambient temperature and humidity monitoring system for a controlled environment testing laboratory.