Experience Matters - Grand Valley State University

Software Engineering at Liqid Inc.

Noah
Major: Computer Engineering As an Embedded Systems Intern at Liqid, I worked with the software team to create a conversion program that will read devices' states from a previous version of LiqidOS, and translate those states to be compatible with a newer version of LiqidOS. This way, a user does not run the risk of re-instantiating all of their connected devices, alongside losing their data. I have also performed a data mine of production of 2018 storage devices to determine a pass/fail threshold for a quality control script. This determined if the device created does not meet the speed and functionality standard.

CO-OP with Dominion Systems

Collin
Major: Computer Engineering Projects I worked on range from bug fixes, quality of life improvements, new features, and converting legacy code to our new architecture. My main project was to complete a dashboard summarizing data that is created when a payroll is accepted.

JR Automation Controls Engineering Co-op

Robert
Major: Computer Engineering The tasks I completed were largely dependent upon the projects I was placed on, which I am not at liberty to disclose details about. In general terms, I did a great deal of HMI work, configuring and programming of numerous devices, PLC programming, working with robots, 2D CAD work, working with servos and gantries, and debugging. I was trusted with my own small cell to work on independently (though I frequently received help), and was also allowed to travel and play a role in the installation of a project at the customer's location.

Dominion Systems Co-Op

Collin
Major: Computer Engineering I worked on a new Angular page for the website, I updated some SQL procedures to improve performance. I also contributed to updating the entire website to reflect new UI looks and standards.

Launch Engineering at Koops

Ryan
Major: Computer Engineering This semester I worked with the Launch Engineering team. The launch department works with machines after they have been built but before they are ready to ship. My responsibility was to debug and tune machines in order to prove functionality and ensure that good parts are made with a high level of consistency. I also worked with the customers during trial runs, capability tests, and capacity runoffs, modifying and tuning aspects of their machines to better suit their preferences. Much of my times was dedicated to ensuring that machines work as intended. This included checking the functionality of all sensors, safety circuits, motions, and cycles. Often it would be my responsibility to identify problems with a machine and develop a solution, whether it be a simple adjustment or a full redesign of a certain piece.

Engineering Co-op Internship

Joseph
Major: Computer Engineering My principle projects consisted of software development. My primary project being to develop and launch a cross platform mobile application that allows users to manage productivity and inventory from their smart devices and perform operations that previously would have required a dedicated barcode scanner. Other projects involved testing and developing other soft and hard ware processes.

Embedded Software Co-op at Gentex Corporation

Allen
Major: Computer Engineering This semester, I worked on a new full display mirror (FDM) for an automotive customer. My typical tasks included discussing and implementing requirements for the mirror. Specifically, I focused on the graphical user interface (GUI) and HomeLink features. The FDM is a very complex system with several modes - each of which must display its own set of graphics to the user. Some of the GUI features I implemented include pan/roll/tilt/zoom adjustment menus, HomeLink training instructions, and HomeLink activity graphics. I also focused on other implementation details of the FDM including power modes (battery support) and peripheral management.

Holland BPW

Chad
Major: Computer Engineering This semester, aside from my day to day maintenance and duties, I had two big projects. One project was an enterprise wide wi-fi upgrade. The other project was a proof of concept software defined network where I worked with an external company.

Cybersecurity Co-Op

Evan
Major: Computer Engineering I performed a large variety of project during my co-op but they all boiled down to one goal, evaluate the overall security posture for an organization. This included performing technical reviews such as penetration tests for a company's internal and external presence as well as policy and procedure reviews. These tasks included a lot of travel due to performing most of these assessments from the client's location. I was able to travel across the U.S. but many people from the firm travel all around the world.

Web Developer

Collin
Major: Computer Engineering The projects in the IT department that I dealt with starts simple with writing acceptance criteria, where I would have to write the specifications of the current page, the required data that the user must input, and the required functionality to be added for a page update. To mild difficulty where I would be fixing bugs that were on the current page to help prevent page errors and improve the user experience. As well as this I would help with user interface updates, where I would make sure the page is saving the information properly, displaying the appropriate fields at the appropriate time, making sure the layout of the page is up to the standard of the company. As well as making sure the page was properly functioning and alerting the user of any errors/missing fields that they may have had. My attached screenshot is just one of the many pages I helped with. To the hard projects, such as conversion of pages to Angular, where the page would be completely modernized and updated.

Co-op at Dominion Systems

Collin
Major: Computer Engineering Tasks, assignments, and projects that were worked on at Dominion Systems varied from bug fixes, redesign of pages, and complete rework of pages on our web application.

JR Automation Controls Engineering Co-op

Robert
Major: Computer Engineering The tasks I completed were largely dependent upon the project I was placed on, which I am not at liberty to disclose details about. In general terms, I did a great deal of HMI work, configuring and programming of numerous different devices around the line, teaching points to robots, device testing, and a whole lot of debugging. I also spent time communicating with suppliers regarding defective units for some of the devices and getting them replaced, updating electrical schematics in 2D CAD, as well as meeting with builders and electricians to determine solutions for some problems arising regarding alignment of mechanical components and wiring.

Controls Design Work at Koops, Inc

Ryan
Major: Computer Engineering During the first week of my co-op, I did training in AutoCAD Electrical to become familiar with the tool and the format of the electrical prints at Koops. During the next few weeks I did updates for existing prints to get introduced to many of our components and common circuits. Next, I was given more responsibility and began attending project meetings and taking notes alongside my mentor, Nate, who is a GVSU Engineering graduate. Towards the middle of the semester Nate began giving me more control over the jobs I was working on and I began being the sole voice in meetings/conferences, communicating with customers and other engineers, and getting items quoted through our vendors. By the last month of my semester I was running several small and medium sized jobs with the circuit design, component selection/ordering, and meetings being ran by me with Nate supervising and ready to answer any questions I had.

HBPW - Municipal Service Provider

Chad
Major: Computer Engineering This semester I have been working on both the internal network for servers, employees, VoIP, etc. and the external network for customers. I have worked with partner ISPs to troubleshoot network issues and with customers as well. On the internal network, I have continued on a previous project for a redundant network server farm and I have start new projects with internet edge routing.

Software Development and Embedded Systems

Christian
Major: Computer Engineering I got to work on developing GUI applications in Python for integration testing and configuring embedded systems, as well as developing embedded software in C.

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.

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.

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.

Knowledge is power and a door to opportunity

Sarah Lovely
Major: Computer Engineering 1- Add new data columns into the financial aid maintenance table 2- Allow users to sort data from different columns. 3- Increase accessibility for each project completed in the past using google plugin (WAVE). 4- Designed and implemented a new software (Blackboard test file generator) for all faculty at GVSU to use. 5- Analyse all of the projects and change any queries that pull a person's name to use a different function.

Co-op Third Rotation

Joshua
Major: Computer Engineering I completed the task of configuring and deploying all new PCs in the company that were replacing old PCs that were going to run out on their warranty as well as wiping all information off of the old hard drives before sending them back to Dell.

CE Co-op 3 L3 Technologies

Mike
Major: Computer Engineering This co-op tasks included performing maintenance on old software and fixing minor bugs that arose. I also created tests to help fix problems like I2C communication problems. Other day to day activities involved reviewing schematics and wiring diagrams. There were a couple big projects which culminated in building and designing a calibration station. This included software and hardware elements.

NextGen Team Developer

Ryan
Major: Computer Engineering I am the lead developer for Cereal City Science's new website. Additionally I supported and rebuilt much of the functionality and content management systems behind cqlcorp.com (the companies website.)

EGR 290 CO-OP

Joseph
Major: Computer Engineering I had one primary project throughout the semester that consisted of developing a data archival process to maintain a exponentially blooming sales and management database. I also had a brief introduction to PLC control.

GE Aviation Systems - Software Co-Op

Chris
Major: Computer Engineering During my rotation, I worked in development quality assurance (DQA) where I was assigned to two main projects. The first half of the summer, I worked on pulling data from a number of sources for the purpose of establishing connections that could be used to link these sources in a common data lake, and ultimately to provide a unified set of metrics and visualizations that would provide a high-level view of the health and status of various projects and processes. The remainder of the summer, I was tasked with finding a new system for managing DQA data, which included researching several software solutions and reporting on their capability.

Network Engineering for an ISP

Chad
Major: Computer Engineering My job has been to help support both the internal network for HBPW use as well as the external network for customers. I have done a lot of work in bringing up the network at the new power plant in Holland. I have also worked on upgrading current network infrastructure to provide resiliency. I also have done work with setting up the network monitoring and alert system.