Search - Experience Matters - Grand Valley State University

X-Rite Co-op Experience

Major: Computer Engineering Over the course of the semester I was assigned tasks to help develop a system test library that ensured the functionality of X-Rites products. I was also able to help with the testing and manufacturing of certain prototype products.

JR Automation Quoting Engineering

Major: Mechanical Engineering My job was to prepare quotes for customers. This consisted of creating conceptual automated solutions for complex manufacturing problems, documenting and developing costing/internal budgets for each solution, and then presenting them in a professional and logical manner. I was able to send over 20 quotes to potential customers over the course of the semester, and ended up winning contracts to produce 2 of them, which resulted in over 1 million dollars of business that was awarded to JR.

ME Co-op Experience

Major: Mechanical Engineering The tasks I completed ranged from design all the way to quality work. Bigger projects started out as design work, then milling the parts out myself or by the tool room, then assembly, troubleshoot, and install. Other tasks include being a member of a rust management team, designing parts for other machines, and helping troubleshoot other engineers machines.

Co-op at Altus

Major: Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering As being the engineering co-op student at Altus, I have been given many responsibilities. I have tasks of creating and redesigning workstations so that the products could be assembled faster by our assemblers. I also deal with suppliers when there is a quality issue so that the issue does not occur again. I help with prototyping new products and I am including in discussions relating to the future of products and how we can develop our carts to be more successful. For being a co-op student, I have a lot of say in the development of our products.

Architectural / Building Mechanical Engineering

Major: Mechanical Engineering I performed energy analysis for several buildings (Van Andel Institute, University of Cincinnati, and GVSU) to determine if any energy conservation measures (ECMs) could provide reduced energy costs. In some cases, the buildings are preexisting and the ECMs include adjustments and additions to older systems. In the case of a GVSU project in early design phase, building energy modeling provides useful insight for equipment selection and design strategies. Functional testing building automated systems is another task I was able to perform for Purdue's Active Learning Center. The testing consists of running the building's automated controls systems through all modes of operation to ensure systems will function as designed under all conditions (time, thermal loading, seasonal, etc)

Co-op II

Major: Electrical Engineering I assisted in the plant electronics lab, doing what ever needed to be done at the given moment. I repaired and built mobile product test unit for our production floor and customers (shown in the experience submission picture). I performed ESD testing to help design a board layout change. I developed test masters for the end of the line test stations. I also conducted failure analysis of warranty returned parts as well as managed some maintenance improvements in the lab itself.

Gaining Automation Experience

Major: Electrical Engineering Throughout this second co-op rotation, I was tasked with many new responsibilities that I didn't get to do on my first rotation. These responsibilities included designing and implementing a Human Machine Interface (HMI), establishing communication to the machine's components via various communication protocols, setting up the machine's diagnostic settings, and programming the machine. I was also involved enough in a project to leave the plant and help out with the installation and debug process on the customer site.

GVSU Intern

Major: Mechanical Engineering At Magna Mirrors, I worked this semester alongside several engineers in the outside mirrors group at the Kentwood location. During my internship I was involved in a large amount of projects including disassembling parts for benchmarking, finding the output torque both manually and electrically of glass actuators, finding current draws of power fold actuators in different humidity and temperature settings, taking mirrors out for a drive in different test vehicles with accelerometers attached for vibration data, and creating special wire harnesses to allow serial control of a mirror to emulate a car control module. I also operated CNC mills to rework parts, did draft analysis of several mirror assemblies, coordinated part delivery between nearby plants, assembled prototype mirrors for customers, performed door slam simulations, and even conducted a case study at a nearby car dealership to find correlation between VIN numbers and the mirror combinations that are associated with them. I never expected such a small component of a car to have such a diverse array of processes and tests for an engineer to be involved in, but the outside mirror is an ever-evolving piece of technology that I have had the ability to become quite familiar with.

Western Michigan University

Major: Sport Management - Executed all aspects of video operations including film breakdown, game capture, and live coding using SportsCode and Synergy Video programs - Utilized Scoutware program to input recruits and maintain database - Created mailouts and organized the distribution to potential recruits

EMC Co-op Second Rotation

Major: Electrical Engineering During the second rotation of the co-op, I worked with clients to run a variety of test such as Radiated Emissions (RE), Conducted Emissions (CE), Bulk Current Injection (BCI), Radiated Immunity (RI), and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). Compared to the first rotation, I was a lot more independent working with client's to perform these tests. I also worked on the diagnostic aspect of the products to understand how the product circuitry was producing failures and how to reduce these failures.

2nd Co-op Rotation

Major: Mechanical Engineering I was in the design Department this semester and enjoyed it. I dimensioned part drawing, checked other designers work, and designed a few components of my own for various machine cells.

Co-op 2 at Autocam

Major: Mechanical Engineering I performed studies to analyze the capability of an automated inspection machine. I adjusted hardware in the inspection machine so that the machine's measurements correlated more closely with machinists' gages. I analyzed inspection data to identify unnecessary dimensional inspections for certain part models, removed these inspections, and saved 85 inspection hours per week. I updated the Autonomous Maintenance Logs for around 30 machines to a format that is more user-friendly and easier for machinists to keep track of the maintenance that is being performed. I updated a wash process for a high-volume part and increased throughput by 800%. The primary benefit of this wash improvement was 25 hours per week in labor savings due to the parts getting cleaner. I performed tests and improved the wash processes of other parts as well. I performed studies for a new cutting tool that should save about $30,000 annually in rejected parts. I designed devices to improve process efficiency and provide a more ergonomic working environment for employees. I introduced high school and early college students to Autocam through facility tours and presentations.

The Borgen Project

Major: Advertising & Public Relations The internship revolved around completing tasks on a weekly tracker. It was really well structured and easy to follow. The tasks were anything from a 1-mile campaign to reaching out to local congressional leaders. A lot of the internship revolved around spreading awareness about the organization and key issues.

Small Company, Big Impact

Major: Mechanical Engineering Writing protocols and reports for fixture installation qualifications. Working in the clean room with other engineers to determine new manufacturing processes. Doing annual fixture calibrations. Was project manager for three small projects.

JR Automation 2nd Rotation

Major: Electrical Engineering For the first few weeks, I was placed on a project to get a repeat job's fixture up and running given the PLC and HMI. This was a great refresher and got me back into the controls engineering mindset. Next, I spent a little over a month on a much larger project with various tooling fixtures. This taught me a great deal about the hardware implementation of several devices, while building my PLC and HMI programming abilities. Finally, for the last two months, I have been doing a lot of design work. This included designing electrical and pneumatic prints for various jobs. I learned an outstanding amount about the automation process, as well as electrical and pneumatic functionality.

Cascade Engineering Co-op II

Major: Mechanical Engineering I worked with a prototype technician and together we assembled over 500 dashmat prototype parts. This involved some manipulation of plastic injection molded dashmats and assembly of the parts with fiber pads. I also performed a more thorough study and analysis on my dead pedal weight reduction project from the previous co-op semester. Finally, I was involved in the acoustical testing of various fiber pads and the development of a new dashmat we plan to pitch to a potential client.

megan@deltaplex.com

Major: Sport Management As an assistant to the event directors, I aided with event organization, ticket sales, and logistics. On event days, I acted as contact person for vendors and promotors and also helped out around the arena where needed. This included working parking, box office, in concessions, and security. I also aided in event setup and execution.

Second Co-op - L3 Technologies

Major: Computer Engineering The majority of this semester was spent coding on various projects. I fixed many bugs in software while also implementing new features into certain software. I did also spend time developing my own programs/features. For example, I created a feature that helped to track test cable and station usage. I also had exposure to the python language. I developed a program to help mine through a large amount of data and extract needed information. I wrote a piece of software to help troubleshoot a hardware device that was causing software programs to crash. This problem has been going on for a while, and hopefully with my software the cause can be found. The biggest project I worked on was to create a tool to help check if the relays on a relay board were functioning properly. I wrote the software to turn each specific relay on or off while also helping with the hardware design and implementation. The hardware and software were merged to create a functional and helpful device.

Co-Op at L3

Major: Mechanical Engineering I worked as a mechanical engineer responsible for the testing and analysis of transmission components to determine how our current components compare to our proposed improvements.

Mechanical Engineer Co-Op 2

Major: Mechanical Engineering Benchmarked various automotive parts such as outside and inside mirrors as well as door handles and lift-gates. Rapid prototyping with different types of 3D printers. Prototyped a button mechanism within a door handle. Developed a excel based 3D printing submission manager for Magna Mirror employees.

Wellness Intern

Major: Biomedical Sciences Through my internship, I was responsible for opening the new Employee Fitness Center. This process included writing policies, ordering equipment, leading department-wide meetings and hiring a new intern for the fitness center. In addition to my main project, we implemented monthly wellness initiatives for employees including National Nutrition Month Expo, Stress Awareness and Earth Awareness Week.

Behind The Scenes: Professional Hockey

Major: Sport Management My position includes many responsibilities. I performed office hours during the week and work 12+ hour days on game nights. I was responsible for managing the promotional energy crew of 14 people. I acted as a liaison between the Director of Game Operations and outside entertainment personnel. I carried out all aspects of game presentation including game day documents, on-ice entertainment, national anthem coordination, pre-game player entrance, video creation, and coordinated afternoon hockey games. In addition, I planned, coordinated, and supervised an entire theme night through guidance from my supervisor and video production team.

Mechanical Engineering Co-op 2

Major: Mechanical Engineering During this co-op semester, I was involved in many different tasks. I held a department-wide meeting on a safety feature on the conveyor. I traveled to California for two weeks to commission a customer site. I traveled to Kansas to perform a site audit in preparation for install of a new project. I frequently read drawings in order to find specific parts needed on site. I completed orders and tracked them until they arrived to site. I participated in daily meetings, providing updates on the arrival of parts constantly. I was also involved in creating and updating drawings that are needed on site for installation purposes.

Griffins Game Night Internship

Major: Sport Management During a regular day, our group of Gabe night interns come in about 4 hours before game time to set up the suites in the Van Andel Arena. After this, we head down to the box office where our primary responsibility is to sell game tickets, manage will call, and help with ticket resolution. After this, we are responsible for helping run and clean up intermission games on the ice, assisting the mascots with their needs, and performing T-shirt toss. Following the game we assist with clean-up, jersey auctions, giveaways, and selling tickets to future games.

2nd Engineering Co-op Rotation

Major: Mechanical Engineering I completed a very diverse range of projects, from designing components of material transporting trailers and boxes, to machine safety and process improvements. One large project I was in charge of was a quality control test to make sure commodity material was not being placed into the waste material due to machine wear and settings. With such a vast spectrum of equipment and locations each day brought new projects that needed to be completed which were completely unique to that location or piece of equipment.