Minding Their Business

01/01/2024
By Ed Brennen

Thanks to her bachelor’s degree in plastics engineering from UMass Lowell, Emily Cloutier ’23 had a process engineer job waiting for her at PSI Molded Plastics several months before graduating.

And thanks to her minor in business administration, she is already exploring ways to become more involved with data analytics at the Wolfeboro, New Hampshire-based company.

“I may pivot toward a data analyst role at some point, because I really enjoy numbers,” Cloutier says. “Having a business minor gives me a foundation that will be really helpful going forward.” 

Francis College of Engineering students have long had the option of adding a business minor to their undergraduate course load. But in 2018, the Manning School of Business developed interdisciplinary minors tailored specifically for chemical, civil and environmental, mechanical, plastics, and electrical and computer engineering majors.

The 21-credit minor in business administration includes five required courses—Principles of Microeconomics, Accounting, Financial Management, Marketing Principles and Organizational Behavior—and two electives that also count toward a student’s engineering degree. 

“It has been a good pathway for engineering students, given the limited number of electives they have,” says Amit Deokar, associate dean of undergraduate programs in the Manning School. 

The business minor benefits engineering students in several ways, Deokar says. Not only do they deepen their understanding of business concepts, but they also learn about things such as supply chains, production and market forecasts that can give them a leg up as they rise to managerial positions later in their careers.

“The interdisciplinary aspect of the minor really helps, since most of the real-world problems they face in industry are interdisciplinary,” says Deokar, who notes that, should an engineering graduate want to earn an MBA from the Manning School, their business minor courses can also help satisfy the advanced degree’s required foundational courses.

Of the 34 engineering students pursuing a business minor during the 2023-24 academic year, 21 are mechanical engineering majors. 

Mechanical engineering alumnus Dean Kennedy ’14, ’16 minored in business administration as an undergraduate. He ended up landing two internships at Walt Disney World that touched on different branches of engineering.

“I found out I liked the project management side more than the technical side,” says Kennedy, who is now a project manager at Walt Disney World—a position that allows him to call on many of his business skills. “I learned how important it is to interact with people effectively and create relationships.” 

For junior computer engineering major Fidel Castro, minoring in business allows him to fuse two career pursuits.

“I like technology, but I have always been interested in business,” says Castro, a native of Ecuador who transferred to UML from Worcester State University as a sophomore.

Castro initially enrolled in the Manning School with a concentration in management information systems. Drawn to the “new challenge” of working with computer hardware, however, he soon switched majors to computer engineering—while adding the business minor.

“I want to bring technology into business, to help businesses grow and develop,” says Castro, who is interested in a career in nanotechnology manufacturing, where he can figure out how “something as small as a microchip can manage big things so quickly.” 

While engineers “look at how things work,” Castro says that businesspeople “are worried about costs and profit margins.” He wants to help bridge that divide. 

“Having the business minor will help me talk about money, which is what people worry about mostly in industry,” says Castro, who is vice president of the International Business Association and a member of the electronics team for River Hawk Racing, the university’s Formula SAE team. 

Like Castro, Cloutier came to college with an interest in business. 

“I wanted to allow myself to explore that while earning my engineering degree, because it is useful to understand how businesses work. Even as an engineer, you’re still in a business,” she says. 

Cloutier found the two electives she took for the minor—Business Law for Engineers and Survey of Intellectual Property—to be especially useful. 

“Everyone should take the intellectual property class, because it’s important to learn about things like nondisclosure and noncompete agreements,” she says.

The required accounting course, meanwhile, made Cloutier realize “how much I really do love numbers.” 

Minoring in business can also help engineering students learn how to manage their personal finances, become more informed consumers and market themselves when looking for a job.

“Finance is good to know for anyone. It is a good life skill,” says Cloutier, who would “absolutely” recommend that engineering majors pursue a minor in business if they can.

“It allowed me to figure out what I wanted in my career,” she says.