10/01/2016
UMass Lowell students travel the globe on study abroad programs, and gain professional experience in internships and co-ops in the region, and beyond.
10/01/2016
UMass Lowell students travel the globe on study abroad programs, and gain professional experience in internships and co-ops in the region, and beyond.
It was the final week of Matt Macioci’s six-month co-op with the Manufacturing Innovation Team at New Balance in Lawrence, but it seemed as if the mechanical engineering major from Fitchburg had been with the athletic shoe company for years.
As Macioci prepared to feed a sheet of sneaker mesh through a dye-sublimation printer, which uses heat to turn special ink into a gas state that can then permeate the fiber of the material, a senior engineer pulled him aside to ask for his input on a separate project. Macioci quickly reviewed several PDFs and offered his thoughts.
“If someone had told me when I was a freshman that I’d be working at New Balance in two years, I wouldn’t have believed it,” says Macioci. “To come here and interact with these people—and actually put what we’re talking about on paper—it’s amazing what I’ve experienced.”
In June, a team of students and faculty took their “Astronomy Roadshow” to an elementary school in Les Cayes, Haiti. Part of the challenge, says junior math major Thomas Heywoszwas, was that they had to overcome more than just the language barrier and lack of supplies—they also had to figure out how to introduce a hands-on approach to learning.
Heywosz, who is participating in the UTeach program—which prepares STEM majors for teaching careers—helped the Haitian students build telescopes, generate electricity with solar panels and create a crystal radio.
“It took the students a while to open up but then they were so enthusiastic,” he says. “The experience of teaching the Haitian students is something that I will never forget.”
Asad Elmi did two important things following his six-month sales and marketing co-op job at Putnam Investments in Andover: The sophomore declared his major (business administration with concentrations in marketing and finance) and asked if he could stay on at Putnam in a part-time role. “After the six months I realized that this is exactly what I want to do. This is the career path,” says Elmi, who has now been with the Boston-based global investment firm for two years and is on track to earn his degree this fall. “I found a home here and I haven’t left since.”