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SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE
If you have demonstrated excellent academic achievement, you are encouraged to apply to Schreyer
Honors College. As a Schreyer Scholar, you enroll in some small honors classes and seminars, work closely
with honors advisers, and conduct independent study and research. You also have special library privileges
and registration priority. If you are accepted, you may be eligible to receive a merit-based, renewable
scholarship. To be considered for this program, you must complete a special application. For information about
the application process to the Honors College, click here. If you wish to find out more about the Honors
College, go to Schreyer Honors
College.
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LEONHARD CENTER
The Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education, established by an
endowment gift from alumnus William E. Leonhard, is at the heart of the College of Engineering's educational
mission to produce graduates who are world-class engineers by bringing together imaginative and talented
engineering students, faculty, corporate executives, and practicing engineers. Innovative programs already
established at Penn State—such as the Engineering Leadership Development minor—are now being
adopted by other engineering schools across the United States. Go to Leonhard
Center for more information.
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LEONHARD ENGINEERING HONORS PROGRAM
The William and Wyllis Leonhard Engineering Honors Program is a merit-based scholarship program
for outstanding undergraduate engineering students. Students selected for this program receive a stipend
each semester and are offered seminars and individual discussions with eminent industrial and business
leaders. To be considered for this program, go to Leonhard Engineering Honors Program to complete an application.
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STUDY ABROAD
Once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and unique cultural and educational experiences await
you through the international study abroad program. Penn State has formal exchange programs on nearly
every continent, including Australia, in countries such as England, Japan, Spain, and Italy, lasting
one semester or a full academic year, as well as abbreviated summer programs. Also offered are dual
language/engineering programs in France and Germany.
Global E3 programs, designed specifically for engineering students, are offered at more
than fifty overseas locations, taught in either English or the language of the country. Following an academic
term in this program, students are eligible for overseas internships.
The College of Engineering also offers workabroad opportunities through its Cooperative
Education collaborations in a growing number of countries.
Go to International Programs for more information.
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ENGINEERING STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
Every department in the College of Engineering sponsors engineering-related student activities,
many of which are entirely student directed. Some groups and activities include:
- Engineering Undergraduate Student Council
- Envisioneers (student members of the Leonhard Center who work in teams
with faculty and administrators to enhance engineering education.
- Local chapters of national engineering societies
- Active student chapters of professional and honorary societies in each major
- Team-based challenges for national competitions such as the SAE race car,
a concrete canoe race, and bridge construction
Go to Student
Organizations for a complete listing of student groups
affiliated with the College of Engineering.
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WOMEN IN ENGINEERING PROGRAM (WEP)
For women engineering students, WEP provides a number of programs and activities designed
to make your years at Penn State enriching, productive, and rewarding. Your first contact with WEP can be
during the annual WEP Orientation (WEPO) for entering students, where you'll meet and work with upper-level
women students, faculty, and alumnae on computer and Internet skills, engineering design, and team building.
Throughout your academic career, you can take advantage of WEP's activities in three
areas:
- Hands-on Experience: offering workshops and project
courses ranging from all-women welding classes to Habitat for Humanity to the coeducational Enigmatic
Engines course, in which you take apart and rebuild a 3.5 HP engine.
- Networking: including study groups for fundamental
courses with upper-level women tutors, mentoring by upper-level students and e-mail mentoring by
alumnae, social activities, and departmental networking groups.
- Career Development: providing resume files
to get your name out to interested companies, contact with engineering employers, and advice on
resume building and job-seeking skills.
WEP supports the student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), one of the largest
and most active student groups on campus. Approximately one fourth of our engineering undergraduate women are
SWE members who participate in community service and social events; leadership, regional, and national
conferences; and career development activities, such as shadowing an engineering alumna or alumnus in
the workplace.
SWE also sponsors High School Days, when prospective woman engineering students can spend
two days with a SWE member at Penn State to sample the engineering curriculum and campus life.
Go to Women in Engineering
Program for more information.
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MULTICULTURAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM (MEP)
If you are a student of color, MEP welcomes you to participate in programs and activities
that enhance your professional career development and leadership skills. Since our establishment in 1985,
MEP has sponsored programs that create a community for African/Black Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, and
American Indians/Alaskan Natives. More specifically we offer you:
- Academic Support: through the academic assistance
center for individual or group study, computer usage, and tutoring; academic recognition and
awards; scholarships; and the Success 101 seminar.
- Networking: through newsletters, orientation,
and pre-first year programs, peer mentors, student?alumni/ae contacts, and social and cultural
events.
- Career Development: including plant tours,
shadowing experiences, and seminars; summer, co-op, or full-time employment opportunities;
trips to regional and national conferences; and the student chapters of the National Society
of Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the American Indian Science
and Engineering Society.
As a Penn State engineer, your talent and skills will be utilized in the classroom as well
as the workplace. Employers recruit on our campus for engineers from diverse cultures to meet the increasing
professional demands domestically and internationally.
On the campus at large, you will find programs and special events at the Paul Robeson Cultural
Center, annual cultural fairs, classes in the African and African American Studies program, fraternities
and sororities, and special-interest clubs.
Go to Multicultural Engineering Program for more information.
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ENGINEERING ADVISING CENTER
The Student Services staff in the Engineering Advising Center can help answer any questions
you have. For your first two years, the professional and faculty advisers will help you select courses,
providing information about majors and the College in general. When you're ready to learn more about specific
majors, you can make appointments with faculty from those departments through the Advising Center. Once
you're enrolled in a major, you will be assigned a faculty adviser from that major to help you develop
class schedules and career plans.
Academic support: Need extra help with a course? You can find it.
Faculty are always willing to discuss questions you might have about their classes during their office hours,
and many run review sessions or provide helpful materials or practice quizzes on their course Web pages.
Each department maintains lists of tutors for courses, and student groups in engineering offer individual
tutoring sessions. Engineering students frequently participate in study groups for the calculus,
chemistry, and physics courses they take during the first two years. The University Learning Resource Center
offers tutoring to all Penn State undergraduates in math, writing skills, reading and study skills, and
specific courses. The center also maintains a computer laboratory with a self-tutorial library.
Go to Engineering Advising
Center for more information.
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CAREER DEVELOPMENT, COOPERATIVE EDUCATION & INTERNSHIPS
Your career options are wide open: In addition to
positions as engineers in industry and government, Penn State engineers choose
many career paths after graduation, including positions in research and development,
teaching, or other professions.
Research and development: If you want to experience
research as an undergraduate, you may arrange research projects independently
with individual faculty members or through your classes.
Teaching: Talented juniors and seniors may help
faculty in the classroom as teaching interns. As an intern, you work one-on-one
with a faculty mentor, offering classroom support, preparing and giving lectures,
and providing feedback to your mentor.
Other options, like law, management, or medicine: Engineering
logic and knowledge of how things work will help you succeed in any profession.
Future leaders must be technologically aware, and an undergraduate engineering
degree can give you an advantage in understanding problems and finding solutions.
Professional experiences: Co-op work experiences,
internships, part-time positions helping faculty with research, special career
development and workplace communication training sessions, and work-study positions
are available for students who seek experiences to enhance their education
and build an impressive résumé.
Co-op work experience: Housed within the Engineering
Career Resources & Employer Relations office, the Engineering Co-op & Internship
Program is one of the largest credit-bearing cooperative education and professional
internship programs in the country. Co-op participants complete three semesters
of paid, career-related work experience during their junior and senior years
with an employer in industry or government, alternating with semesters of classroom
study at Penn State. Internship participants complete one semester of career-related
work experience at a selected business or government entity. Students may complete
an internship as early as their second semester at Penn State, and may choose
to complete multiple internships at different companies or organizations. Students
who complete co-ops and internships gain the valuable technical, professional,
and communication skills they will need to succeed in today's workforce, which
makes them among the most highly-recruited students in the country.
The Engineering Career Resources & Employer Relations office is dedicated
to assisting students in developing professional skills through collaborative
workshops with industry on topics such as résumé writing, interview
skills, time and project management, and business ethics and etiquette. More
than 700 engineering students from all Penn State campuses complete domestic
or international short-term work experiences each year.
Engineering Career Days: A three-day event each
fall brings in hundreds of companies looking for graduates from the Colleges
of Engineering, Earth and Mineral Sciences, Science, and the Smeal College
of Business. The companies display materials; accept résumés
from students seeking internships, co-op, summer, or permanent jobs; and interview
students on campus. Even as a first-year student, you may participate in this
event to learn about different careers and the job-search process. Penn State
students are heavily recruited by industry.
Career Services: Ranked as some of the best in the
country, our career counselors help you in career planning, résumé writing,
and job hunting through seminars, courses, an information center, and on-campus
recruiting interviews. Career services include individual career counseling,
listings of employment opportunities and career-related summer jobs and internships,
workshops on interviewing skills, and a variety of informational meetings and
publications.
Go to Engineering
Career Resources & Employer Relations for more information.
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ALUMNI/AE NETWORK
The Penn State engineering alumni/ae network contains more than 70,000 engineering graduates
who are entrepreneurs, working scientists, CEOs, astronauts, university professors, lawyers, and doctors,
as well as practicing engineers. Their prominence and continuing involvement is our best testimonial.
Alumni return to campus regularly to offer seminars, give job interviews, and serve on advisory boards.
They help us keep the curriculum current and relevant to the needs of potential employers and pose
real-world problems for design classes.
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