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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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SPECIAL HOUSING OPTIONS
E-House, EASI First Year, and FISE House are special housing options at University Park
for first-year engineering students. Special housing options are a great way to meet friends
with the same interests and coursework, find out more about engineering and engineering careers,
and benefit from academic and social programs. See Special
Housing Options for
more information about engineering-related housing programs available at University Park.
Penn State offers a variety of other special housing options at University Park
that may be of interest to you. To explore these options, go
to
Special Living Options. Students who are attending campuses other than
University Park should contact Housing
and Food Services for information
about their campus of choice.
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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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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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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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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 resume.
Co-op work experience: Penn State offers one of the largest
cooperative engineering and internship programs in the country. Engineering cooperative education is
an academic program where students complete three semesters of paid, career-related work experience in
business, industry, or government organizations, alternating with semesters of classroom studies at
Penn State during the junior and senior years. Cooperative education students can gain up to one year of
experience upon graduation. Engineering internships are a separate program in which students, anytime
after the second semester of their first year, may complete one semester of career-related work
experience at a selected business, industry, or government entity. Both cooperative education and internship
students gain valuable technical, professional, and communication skills needed to succeed in today's
workforce, making them among the most highly recruited in the country.
The Engineering Cooperative Education and Internship office is dedicated to assisting students
in developing professional skills through collaborative workshops with industry on topics such as resume
writing, interview skills, time and project management, and business ethics and etiquette. More than 700
engineering students participate in cooperative education and internship programs each year. Cooperative
education and internships are available to all students at any Penn State campus. More than 300 employers
from 32 states and 11 foreign countries actively participate.
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 resumes 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, resume 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 Cooperative
Education & Professional Internship Program for more information.
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