Program influencers are critical to the success of this program—they are helping define the leaders of our future workforce. They are representatives from various industries who have a high level of experience.
As a program influencer, you can make the most of several points of contact with our students, in which you may coach them both in the broader aspects of business and industry as well as the finer points of your specific areas of expertise. This synergistic experience is rewarding on many levels and offers a variety of potential interactions to suit your availability and desired level of engagement.
Additionally, students who intern or work on a project for your company through this program will gain an understanding of your organization’s processes and culture—an ideal environment for potential future employees to experience.
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Real-World Projects
Each course is assigned a semester-long project that tackles a problem provided by a real company. Working in interdisciplinary teams and following a systems-thinking engineering design process, students assess customer needs and generate, evaluate, and present solutions to the customers. As an influencer, you can be the client who benefits from the results of this elite and creative problem-solving process.
Site Visits
Site visits help our students gain a greater understanding of your industry while introducing them to your organization’s operations— which may prove fruitful to future interactions with them, such as potential internships. Site visits also give students the chance for hands-on learning at your and other leading companies. One manufacturing site visit is scheduled each semester.
Networking
Networking opportunities provide students the means to develop professional contacts and to connect with valuable industry and business resources. At these sessions, you can nurture associations with up-and-coming top performers who could one day join your firm.
Networking events include, but are not limited to:
- Educational information sessions
- Targeted small group or individual discussions
- Speed mentoring sessions
- Industry overviews
We can customize the type of event and number of participating students based on your needs.
Click Here to sign up for a Networking Session.
Executive Mentoring
As an executive mentor, you can give a student the benefit of your experience as a professional who has already forged success in your industry. You are matched with one or more students whose career objectives align with your industry and areas of expertise. Mentors and students connect monthly to create, monitor, and continuously build upon a professional and personal development plan. For both parties, accountability is key for these highly rewarding, one-on-one interactions to succeed.
Click Here to sign up to be a Mentor.
Industry Speakers
We bring in top professionals from a range of industries to expose students to elite expertise. By giving a presentation, you can share your experience with students and provide a window into your company, industry, and experience. In informal talks before and after, you can engage with our students and familiarize them with your company. Previously invited speakers have included executives from, but not limited to, the aerospace, automotive, chemical, construction, consumer goods, electronics, financial, food, non-profit, medical, nuclear, and transportation industries.
Internships
Students develop connections and apply the knowledge and skills gained through coursework in a professional setting that will accelerate their career preparation. The invaluable experiential learning gained through a real-world setting will help them better apply concepts from coursework. As a program influencer, you have the opportunity to educate students about your organization before they intern with you, reducing the usual learning curve.
Scholarship Investment or Direct Program Support
Providing program support or a scholarship endowment allows you to not only support bright, rising leaders in industry, but also build your recruiting base and raise your brand profile.
As a result of your involvement, our students will graduate with:
- The ability to seamlessly operate across business and engineering divisions, reducing silos
- An understanding of the framework for a successful company and the critical factors driving both engineering and business success
- Strategic and critical thinking skills that will add value for their employer from day one
- Communication skills that will allow them to lead others in implementing effective solutions and translate their vision across all levels of an organization
All of these attributes instill students with distinct leadership skills that they are ready to put to work for you. You have the opportunity to recruit them to a preferred job placement and, because of their preparation and training, they can advance their career at an accelerated rate to the mutual benefit of both them and your firm.
Being a program influencer offers you multiple means to engage with our students in reciprocally advantageous ways. You share your knowledge, your aptitude, and your insight through site visits, speaking engagements, mentoring, networking, and more.
In return, students can work as a team to solve a problem or improve a process, design, or product for your organization, complete an internship, or perhaps even work full time for you upon graduating. Meanwhile, students will gain a more polished skill set, broader experience, and a deeper understanding of industry that will make them a more effective employee. It’s a win-win all around.