Meet Melisa in Engineering Physics
Why Illinois?
Initially, I planned on going elsewhere. But luckily, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers invited me to campus as part of their High School Visitation Program with other newly admitted engineering students for a weekend program. It was during this program that I truly fell in love with the campus and culture and realized what amazing and boundless opportunities I would have available to me. I knew it would be challenging, but I also knew there was no better place where I could explore my professional future and develop as a person.
What impresses you most about your major and the College?
The Engineering Physics curriculum at Illinois has taught me to think critically and analytically in a way that I find unique from students at other schools. My favorite aspect of the Engineering Physics curriculum is that you can choose a theoretical track if you’re pursuing graduate level education or, contrastingly, you can focus on the many technical electives the department offers.
In Shanghai, on the Hoeft Technology and Management annual study abroad trip to China.
The Department of Physics has close ties with nearly every department on campus, which allows for concentrations in any of the other engineering disciplines, astrophysics, business, pre-law, pre-medicine, or anything else you can think of. This aspect is definitely unique to Illinois and allows us to be skilled in many facets. It also doesn’t hurt that the Engineering Physics program here is ranked #1 in the United States!
What’s your favorite activity you’ve done through Engineering at Illinois?
I’ve had so many great opportunities, but I would say my favorite is helping plan the High School Visitation (HSV) Program through the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) my sophomore year. Through HSV, SHPE is able to bring students from underrepresented backgrounds to campus for a 4 day weekend. This is such a great program because it allows students to picture themselves taking part in all Engineering at Illinois has to offer.
SHPE friends add fun and camaraderie to the college experience at Illinois.
Have you done research?
Yes, I was a research intern at CREOL, the College of Optics & Photonics at the University of Central Florida. My research investigated bonding of silicon wafers with PECVD deposited layers using spin-on-glass technology as a planarization and adhesion aid. This may enable the commercialization of low power loss silicon-on-nitride wafers as a promising platform for mid-Infrared integrated photonics.
Have you held an internship?
This past summer, I was an Engineering Leadership Program intern for National Instruments working in the Product Marketing division. While there, I worked on a system platform for a Massive Online Open Course signal processing lab course. I also helped create an automated paintball marker system, Paintball Picasso, under Waterloo Labs. This summer I will be interning with IBM to pursue Information Technology.
My team displaying our project for National Instruments.
What has been your favorite place to live on campus?
I really enjoyed living in Florida Avenue Residence Halls (FAR) my freshman year. I was apart of a Living-Learning Community where everyone on my floor became really great friends.
What’s campus life like?
Campus life is a juggling act. Being an engineering student requires strong dedication, hard work, and discipline to reach your goals. You’ll learn what the intensity level of your classes will be early on in your undergraduate career. It then becomes easier to schedule your time for academics, engineering organizations, activities, and a personal life.
Hi Dan,
My IBM internship actually presented itself at the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) National Conference I attended in October of 2013. IBM contacted me prior to attending the conference as they found me in the SHPE conference profiles of students attending the career fair. Due to my involvement in SHPE here on campus, I was offered the opportunity to attend this large national conference. It’s at places like this, with big career fairs, that companies are looking for talent.
As an incoming freshman, I recommend attending the EXPO and Engineering Career Services (ECS) career fairs that happen in early September every year. Both of these career fairs are also where Illinois Engineering students are presented with the opportunities to talk to and interview with some of the biggest and fastest growing technology companies there are today. In addition to this, ECS provides a service, I-Link, which allows you to sign up and create a student profile from which you can apply to specific companies before the career fairs on campus. This gives you the opportunity to tell these companies you’ve already checked them out and applied via I-Link so that you can have more impact with the recruiters.
As you start your freshman year be sure to be on the lookout for these career fairs with a prepared resume and access to I-Link.
Glad I could help!
From what I’ve read, UIUC’s engineering department seems to pave the way to many opportunities for research, internships, etc. How did opportunities, such as the internship at IBM, reveal themselves to you? I’d be interested in applying to a similar position my freshman year and would like to know what steps I should take! Thank you for the wonderful post!