The MEM Lab (Engineering II Building, Room 102) will be hosting a kickoff event on February 26, 3-5pm. Please stop by for free pizza, MEM merch, and prizes! We hope to see you there!
MEM Society
Fuel the Future 2030 Student Design Competition
Global Partners has launched their second Fuel the Future 2030 student design competition, and that student team registration for the competition is now open!
https://www.globalp.com/about/csr/fuel-the-future-student-design-competition/
Undergraduate and Graduate student teams are invited to submit design drawings and concepts for the fueling station of 2030, for scholarship prizes up to $10,000. UConn was well represented last year. Hopefully they can do a repeat performance!
Please circulate this note to students who might have interest in participating in the competition. We have seen a broad range of disciplines that have participated including Business, Architecture, Engineering, Liberal Arts and Economics.
Registration closes on January 31.
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays! As we end the fall semester 2023 and begin the winter break, I would like to extend my gratitude for the commitment of our faculty and the talented students who have chosen Management and Engineering for Manufacturing. I wish each of you a joyful and restful holiday season and an enjoyable and safe winter break spent in the company of friends, family and loved ones, and hope everyone finds time to relax, have fun, and renew themselves for the new semester and the new year.
Cummings/Valvetrain Campus Visit October 4th
Cummings Valvetrain (formerly Jacobs Vehicle Systems) will be on campus on Wed October 4. They have open intern and co-op positions. The event is being sponsored by our ASME chapter.
When: Wednesday, October 4, 2023 5:00 pm till 7:00 pm
Where: School of Business Room 211
See the flyer below for more details.
New MEM Society E-Board Members Announced
Each year, the MEM Society welcomes a new executive board (E-board) who plan and lead the MEM Society for the year. This year’s new MEM Society E-Board Officers are:
- Archana Velathapillai, President
- Anne Lidsky, Vice President
- Lauren Hart, Secretary, and
- Emma Angelillo, Treasurer
Archana Vela is serving as the President for the MEM Society during the 2022-2023 academic year and served on the Executive Board last year as well. She is a senior from Avon, Connecticut, but also lived in Singapore and China for much of her childhood. She enjoys spending time with friends and hopes to go into either operations or project engineering. This summer she interned at Collins Aerospace as a project engineer in engine control systems. Her favorite ice cream flavor is Cookies and Cream.
Anna Lidsky is serving as the Vice President for the MEM Society during the 2022-2023 academic year. She is a junior from Newburyport, Massachusetts. She has two cats and a dog, and enjoys spending time with friends, going to the beach and snowboarding. This summer she interned as a Distribution Operations Intern at TJX, the parent company for TJMaxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods stores. She hopes to work in supply chain or process/manufacturing engineering, and plans to pursue a master’s degree in Business Analytics and Project Management through the 4+1 program partnership with MEM. Lidsky’s favorite ice cream is Cookie Dough.
Lauren Hart is serving as the Secretary for the MEM Society during the 2022-2023 academic year. Hart was born in London, England and came to University of Connecticut from Toronto, Canada. She is a junior in MEM and enjoys soccer, basketball, tennis, bike riding, and going to the beach. This summer, she worked at the Royal Bank of Canada as a data analyst intern, and she visited Cuba. She hopes to use her MEM degree in either consulting, banking or as an entrepreneur. Her favorite ice cream flavor is Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
Emma Angelillo is serving as the Treasurer for the MEM Society during the 2022-2023 academic year. She is a junior from Southington, Connecticut. In her free time she enjoys painting, jewelry making, graphic design, spending time with her friends and going to the beach or a lake. An interesting fact about Emma is that she was named after the Friends’ character, Emma, who was Ross and Rachel’s baby because that episode aired while her mother was delivering her. Over the summer, Angelillo visited friends and traveled to Boston for the Yankees-Sox games and visited Cape Cod. She hopes work for a large medical device engineering company, such as Medtronic, perhaps in a project management role. Angelillo’s favorite ice cream flavor is Coffee Oreo.
The MEM Society welcomes new members each year and encourages MEM majors to fully participate. Meetings include hearing from MEM alumni, companies interested in recruiting MEM students for internships and careers, and social activities. For more information or to join, please visit: https://uconntact.uconn.edu/organization/memsociety
Buffalo, New York Student Finds His Place at MEM
The University of Connecticut might be a favored institution of higher education in the state of Connecticut, but with the uniqueness of a program like Management and Engineering for Manufacturing (MEM), it draws students well beyond state borders. One example of this is Jonathan Rucinski, UConn Senior and MEM major.
The Buffalo, New York resident said he came to UConn because of the MEM program and because there really isn’t anything quite like it anywhere else. While there are a few similar programs at one or two other universities, no other program balances both business and engineering quite like MEM.
Rucinski reflects that when he was in high school, his STEM background had him leaning toward an Engineering degree, but felt that Business had a strong appeal for him in spite of that. He found himself wondering whether he should focus on business or engineering in his college search process.
“I wanted to lean on engineering because I had mainly done science and STEM, but business interested me, so I did a search for programs that were engineering and incorporated some business,” Rucinski said. “They were mainly 4+1 programs, but I really wanted something I could do in 4 years.”
He doesn’t recall if he found the MEM program or whether it was his mom, but either way, he was immediately interested. “We came for a visit and it was exactly what I was looking for.”
“I thought it would be good to stand out from the pack and diversify myself for my resume and as an individual with a degree that was both business and engineering,” he continued. “With MEM you get the engineering skills, but can talk business and so you get to be a liaison to go between both sides in industry.”
He explained, “The other program was a little more involved on the engineering side and a little weaker on the business side. I wasn’t sure I wanted to lean that far into engineering. Then I visited and spoke to Professor Tang, and he told me about the jobs MEM students look for and how they go both ways, more into business or more into engineering.”
When he saw the benefits and the versatility of an MEM degree, he was sold.
Did anything surprise you?
Now that he is a senior in MEM, he says the one surprise is how his interests have evolved so much. “I didn’t realize I had such a passion for data analysis, but getting to do so much of that really sparked that interest and led me to apply for the MS-BAPM 4+1 program, in which I am now enrolled,” he said. “It has let me dive deeper into data analytics, especially business analytics, and I am really enjoying that.”
Being so far away from home was difficult for Rucinski, he explained. “I am really family oriented, so I still call home a lot, but the nice thing about this being a smaller program, is that you make friends fast because MEM students have a lot of interests in common and study and work together so much, so you really get the small feel with the benefits of a big university.”
What’s Next?
Rucinksi intends to finish his 4+1 program after completing his BS in MEM from both the School of Business and the School of Engineering. After that he said he is considering staying in the area for work since there is such a great network of manufacturing and industry with which MEM has a great relationship.
Landing an Internship on the Production Floor – Archana Velathaupillai Shares Her Experience
Getting an internship is something every MEM student thinks about at some point during their undergraduate career. It can help you gain professional experience, apply concepts you’ve learned and develop professional connections that can help you navigate your future career options. Archana Velathaupillai, MEM junior, had the opportunity to work for 12 weeks as a Manufacturing Engineering Intern with Otis Elevator at their manufacturing plant in Florence, South Carolina.
“This was a really unique internship because most of the time interns don’t get to really work on the production floor, but this internship gave me that chance,” Archana said.
Archana had the chance to work in operations on the production floor at Otis where she did time studies on production lines, 5S implementation on the production floor, improved standard work procedures, conducted internal ISO 9001 audits on specific production lines and participated on continuous improvement initiatives. She also spent time observing and seeing how the concepts she has learned in classes at UConn are applied in a real world setting. She enjoyed getting to talk to people in various areas within the manufacturing operation, including supply chain, engineering, and operations which helped her expand her network and career exposure, as she refined her ideas of jobs she would and would not enjoy in her future.
“At first I wasn’t really comfortable, but as time went on, I got better at networking and scheduled appointments in other areas,” Archana said. “As a result, I was able to expand my network, get more familiar with other areas and really refine what kinds of jobs I might want. I learned there were some roles that didn’t suit me and others I may want to try to gain experience in during a future internship.”
Archana says she landed this internship in the traditional way. She attended career fairs, had her resume reviewed by the Center for Career Development, and took advantage of mock interviews. At a career fair, she met and talked with the recruiter from Otis and made sure she maintained contact afterward.