Internships
Laura McWethy, Calvin senior who spent a summer working in Bremen, Germany, for Matthäi Bauunternehmen GmbH, an international construction company.
Real-world Experience
We offer a very active internship program through which students are placed in engineering positions during the summer months. Placements are usually either in West Michigan or in the student’s hometown.
Our international internship program enables students to do their internships in a foreign country.
Summer abroad have proven to be a valuable component in the student’s education.
Here are just a few examples:
North America
Medtronic Physio-Control
Redmond, WA
Decc Company
Grand Rapids, MI
Johnson Controls
Holland, MI
Halla Climate Control Canada
Belleville, OT, Canada
SDI Consultants
Oak Brook, IL
Pharmacia Corporation
Kalamazoo, MI
International
Pfizer Global Research and Development
Freiburg, Germany
Goldschmidt AG (Division of Degussa)
Mannheim, Germany
Rockwell Automation
Aarau, Switzerland
Pharmacia
Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Sulzer Repco B.V.
Netherlands
In over eight years of placing Calvin students in internships in Europe, engineering professor Ned Nielsen has noticed an interesting thing: engineering internships often lead to language study. A significant number of the 31 students he has placed in Switzerland, Germany, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands have studied the language of their host country upon their return to the United States.
"That is unheard of for engineering majors," Nielsen says. "Their whole outlook on life changes." The cultural enrichment that comes from an overseas internship is essential for engineers, Nielsen believes. Now, as never before, "in engineering, you have to design for the whole world," he says.
"I had an e-mail two weeks ago from a company with an opening for a mechanical engineer who spoke German and who had international experience. How many people fit those criteria?" Nielsen asks. "I knew three."
Courses
ENGR 185 Internship
freshman and sophomore year
ENGR 285 Internship
sophomore and junior year
ENGR 385 Internship
junior and senior year
ENGR 387 Internship
international internship
Get Involved
Professor Ned Nielsen
Engineering Internship Coordinator,
nnielsen@calvin.edu
616-526-6440