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Industrial Engineering: University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering

Undergraduate Cooperative Engineering Education

The Cooperative Engineering Education Program (or the "co-op program" as it is generally known) is a program within the Swanson School of Engineering whereby the student engineer's educational experience is enhanced by a series of challenging, highly relevant, "real world" work sessions. Rotating semesters at work with semesters at school does this. Typically, the first work rotation is after the end of the sophomore year or the first term of the junior year, and each work rotation lasts four months. This is a popular and highly successful program: co-op salaries are excellent and the work experience gained is invaluable as well. More information can be found on the co-op program's website.

Partial List of Companies

Participating companies range from small to large, public to private, Pittsburgh-based to international. Some participating co-op companies include: Accenture, Curtiss-Wright EMD, FedEx, General Electric, H. J. Heinz, Hershey, Joy Mining Machinery, MEDRAD, Mine Safety Appliances (MSA), Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, U.S. Steel, UPS, and US Airways.

Indutrial Engineering Credit for Co-op

During each co-op rotation the student must register for 1 credit of ENGR 1090. Students may substitute three co-op rotations for one of their technical electives. At the end of the co-op experience the student is required to turn in a written technical report detailing the entire co-op experience. Completion of a minimum of three rotations and the report entitles the student to a letter grade for three credits of ENGR 1090 which will substitute for one technical elective. If a report is not turned in, the student will still get a grade of S/U (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory) for ENGR 1090 - however it will not be possible to count this as a technical elective.

Coop Schedule Forms

There are two basic schedule options for the cooperative engineering education program in IE. These are designated Co-op A and Co-op B. The student's date of entrance into the IE department determines which schedules are pertinent.

If entered into the IE Department in or after Fall 2008:

If entered into the IE Department in or after Fall 2005 and prior to Fall 2008:

If entered into the IE department prior to Fall 2005:

The total length of time required is identical with either option, as is the anticipated graduation date. The only difference is that with Co-op A the first work rotation is in the fall term of the junior year, while with Co-op B it is in the spring term of the junior year. With either option, students may also opt to work a fourth rotation during the summer after the sophomore year.

Report Requirements

As part of the requirements for a letter grade and credit for a technical elective for ENGR 1090, industrial engineering students are required to submit a co-op report. This report is expected to be a professional technical document similar to a report published in a technical journal and contain no typographical or grammatical errors. At a minimum, it should contain the following:

  1. Title Page: This should include a suitable title for the report, the name of the student, the name of the company where the co-op experience took place, the name of the industry supervisor(s) and the dates of the rotations.

  2. Table of Contents

  3. Abstract: An executive summary of the entire paper.

  4. Introduction: This section should provide an overview of the company, including a description of its product line, the processes used and the industrial engineering functions. It should also describe the co-op student's position within the company and an overview of the tasks assigned and completed.

  5. Description of Activities: This section should provide a detailed description of all projects and assignments carried out at the company during the course of each of the work rotations undertaken by the student. The activities should be arranged chronologically. The write-up must clearly bring out the relationships between the assignments carried out and the student's coursework and academic program at Pitt. Note: the description should specifically discuss any projects/activities that were completed within multi-disciplinary teams. Describe your role and the challenges you faced in working across disciplines.

  6. Conclusions: This final section should summarize the impact of the student's work assignments both on the company as well as on the student. It should also integrate the various assignments that a student typically undertakes and discuss their relevance to the "big picture" from an industrial engineering perspective.

  7. References & Appendices (if applicable)

To get a clearer picture on what a technical paper entails, it is suggested that the student refer to the Styles Manual published by various technical societies, take a look at some of the journals in the engineering library, or review the co-op reports written by other industrial engineering students (available from the department co-op advisor). There is no maximum or minimum length restriction. However, a typical paper is about 15-20 pages long.

DEADLINES: The report must be turned into the departmental co-op advisor at least one month before the end of the term in which the student plans to graduate (a specific date will be provided). After reading the paper, the co-op advisor will assign a grade and you may be given an opportunity to re-write the paper by the end of the term for a final grade in ENGR 1090.

Engineers make things...

Industrial engineers make things better!

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