2022 Cool Co-op Winners

Congrats to the winners of the 2022 Cool Co-op Award.  Below are the winners for each category.

Cool People


Mallory Smith
Universal Creative - Mechanical Engineering

Mallory Smith cool co-op imag
The night of the Velocicoaster testing (after riding 21 times in a row... barf!)

As I approached my internship at Universal Creative where I would have to move several states away and interact with people every day that I had never met before, I became understandably apprehensive– this was my dream opportunity, but there were so many things that could go wrong! Thankfully, from the moment I took the leap and endured the 15-hour drive to Orlando, I was surprised by how well things went. I had a roommate from California who was incredibly involved in an organization close to my heart here at Ohio State– the Society of Women Engineers– and she soon became a mentor figure to me; I was surrounded by Ohio State alums who not only provided me with support in being far from home, but also let me in on the groundbreaking projects they were working on; a CORE Engineering team who challenged me and showed me what I was capable of as an engineer and a problem solver; and the best group of intern friends I could’ve asked for– one of them even has an uncle who is a professor at OSU! 

My time at Universal Creative could perfectly rise to the top of any of these categories– I wholeheartedly think my internship experience was notable for the people, the projects, AND the perks, because every moment was a perfect symphony of all three aspects. But with these special people by my side, I was able to experience so many once-in-a-lifetime experiences; for example, I was one of nine interns that participated in an Audio-Visual test for the newly opened Velocicoaster attraction. The testing guidelines? I had to ride the coaster upwards of 20 times consecutively to simulate real-time run-throughs for data collection! We walked away motion-sick, wind-burnt, hair askew, and glassy eyed, but the moments I’ll never forget were the ones we shared around the table of a local Waffle House immediately after. In another circle, my direct manager, Byron Osborn, was one of the leading supervisors on the Diagon Alley install starting in 2012 in Universal Studios Florida– because of that, he knows every square inch, grueling story, and fantastical engineering feat accomplished in the feature ride “Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.” Graciously, he led a tour of the ride track for our group of interns– together we walked around the inside of the dark-ride attraction as he let us in on all its secrets, which is something I will never forget. Along with Byron, my intern friends, and all the other people I was fortunate enough to work with, I saw everything from the inside of the Hogwarts Express propulsion room, robotic animated figures come to life from wires and steel, and two seemingly non-stop theme parks completely still as I went about my intern duties at night. My time at Universal was a mosaic of all the people I met, and I absolutely walked away a better person– and engineer!– because of them.

Cool Project


James Dobrozsi
Battelle Memorial Institute - Mechanical Engineering

James Dobroszi cool co-op image
PFAS Annihilator System

My co-op was an incredible experience because of the project that i was able to dive into and fully immerse my focus in. I was introduced to Battelle at a time when a new project was gaining traction- the ‘Mobile 2’ version of the PFAS (polyfluorialkyl-substance) Annihilator. I won’t get stuck in the details, but this project focused on decontaminating water of substances that are known to cause serious health issues and had not been identified as a health risk until relatively recently. The focus of this project on sustainability and health considerations is right up my alley of interest- i was incredibly excited to be a part of the project after showing interest when i heard that they needed some help. I quickly began working on some organizational tasks, learning about the process of documenting projects and communicating between different types of team members. Alongside the basics, i have been able to learn about compression tubing, piping and fittings, CAD design, and material selection for any given application. I was tasked with designing a new heat-exchanger using SOLIDWORKS (which i learned to use through my coursework up to that point) and had the opportunity to meet in person with a local tubing fabricator to pitch my design through communicating my vision in a way that the fabricator could understand (as the fabricator had no CAD experience). The design ended up being successful and Battelle purchased multiple from the fabricator to use in the PFAS Annihilator system- allowing me to see the direct impact of my work in what i brought to the team with my work as an intern. Throughout the next few months I became the ‘primary CAD support’ for the new PFAS Annihilator prototype system; creating drawings, updating CAD models as the physical prototype was changed and modified, and communicating with manufacturers to find compression fittings with specifications that my managers were looking for to add to the new prototype system. Through doing work and contributing to the project in a meaningful way, I was able to simultaneously help the project with my work and learn an incredible amount of details and nuances about the design process- intangibles that i have not been able to learn in a classroom environment up to this point in my education. Calling this project an amazing experience is an understatement. The life-changing details and fulfilling work that the PFAS Annihilator project gave to me in just one short semester will continue to drive my future ambitions and plans for my career in my last 2 semesters of undergraduate education and beyond, and I cant begin to express how fortunate i am to have had this experience.

Cool Perk


Aaron Bumgarner
Universal Creative - Civil Engineering

Aaron Bumgarner cool co-op image
Picture of me in front of the Universal globe during an internship brunch!​​​​​

I have always loved going to amusement and theme parks ever since I was a little kid and have loved our Orlando family vacations to Disney World, with my first being when I was only 6 years old. I have never been to Universal Orlando Resort before but got to know about it even more joining TPEG (Theme Park Engineering Group at OSU). This is where I found out about the opportunities to be able to intern for Universal, and I was one of the lucky ones to be able to have an internship with them as a Utilities Infrastructure Intern, and it was an overall wonderful experience that I will never forget! One of the major benefits/perks of working for Universal was to know that my work was having an impact on the very thing I have enjoyed and been passionate about ever since I was a little kid, and that my work was positively impacting the lives of the guests who attend Universal every day. Also, another major benefit that I took full advantage of was being able to go to Universal Orlando Resort, Sea World Orlando, and Busch Gardens Tampa all for free as a team member! I have never been to any of these parks before since I have only been to Disney World Resort when visiting Orlando for vacation, but being able to have these new experiences was wonderful! On top of that, I met many other Universal Creative interns during the experience, one of them being my roommate, and being able to have fun at the parks and after work with new friends that share a strong passion for theme parks like myself was one of the greatest feelings. And to top it all off, I was living in a new City for a few months where I was able to explore, and I took full advantage. I was able to visit Blue Springs State Park where I got the chance to see over 300 manatees who had relocated south for the winter, I got to visit Clearwater Beach in Tampa and watch a football game at Raymond James Stadium, I got to visit Cocoa Beach and shop in the largest Ron Jon Surf Shop in America, among many other experiences! My passion for the themed entertainment industry has never been higher, and being able to intern with a company and team that has these same passions and wants to put their skills to use to improve this industry is exactly what I was looking for. I cannot wait to be back interning with them in the near future, and who knows, maybe this internship could turn into a full time job!