Spotlight on ECS Award Winners

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Each year, ECS recognizes outstanding student interns, experiences, and companies through the Student Impact Award, The Cool Co-op Contest, and the Employer of the Year Award.   

Student Impact Award

The annual Student Impact Award is given to two students: one who completed a single work term experience and one who completed 2+ work terms. This award is employer-nominated, meaning the student’s supervisor nominates them for this honor. It’s given to intern and co-op students who have made an unparalleled contribution to the company they worked for during their time there. This year’s single work term winner is Megan Pond, a Chemical Engineering senior who worked for Marathon Petroleum. When asked what made Megan stand out among other intern and co-op students, her supervisor wrote, “Megan is one of the most driven and inquisitive co-ops that I have seen come through the Marathon co-op program. Everyone that worked with Megan has spoken highly of her positive attitude, her ability to manage priorities, and her passion for learning. Megan already carries herself like a full-time engineer with bountiful leadership qualities.” Megan’s advice for standing out as an intern? “Be okay with not knowing everything. When I stopped worrying about asking "dumb" questions and offering "bad" suggestions, I grew the most. I learned so much by connecting with new people every day and asking them everything I could about my projects, the industry, and themselves.” 

The 2+ work-term winner this year is Sam Duckworth, a Biomedical Engineering sophomore who worked for Brigham and Women’s Hospital. When asked what made Sam stand out, his supervisor wrote, “The research prowess and independence that Sam demonstrated are those of a scientist far beyond his career stage – typically those of a mid- to upper-year doctoral student. Sam has an exceptional ability to conceive translatable medical devices, to distill those devices to key scientific hypotheses, and to design experiments to test those hypotheses. Sam’s creativity and productivity are far beyond those of other interns in our lab; while other interns achieved incremental progress, such as assisting their mentors or completing pre-defined assays, Sam independently made significant discoveries and research advancements.” Sam’s advice to other students? “Failure is always the first step towards success - don't let it prevent you from pursuing your goals.”  Congrats to Sam and Megan! Read their entire nominations and view the other nominees.

Cool Co-op Contest

The Cool Co-op Contest allows students to reflect on the unique and special experiences that they were awarded during their internship or co-op term. This year we had winners in two categories: Cool Project and Cool Perks. The Cool Project winner is Logan Nethers, a Biological Engineering junior who worked for ADM. Logan worked in the sweeteners department in the corn syrup production division and was given a lofty goal: optimize chemical usage on the ion exchange units to create noticeable chemical savings. By the end of their term, Logan had directly created $120,000 in chemical savings annually and an additional $2 million in savings annually with the continued implementation of their SOPs. Logan states, “Knowing that I have the ability to lead in a manufacturing setting in a way that is both people and production oriented has drastically increased my confidence for my future career.” Wow! How cool and what an impact. Congrats, Logan! 

The Cool Perks winner is Maya Miniato, an Industrial and Sytems Engineering senior who worked for the Walt Disney Company. Maya worked on some of the most complex and world-renowned rides in the park, which gave her the opportunity to apply her industrial engineering and data analytics knowledge to make a real impact on park operations. And what were the perks? Maya says, “The perks of working in a magical place like Disney World were beyond anything I could have imagined. From the free admission to the parks, to getting to go behind-the-scenes before they opened, to building relationships with incredible people in various departments across WDW, this internship experience was one that I will always cherish.” Maya has accepted a full-time job with Disney after she graduates this spring – congrats! Read more about Logan and Maya’s experiences.

Finally, ECS awards one company the Employer of the Year award each summer. This is student nominated: if you had an outstanding internship or co-op experience between Summer 2022 and Spring 2023, nominate your employer now! The deadline to nominate an individual on the nomination form is May 1, 2023.  

“Don’t Wait for Opportunity, Create it.” – Georga Bernard Shaw 

Category: News