Page 7 - Inventing Tomorrow

“The professors in my department were always throwing curveballs at us. They were teaching us how to think and how to solve a problem. That happens every day in the workplace. You need to come up with a creative solution.”
— JENNA SHAW
RICHARD G. ANDERSON
Biomedical engineering graduate Jenna Shaw, who works as a senior mechanical design engineer at Medtronic, decided on a career in medical devices after her sister su ered a traumatic brain injury.
and coaching becomes more intense as students approach their junior and senior years.
The hallmarks of these efforts are the twice-yearly career fairs, held in the fall and spring of each year. The Fall 2015 career fair attracted more than 3,140 students and alumni over two days. About 260 companies partici- pated, an increase of about 40 percent over the previous year. These com- panies include giants such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Fortune 500 companies, and many large and small companies from the Twin Cities area.
“Employers want to hire students earlier and earlier,” Froistad said. “Some even want to hire students as freshmen so they can build their pipe- line and hope they stay on and work for the company full time. It’s a good time to be a CSE student.”
JENNA SHAW: DEVICES WITH A MISSION
Jenna Shaw, 28, earned many honors as a student: commencement speaker and president of the biomedical engineering society, just to name a couple. But the young Medtronic
According to those surveyed, starting salaries range from the mid to high ve gures. In some cases, salaries may begin in the six gures in certain high-demand elds such as computer science and computer engineering, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering.
“It’s an incredible investment, as evi- denced by the companies that want to hire these students, how quickly they are getting hired, and the number of job offers they’re getting,” said Angie Froistad, assistant director of the CSE
Career Center. “They are going into positions directly related to their ma- jors. It’s not always easy obviously— it’s a very, very challenging curricu- lum—but once they nish, they nd it’s incredibly rewarding.”
Career counselors provide a variety of services to help students enter the job market, which includes resume reviews, interview coaching, practice interviews, job search strategies, and networking with alumni and em- ployers. Students are exposed to these services during freshman orientation
WINTER 2016 7