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Kevin Tomasetti
Dr. Guenzel
ENC1102-15
April 12, 2015
The Future of the Future: The Key to Becoming a Successful Engineer
Aerospace Engineering has been one of the fields used to describe cutting edge
technology since Orville and Wilbur Wright first took to the skies in 1903. At that time
aeronautics were more of a reality than aerospace but with their breakthrough the hopes were
high, and the future was bright for the field of aeronautics which would soon develop a similar
field alongside it known as aerospace engineering. Many other concepts of air flight were passed
around trying to mimic what the Wright brothers had accomplished. Some were successful some
were not so lucky, but the two key factors behind each and every one of these were education,
and dedication to the exploration of the unknown. Without either of these we may have
eventually stumbled upon the key to flight much like Issac Newton had his epiphany due to an
apple falling from a tree. Fortunately in todays day we have both. Actually, we have more than
that, we have not only the current and past aerospace engineers who have lead us to the moon,
mars, and far beyond that, but we also have a slew of upcoming engineers desperate to get into
the field. For many, internships are the key to getting their foot in the door, but is it worth it? Is
focusing so much on getting an internship the right way to go? Or should students focus on their
grades, doing well in school, and learning the most they can now so that they are ready for the
workforce. One major issue that we are presented with in todays engineering field is funding.
Luckily we have plenty of people eager to discover the unknown, but unfortunately the expenses
of exploration of extraterrestrial planets, solar systems, manned space stations, satellite
deployment and recovery, just to name a few, are known to be quite expensive. Are the
engineering firms going to have the funding to hire interns when it the time comes to apply?

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Continually, what does the future of the future look like? It looks like the youth of the
world, but how do they go from learning the alphabet to designing spacecraft to lead us in this
modern space age? There is of course getting good grades in school, but the key to really
accelerating a students knowledge and skill in any field of work is an internship. Internships
give students hands on training with what they are learning about in school. Instead of
theoretically calculating the trajectory of a missile launch with given constants and variables for
a lab assignment, the students can work side by side engineers from Space-X, NASA, or other
large firms and get the full experience of what they are learning in school, and how it is put into
practicality all while getting the best education there could possibly be.
Carlos Lopez talks about his experience of going through school and striving to be the
best student he could be knowing that his family back home did not have the luxury that he
himself was living. This is because Carlos moved to the United States when he was sixteen to get
a new beginning and make a future for himself. He moved from Chihuahua, Mexico to the
United States where he thrived academically to achieve an internship in one of NASAs program.
Lopez makes this statement that really defines what internships are doing for college level
students who are trying to make their way into the working field of engineering in general,
Something important to remember is that your people skills are vital. Work with others, get
involved in student organizations, intern. Do whatever you can to gain exposure in the field.
Interpersonal skills are huge. Employers look for people who know how to work with others
effectively. This quotation solidifies Lopezs position on internships and how effective he feels
they are toward your success securing a job in engineering.
Furthermore, according to the University of Michigan their engineering department had a
total of 641 internships accepted through the 2013-2014 school year. 544 of these 641 internships

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were bachelors students while eighty seven were masters, and ten were doctoral. Therefore we
have a large majority of students working on their bachelors who are also receiving internships
related to engineering. However, only about 5% of these internships received were from
aerospace engineering majors. That is not that large of a percentage meaning that there is still a
relatively competitive field out there to get these internships with a median monthly salary of
$3,380 (5).
That being said, perhaps students should be more focused on their grades rather than jobs
they may not get. Students could be using their time to keep school material fresh in their mind,
reviewing for quizzes or exams, or actually doing homework rather than putting it off because
they have to go to an internship and work on projects that may either be way above or below
them so they arent getting too much of a benefit from the internship anyway, except of course
the monetary aspect of it. College kids tend to be poor, with all the expenses of school, housing,
and food, they see that $3,300 monthly salary and fall head over heels for it. When this may not
be the best route for them. If they even qualify for the job salaries will vary from job to job, their
ability to schedule classes will become a lot more flustered due to many internships having set
business hours, as well as the time they will be working will take time away from their schooling
which is really what the companies are going to be looking at. They may see that you had an
internship for the last year or two of your college career, but when they see classes failed,
dropped, GPAs down the gutter they are definitely not going to look twice at them.
So what is an alternative? On campus clubs are a great alternative to someone who
doesnt feel that internships are right for them. There are many engineering focused clubs on a
number of different campuses that future employers will look at, recognize, and associate with to
get to know what kind of person the applicant is. A great example of this is Virginia Tech.s team

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COLBERT, which stands for Close Object Landing by Earth Research Team. This team entered a
competition to design both reliable as well as cost efficient system to send at least two astronauts
to a Near Earth Asteroid, and return them safely. Virginia Techs Team took home first place with
their excellent planning and simulation execution with immaculate results earning them the gold.
This is another thing that employers will see and be extremely impressed with, although you
arent paid a monthly salary which is a big drawback for many college students.
Furthermore, the connections that can be made through internships are one of the most
valuable things about it. The connections that are made and the impressions that the interns make
on these connections can go a long way. For example, after a students college career is up his
internship is up. Now this college student want a solid job at some engineering corporation. Well
this student who had been interning for Lockheed Martin and had been working with one of the
team members under the supervision of a project manager for the past one or two years has not
only some solid references to put down on his resume, and the work experience to put behind it,
but in addition the student has those people who had has worked side by side with to put in a
good word for them to the higher ups. A large amount of the time corporations such as Lockheed
Martin, NASA, or Space-X will hire directly from their interns. This sort of acts as a job security
for some students although it is to be taken lightly with notes that they are the expendable ones.
In conclusion, there are many different ways to make yourself stand out from the crowd
when it comes to resumes. Internships, grades/meritorious accolades, and on campus clubs are
the three mentioned which are what employers seem to want to see. Although grades are
important, and clubs are good show, internships are what get the job done. Literally, students
getting a head start in the workforce with internships, working side by side practicing engineers
and learning from their experiences and advice far surpasses any notes or grades you could get in

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a class. Students must keep in mind though that grades are still important. Employers arent
going to want to hire interns with lackluster credibility when it comes to their academics, and
they surely wont want to hire someone full time if they graduate with a 2.0 GPA. It is a wellrounded type of person that employers want to hire, someone who can pull their weight and work
well with others to create a well working team to get the task at hand accomplished in a timely
and efficient manner. For engineering college majors an internship is the golden ticket, with a
median monthly salary of $3,300, and connections to solidify a job post-graduation, its all up to
them to get it.

WORK CITED
AEROSPACE ENGINEERING STUDENTS DESIGN MISSION ATHENA, WIN

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FIRST PLACE. (2010, August 30). States News Service. Retrieved from
https://login.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login?auth=shibb&url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
id=GALE
%7CA236505474&v=2.1&u=orla57816&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=499fb4126aa6332195a5
ff34968fcfeb
This article is a brief description of an amazing feat that a team from the Virginia Tech's Close
Object Landing by Earth Research Team or COLBERT. The team entered a competition to
simulate an asteroid landing, simulated life on the asteroid, as well as a return plan for humans to
research asteroids. The article describes the major points that the team made which distinguished
it from the others. The article covers the reasoning behind the teams choices of transportation,
fuel type, return plan, asteroid attachment plan, and more. This is a really well thought out
project and it is certainly award worthy. There is not much information about the author but the
writing is very clear and organized very well. The article itself on the other hand is very bias in
favor of the Virginia team. No other teams were mentioned and the article strictly focuses on
COLBERT's accomplishments.
Aerospace engineer to speak about intern experience. (2013, September 12). UWIRE Text, p. 1.
Retrieved from https://login.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login?
auth=shibb&url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CA342690912&v=2.1&u=orla57816&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=90b8a171aa41e3b45f31
8f138fb5649d
This article is an inspiration to aspiring aerospace engineers. The article begins by telling us
about Juan Carlos Lopez who came to the U.S. From Chihuahua, Mexico to finish high school
and begin his college career. The article informs us that he had an internship at NASA and the
article bring in some uplifting and inspirational quotes from Lopez's speech. Some of the best
quotes were, What I love the most about aerospace engineering is that whatever projects or
developments we come up with for space, we can utilize here at home along with We will
always need aerospace engineering. It's a growing industry, and the opportunities are plentiful.
Lopez emphasizes the importance of interpersonal skills. He says that getting involved with
school programs or internships are key to developing these skills by working together on a team
to accomplish a goal which is what employers want to see. There is little information given on
the author but they seem like they know of Juan Lopez very well and attended his speech on
September 12th as given in the article. The article itself did seem a bit bias in the sense that an
aerospace engineer is making all of these claim about aerospace engineering with little hard

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proof.

Boivin, Kerri. "ANNUAL REPORT." YC Young Children 63.6 (2008): 101-12. Web. 12
Apr. 2015. https://www.eecs.umich.edu/eecs/about/articles/2014/AnnualReport1213.pdf
This file is an annual report for the year 2012-2013 of the University of Michigans engineering
department. In this file there are charts and graphs representing data that reflects jobs,
internships, and co-ops which its students have received. The part I was focused on was the
internship portion of the file. This gave me a good description and breakdown of the aerospace
engineering fields median, mean, high, and low, starting salaries as well as how many and what
percentage of students who received internships were in the aerospace engineering major.