Engineering Professional Practice Student Feature

Featured student: Tyler J. Sprouse

Our student this week is Tyler Sprouse, a chemical engineering major, who accepted a co-op at DOW Chemical located in Midland, Michigan.

“I worked for Specialty Chemicals Group which consisted of four plants: Oxide Adducts, Triton, Chemical Mixing, and Gum Base," said Sprouse. "At Oxide Adducts I was assigned to scope out a filtering system to resolve a quality issue that had recently appeared. At Triton I was responsible for updating all the lab procedures to include all the new product information so the operators would have it to compare to when doing quality testing. At Chemical Mixing, I worked on creating a few P&ID’s of air and nitrogen lines that were crucial in maintenance work. At Gum Base I worked on updating all the current P&ID’s and Mechanical Integrity reporting.”

The biggest challenge that Sprouse faced was in learning to use the equipment at the four different plants.

"Each plant was different so I was learning four times the amount of equipment that most people there had to learn," said Sprouse. "In order to overcome that, you have to be willing to ask questions.”

The exposure to a variety of tasks proved valuable during Sprouse's co-op assignment.

“Being assigned to four plants could be a bit overwhelming, but it turned out that most of my work was focused between two plants so it wasn’t too hard to adjust," said Sprouse. "The good part about being at all four plants was the amount of experience you gain. They all had different processes. I was able to see batch processing and continual processing. I did a lot of basic engineering things that oftentimes are done by a run plant. By being able to do those tasks, I was able to develop a foundation to build upon instead of building a house then trying to pour the foundation.”

Students may read more about their peers’ co-op experiences by logging into their Engineering Professional Practice profile via www.coop.utk.edu, clicking “Resource Library” (on the left margin) and selecting “Students at Work – In Their Own Words.”

For information on engineering co-op and internships, contact Engineering Professional Practice at [log in to unmask] or 865-974-5323.

 

Career Services Announcements

Upcoming Career Services Events

EF 301 – Career Services for Engineers

Planning your class schedule for Fall 2012? Don’t forget to register for EF 301 – Engineering Career Planning!
This class is offered each Spring and Fall semester and is taught 1:25–2:15 p.m. Mondays at Career Services, 100 Dunford Hall. This class is a perfect fit for all Juniors and Seniors and will equip students with the right tools to land that great job. Sophomores and Graduate Students may also register for the course as well. The class is offered on a 1-hour Satisfactory/No Credit basis and is taught by Career Services Consultant for the College of Engineering, April Gonzalez. Expect visits from company representatives, tips and tricks from HR Recruiters, advice on resumes, cover letters, interviewing and salary negotiation and learn the ways you can stand out and get noticed at the job fairs.

Here’s what students are saying about the class:

• “This is the most useful non-engineering class I have ever taken. It gave me insider information about what employers are looking for during interviews and I have a resume that I feel great about!”
• “Well thought out and put together course. I feel much more confident about job searching.”
• “This class exceeded all my expectations – it really works!”

Don’t wait to sign up as space is limited and the class will fill up fast!

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Attention: Seniors & Graduate Students Graduating in May 2012
Don’t forget to complete the Post-Graduation Survey.

Congratulations from all of us in the UT Career Services Office upon your upcoming graduation!  It has been my pleasure to work with many of you, and I wish you the best in your life and new endeavors! In order to keep Career Services’ records up-to-date and provide the best service to you, please take a moment to fill out the Post-Graduation Survey via HIRE-A-VOL. 

To complete the survey log in to your Hire-A-Vol student or alumni account:
https://utk-csm.symplicity.com/students

User Name: your entire email address
Password: your netid password

Find the Graduate Placement Survey link on your homepage on the right hand side under the Career Tools and Advising Section.  On the survey page, please click on Add New and fill out your placement information.**  Your submitted information will be anonymously included in our Annual Report as well as shared with College of Engineering, prospective students and employer interested in recruiting at the University. All of individual information will remain confidential and will only be reported in aggregate form.  

**If you have any difficulties accessing our survey, you may also email your placement data to [log in to unmask]  Please include your name, email address, employment status (Still seeking, Graduate School, Internship/Summer Job, Out of Job Market, Employed), Company or Grad School, Salary/Wage, Location of new job or Grad School.

Again, congratulations and thank you for completing the Post-Graduation Survey.

 

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SAVE THE DATE FOR FALL RECRUITING

Career Services Cook-out, 8/30, 11am-2pm, outside Dunford Hall
Greater Knoxville Job Fair (Full-time and Part-time), 9/6, 2pm-5pm, UC Ballroom
Engineering Career Success Kick-Off Week, 9/10-9/13, More info TBA
Social Impact Fair, 9/19, 2pm-5pm, UC Ballroom
Logistics Job Fair (open to IE Majors), 9/24, 4pm-5pm, Thompson-Boling Arena
Fall Job Fair, 9/25, 2pm-6pm, Thompson-Boling Arena

And more! Check out www.career.utk.edu for a list of all upcoming events.

 

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If you have submissions for @COE, the college's electronic newsletter, please send them to Randall Brown at [log in to unmask] by noon on Thursdays.