Matthew Wirt, a senior mechanical engineering major in the Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence, spent a summer as a co-op intern at Fraunhofer ICT in Germany. Submitted photo
Many engineering students seek cooperative education opportunities to gain real-world experience. Matthew Wirt, a mechanical engineering major at the University of Mississippi, decided to obtain his real-world experience in another country.
The Madisonville, Louisiana, native recently completed a co-op experience with Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Germany. According to its website, the company is Europe’s largest application-oriented research organization. Its research is geared to people’s needs: health, security, communication, energy and the environment.
Wirt sought this opportunity after learning that a previous UM mechanical engineering student earned a Fulbright scholarship to Germany. He also received guidance from Ellen Lackey, UM professor of mechanical engineering.
A student in the university’s Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence, Wirt spent a year completing the co-op experience under Lackey’s supervision. He worked with the polymer engineering department and collaborated closely with Ph.D. students and project leaders to complete experimental trials for manufacturing fiber-reinforced plastic parts. Many of these parts were being made for automobile manufacturers.
Wirt said his experiences at CME prepared him for the work with Fraunhofer. Although he enjoyed his experience, it also presented challenges.
“The language barrier was probably the most apparent difference to working abroad compared to being in the United States,” Wirt said. “It affects everything from how you interact with your co-workers to how you are able to present ideas and how you live outside of work.”
Wirt also identified many cultural differences that required him to adjust to life and work in a foreign country. He learned that bikes are generally used to go everywhere with many people traveling cross-country by bike due to the supporting infrastructure. He also found that public transportation is more abundant and reliance on cars is less prevalent than in the U.S.
Overall, Wirt found the experience as a co-op student abroad helpful as he has recently graduated and considers his opportunities.
“I have learned what direction I want to go with my career,” he said. “I enjoyed gaining research experience as well as valuable skills related to my field that you just cannot get in the classroom.”
Wirt encourages other engineering students to pursue the co-op experience because it allows them to try out different functional areas where they may be thinking they would like to pursue full-time work.
“The co-op experience provides a way to connect what you do in the classroom to what you will be doing as a full-time engineer,” Wirt said. “It is worth putting off graduation for a semester or two to gain this experience.”
Wirt enjoyed his time abroad so much that he is planning to travel abroad again. He would like to go to Madrid to teach English for a year and then apply to graduate school as well as pursue a full-time position in engineering, using the skills he gained from his undergraduate education and his co-op experience.