Internships and Co-Ops

The Co-op/Internship program provides students with practical experience that reinforces the theoretical concepts learned in the classroom. The Co-op/Internship program aids in bridging the gap between student life and the world of work. This program combines students' academic and career interests with work experience in business, industry, government or service organizations. Key elements of the Co-op/Internship program experience are:

• Engineering work assignments in areas related to mechanical engineering.
• Supervision and evaluation of performance by engineers.
• Completion of learning objectives designed to relate mechanical engineering studies to the work world.

Cooperative Education/Internship offers many benefits to students:

• Provides engineering work experience that is relevant to mechanical engineering and a student’s career goals.
• Helps to define career goals so that more realistic engineering job choices can be made.
• Establishes valuable professional contacts and broadens engineering job opportunities after graduation.
• May provide income to help with college expenses.
• Increases self-confidence and interpersonal skills.
• Enhances motivation and classroom participation by relating academics to the work world.
• Offers the potential to earn one college credit for every 100 hours worked, to a maximum of six credit hours per semester for undergraduate students. Graduate students can earn one credit hour for each 200 hours worked, up to a maximum of three credit hours.
• Can be used to meet professional development and/or technical elective requirements, subject to departmental policies.

Eligible ME undergraduate students are those who:

• Have a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 or higher.
• Have completed 30 university or college credit hours; if a transfer student, have completed at least 12 credit hours at Embry-Riddle in addition to meeting other requirements.
• Remain in good academic standing throughout their participation in the Co-op/Internship program.

Eligible ME graduate students are those who:

• Have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

Employers with whom ME students have had Co-op placements recently include: