Field Experience Cooperative Program
The Field Experience Cooperative Program is for Engineering Technology students who are interested in broadening their education with real world experiences. The Department of Engineering Technology has maintained long lasting relationships with local industries and manufacturers, including but not limited to Beta Engineering, Boise, CP-TEL, Roy O Martin, and Weyerhaeuser. Companies typically pay undergraduate interns $12-18 per hour, and are willing to work around student schedules when classes are in session. Students can also register for 1 university credit during the fall and spring semesters, and 2 university credits over the summer. Students in the biomedical engineering technology concentration are required to participate in a semester long internship as part of their degree requirements.
For more information, please visit Engineering Technology @ NSU.
Industry Advisory Committee
Several organizations in Central and North Louisiana work closely with the Engineering Technology department reviewing their Industrial and Electronics Engineering Technology curricula and recommending changes to better serve workforce needs in the region. The industry advisory committee meets on average three times during the academic year, and discuss topics such as:
- Program Educational Objectives for Industrial and Electronic Engineering Technology
- Addition of courses that prepare students for employment
- Course content revisions that include discussion of topics, lab experiments, and field experiences.
Scholarship Program
The Central Louisiana Manufacturing Manager’s Council partnered with the Northwestern State University Foundation to establish a scholarship program to benefit students from 10 central Louisiana parishes who pursue degrees in engineering technology at Northwestern State. Manufacturers in the region are encouraging more high school students to pursue careers in engineering technology, where jobs are available as equipment technologists, quality control technologists, process control programmers and other applied engineering roles. Northwestern State offers one of the few four-year technical manufacturing curriculums in central Louisiana. A total of $20,000 (77% of the target of $26,000) was donated by companies to support the manufacturing scholarships, and was matched by the university.
For more information, please visit Industry and Community Relations @ Engineering Technology.
Industry partnerships
Northwestern State University signed a memorandum of understanding with Reliability Solutions in which the university will provide a facility for the company to conduct training in exchange for the opportunity for students and faculty to audit the training. Reliability Solutions is a Florida-based company focused on delivering hands-on skills training tailored to the needs of manufacturing companies. The training will utilize classrooms and amenities of NSU’s Department of Engineering Technology. The initiative aligns with NSU’s efforts to match a trained workforce with high-paying jobs available in high tech manufacturing. The agreement was developed with support from the Central Louisiana Economic Development Association and the Central Louisiana and Northwest Louisiana Manufacturing Managers Councils. The agreement matches real world industry needs with people willing to train for the jobs that are available and creates awareness among students about lucrative in-state career opportunities.
Manufacturing Workshops
Several manufacturing workshops are coordinated with local industry and take place at NSU’s Department of Engineering Technology.
In August 2014, fifteen employees of Weyerhaeuser and a member of Northwestern State University’s Engineering Technology Department participated in a precision maintenance training session presented by Reliability Solutions. The Weyerhaeuser employees represent five different plants from three company divisions in three different states. Future workshops are scheduled for October 2014 and February 2015.
