This article is from the Bechtel Globe, a monthly newspaper that is delivered in hardcopy to every Bechtel employee world wide.

January 2005
Program Trains and Recruits Top Students
San Francisco

College and university campuses have long been a source of new employees for Bechtel, mostly via job fairs and on-campus interviews. At Michigan Technology University (MTU) in Houghton, Michigan, Bechtel is one of the sponsors of MTU's Enterprise Program, which pairs industry partners with engineering students to build students' business, technical, and communication skills, while they study and work on multifunctional teams.

As part of the program, Bechtel identifies a real-world engineering topic or problem for a student team to address, and designates company mentors from Bechtel Construction Operations, Incorporated (BCOI) to help steer the student team.

"This year, Bechtel challenged its team to develop a method to detect energized coaxial cable in the telecommunications industry," says Randy Denelsbeck, chief construction engineer in Bechtels Telecommunications GBU. "The industry currently has no way to detect energized coaxial cables in mid-stream, so an energized line can be interrupted by mistake, or worse, a worker could get burned. The detection method this team is developing could solve potential safety and operational issues."

Bechtel also provides materials and access to testing and processing facilities not available on campus. Mentors visit the MTU campus as needed to evaluate student reports and presentations and advise on program planning.

The student team's final report, due in April, will include all technical research, field testing, full data analysis (using Six Sigma tools), and a prototype of the tools, equipment, and testing devices developed to provide a solution to the problem.

"Bechtel's sponsorship of the Enterprise Program is an indication of our commitment to enhance engineering education and helps us recruit top graduates," says Denelsbeck.

"Our 2003 senior design projects produced two candidates that Telecoms hired for field engineering jobs," Denelsbeck adds. They are Chad Collar and Kevin Saso, field coordinators on the AT&T Wireless project in Dallas and in Chicago, respectively.

"On-campus programs like this one provide Bechtel a way to see how students -- potential employees -- put their skills to work addressing the demands of business, including managing cost, schedule, and customer expectations," says Denelsbeck. "The MTU program has produced high-performing candidates with a desire to work for Bechtel because they've experienced firsthand what its like inside the company."

Scholarship Description
The Enterprise Program at Michigan Technological University is pleased to offer the Carnahan Enterprise Scholarship funded by Dr. Robert D. Carnahan, class of 1953. The program will award up to two $500 merit-based scholarships for an undergraduate degree in Business and Economics and two $500 merit-based scholarships for an undergraduate degree in Scientific and Technical Communications (STC).

This scholarship is available to any eligible sophomore or junior level student who is participating on an Enterprise team as part of their undergraduate degree program at Michigan Technological University. The recipient must have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.50. The scholarship is renewable for up to two years for students pursuing an Enterprise Concentration and up to three years for students pursuing an Enterprise Minor, contingent upon maintaining a cumulative 2.50 GPA and continued availability of scholarship funds.

Submission Requirements
The MTU Enterprise scholarship application form is available in both PDF and MSWord formats:
scholarship.doc
scholarship.pdf

You can also request an MTU Enterprise scholarship application form from Mary Raber, Industry Project Coordinator, at mraber@mtu.edu.

The MTU Enterprise scholarship application deadline for Spring 2005 semester is February 11, 2005. Interested students must submit a scholarship application form and a written essay describing their planned involvement in the Enterprise Program. Scholarship applications should be submitted to the following:

Mary Raber
Industry Project Coordinator
College of Engineering
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931
Attn: MTU Carnahan Enterprise Scholarship

About Michigan Technological University
Michigan Tech was founded in 1885 in the aftermath of the first mining boom in the U.S. – the clamor for Michigan’s copper preceding the California Gold Rush by several years. At its outset, the college trained mining and metallurgical engineers. Today, the University offers associate, bachelor, master, or doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences, forestry, business, communication, and technology. Michigan Tech offers undergraduates an education that emphasizes study across disciplines, team learning, and research.

Our graduate students receive intensive, advanced instruction and the opportunity to pursue research in a wide range of academic programs. Overall, our institution has gained world-wide attention for innovative education, our faculty strive to be mentors, our academic programs stress learning hand-in-hand with application, and our students learn to inquire and discover knowledge.

The Enterprise Program at Michigan Tech has become a nationally recognized educational program providing its students an opportunity to experience team learning across disciplines. One of the program’s major efforts is to promote a learning atmosphere where faculty serve as mentors and coaches; that is, they move from simply imparting knowledge to helping students discover knowledge. The program offers a learning experience that includes hands-on application of technical knowledge combined with key concepts such as sustainability, ethics, safety, business processes, innovation, creativity, and communication. In the Enterprise Program, inquiry and innovation are the norm, learning and application go hand-in-hand, and students and faculty work in a team environment on problems of significance to industry.