Michael Leary

EUROTECH NEWSLETTER SPRING 2001

My internships with Torington & Siemens Michael Leary
(5th Year Mechanical Engineering)

When I came to the University of Connecticut and enrolled in the EUROTECH program I knew I would be working in Germany as an undergraduate, but I did not expect to go twice. Now, on my way to graduating in May with my Mechanical Engineering and German Studies degrees, I have completed a six-month co-op and a three-month summer internship in Germany with two different companies.

In the summer before my junior year at UConn, I performed an internship with The Torrington Company in Connecticut. Torrington is a worldwide manufacturer of needle bearings and anti-friction devices. I worked in their test lab and was involved with bearing performance analyses. The Torrington Company is a member of the EUROTECH advisory board, and they take an active interest in students within the program. I knew this when I applied to work for them, and following a summer and a winter internship, they offered me a co-op position at their site in Künsebeck, Germany, which I enthusiastically accepted.

Working for Torrington in Germany was a fantastic experience in my life. I grew not only in my language and engineering experiences, but also as a person. In Künsebeck I continued working in the test lab, and was trained in 3-D computer modelling and also metal workshop applications. After learning my way around the job, I was given more and more responsibility in terms of using what I had learned to accomplish certain tasks around the test lab.
I enjoyed the experience so much, that I wanted to return to Germany. However, I wanted to work for a different company in the summer before my fifth year to broaden my base of experience before graduation. Fortunately for me, the large German-based company, Siemens, had recently made a decision to look to EUROTECH and programs like it at other colleges for coops, interns and full-time employees fresh out of college. Siemens’ college recruiter and UConn alumi, Christian Callegari spoke with interested students at UConn in February. I was of fered a job in their highspeed train department in Krefeld, just north of Düsseldorf on the Rhine. There I was a member of Siemens Student Program (SSP), which fosters the development of college students working for Siemens around the globe. In addition to my everyday activities in Krefeld, where I created and analyzed finite element models of train bodies, I was invited to participate with other SSP members to two seminars at Siemens’ Corporate Training Center south of Munich in Bad Tölz.

The first seminar lasted a week and focused on peripheral engineering skills and worked to strengthen effectiveness of communication, giving presentations, and working in groups. The second seminar was a weekend of intercultural training where we learned not only the importance of recognizing and respecting other cultures, but more importantly the nature of culture and understanding ourselves and our own individual cultural upbringings. At each internship I received vacation time which allowed me to not only visit the far reaches of Germany, but also other European countries including Ireland and England. Both companies are international players and both recognize the importance of hiring engineers that can work cross-culturally. Being a EUROTECH student has opened many doors for me. Having these opportunities to work abroad has not only given me an excellent personal learning experience, but also gives me more to offer to a company when I leave UConn to enter the real world.