UNH Student Antczak Lukasz of Waterbury, Connecticut Selected for Covidien's Training Program For Future Engineers

2012 Feb 1

Antczak Lukasz, of Waterbury, Connecticut, a Junior majoring in Electrical Engineering, was one of three University of New Haven students selected for Covidien's training program for future engineers.

As part of a new agreement between the University of New Haven and Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, three UNH engineering students began working full-time at Covidien Surgical Solutions' North Haven facility earlier this month.

One of the students selected is Christopher Doherty, of Walpole, Mass., a junior studying mechanical engineering. Last summer; he worked for Creative Technology Industries in Foxborough, Mass., where he used the program Solidworks to model the company's products on the computer.

He is looking forward to the Covidien program because he has already learned the value of gaining practical job experience, he says.

"Work experience before graduation is priceless," said Doherty. "It shows future employers that you are a hard worker and it also gives you a sense of how the real work environment is."

Also selected was Victor Limauro, of West Haven, Conn., a junior majoring in mechanical engineering.

"I am interested in taking part in this program because it is an excellent way to gain work experience," he said. "The value of working in the 'real world' before graduation is enormous. It makes me aware of what I will encounter after college. I'll be better prepared for when I take a permanent full-time job. This program potentially results in a job offer for me after college, and if not, it will look amazing on my resume when applying to other companies."

The third student selected, Antczak Lukasz, of Waterbury, Conn., was born and raised in Poland. He came to the United States in 2005 and recently gained his citizenship.

A junior majoring in electrical and computer engineering, Lukasz says the most important aspect of the program to him is the ability to apply his current knowledge to real-life engineering projects.

"I value practical experience much more than theoretical school experience," he said. "School education only provides the basics and very minimal hands-on training. This is my first internship and I am very excited about it. I can't wait to get involved and finally see what the real world is about."

The students will work at Covidien until August when they will return to UNH to complete their degrees. Three additional students will be chosen to take part in a nine-month assignment at Covidien beginning in June. The students will be working in Covidien's advanced engineering department supporting new product development for soft tissue implants and endomechanical devices.

"This is an opportunity for Covidien to develop potential future employees," Daniel Green, principal engineer in Covidien's advanced manufacturing engineering department, said. "We have handpicked the students and are looking forward to having them on our team."

Green, who also serves as an adjunct professor at UNH, says the program provides Covidien, which has 41,000 employees worldwide, with a way to encourage young people to pursue careers in engineering and give back to the community.

"This is an opportunity to help the students develop their professional skills and provide Covidien with potential job candidates who will be prepared to come to work here upon graduation from college," Green added. "Covidien usually hires about 70 percent of the students who intern here. We will be investing nearly a year into each student. Hopefully, they will like it here, be hired after graduation and find it a great place to work in a very exciting field."

The UNH students will be paid for their work and Covidien also will provide scholarships to support the students once they return to UNH to complete their degrees.

The University of New Haven is a private, top-tier comprehensive institution recognized as a national leader in experiential education. Founded in 1920 on the campus of Yale University in cooperation with Northeastern University, UNH moved to its current West Haven campus in 1960. The University provides its students with a unique combination of a solid liberal arts education and real-world, hands-on career and research opportunities. UNH enrolls approximately 6,400, including nearly 1,800 graduate students and more than 4,600 undergraduates – the majority of whom reside in University housing. Through its College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, Tagliatela College of Engineering, and University College, UNH offers 75 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. UNH students have access to more than 50 study abroad programs worldwide and its student-athletes compete in 16 varsity sports in the NCAA Division II's highly competitive Northeast-10 Conference.