Students and New Grads

Working as a co-op at Curtiss-Wright has provided me with valuable experience. I was given meaningful work and opportunities to learn by getting involved in real-world applications. Everyone on the team is eager to learn and exchange knowledge, and as a result, I have learned a great deal during my time here. It is clear that the co-op program is valued at CW, and that there are many opportunities to apply and extend your knowledge.

My time working with Curtiss-Wright during my co-op and part-time terms have added immense value to both my academic and professional career. From day one, I was treated as a member of the team and was integrated into the daily routine. Everyone at CW is interested in my success, and they all encourage continuous learning. I was able to apply classroom practices to real life situations, which in turn improved my understanding of course materials. CW has provided me with endless opportunities and made me into a more marketable graduate.

I first came to Curtiss-Wright in 1991 as a co-op engineer. Throughout four rotations, I learned a lot of practical fundamentals that I never would have seen at school and made friends with a great group of colleagues. I returned in 1997 as a Design Engineer and spent many years working in Design Engineering and Engineering Analysis. I moved into engineering management in 2008, and I am now the Director of Engineering at EMD.

Having spent two co-ops terms with Curtiss-Wright in 1996, I quickly realized that this was a place I could see myself working for a long time. I had a great mentor and supportive coworkers who took the time to provide training and real learning opportunities. When I was given the opportunity to join the company full time after graduating in 1997 I leaped at the chance. Over 20 years later I have grown as an employee and as a person and am fortunate enough to now lead the team that I joined all those years ago.

My experience as a co-op was invaluable in preparing me for full-time employment. The chance to see how classroom engineering concepts translated into practical application in making parts that can be seen and touched, as well as serve an intended function, was extremely enlightening. With several co-op rotations of exposure to incrementally increased responsibility of engineering practice, technical writing, and presentation skills, I felt that the transition to full-time employment was seamless form both the organization and my personal perspective. The wide spectrum of engineering disciplines (ex. Thermal, Structural, Fluid-dynamics) and manufacturing principles (ex. Quality, Process, Testing) that Curtiss-Wright offers co-op students is a rare opportunity that provides highly versatile and sought after work experience that equips students for successful transitions into the workforce right after graduation.

As a co-op at Curtiss-Wright, you have constant opportunity to expand your knowledge and make an impact. The dedication to the task at hand, being accountable for your actions and building solid relationships are just a few great things learned in that time, allowing for a smooth transition into a full-time role. It has been a pleasure working for Curtiss-Wright and I am very grateful to be a part of the quality work that takes place here.

A pleasure to work for this company. I found the work experience excellent, mostly because of the company’s diversity and great employees. There is a lot to learn about the industry and CW production process which delivers class A products. These reasons make it easy to recommend working at Curtiss-Wright to any student.

Curtiss-Wright is a great mix of professional engineering design work and an inclusive and social work environment. I have had the opportunity to work with FPGA design and PCB design to include schematics, layout, and board bring up as well as project design verification testing. Due to the large portfolio of products being developed, and those currently deployed in the field, there is always the opportunity to touch on every stage of the engineering design process. This may include design and review work through to debug and verification testing or maintenance and obsolescence tasks. By working in a variety of different group projects there are always new skills to learn and the mentorship from full-time engineers is very open and supportive but they encourage independence to help give co-op students the chance to develop. I would definitely recommend Curtiss-Wright as a co-op employer of choice for learning professional engineering skills!

I participated in CW-EMD’s co-op program while pursuing my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Over the course of four co-op rotations, I was involved in manufacturing training for EMD’s AP1000 reactor coolant pump, supported supply chain management, gained exposure to propulsion system design, aided design engineering during the assembly of CW-APS’s Advanced Arresting Gear motor, and completed a conceptual design of hardware to be used in a high-energy, pulse power weapon system. The numerous positions I worked in as a co-op allowed me to see a variety of CW programs, understand the different roles engineers play within the company, develop an understanding of how EMD and APS function on a facility level, and build meaningful professional relationships with my colleagues. Since graduating in 2012, I have remained with CW and have continued to work on numerous highly engineered product lines in the areas of design, test, and production support. The level of experience I gained during my co-op rotation, as well as a full-time employee, is beyond that which I could have ever hoped to get elsewhere.