Suzana Perovic
Hometown | Norton, Ohio
Major | Aerospace Systems Engineering
Company | Dupont
Location | Dayton, Ohio
Position | Manufacturing Technology/Reliability Engineer
Suzana Perovic, aerospace systems engineering student at The University of Akron.
What are your general co-op duties?
During my co-op, I collected and analyzed data for parts of the production process, tracked the plant's operational efficiency and contributed to a couple of expansion projects.
What surprises/unexpected outcomes have your experienced on co-op?
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed being in a manufacturing plant. I had never been exposed to one before, let alone a chemical plant. There was a good balance of office and field work, and it was fascinating to learn about the chemical processes and products within the plant and how they connect to the aerospace parts DuPont makes.
What has been the coolest part of your co-op experience?
The coolest part of my co-op was seeing a new building go up, inspecting new equipment as it arrived and working with so many different people.
How will your co-op influence your career?
During my co-op, the MT team I worked with was made up mostly of women. They influenced how I see myself as a young woman in engineering. They spoke up for themselves and their team members, and the overall co-op experience gave me more confidence to pursue a career in the engineering industry.
What have you learned as a co-op that you wouldn't have learned from your coursework?
What I’ve learned during my co-op that my coursework didn’t teach me is that there are often many solutions to a single problem. Sometimes, a simple problem ends up requiring an elaborate solution that you need your team’s help to figure out. Other times, the toughest problems have surprisingly simple answers if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture. You have to seek out solutions on your own because resources aren’t always handed to you.