Chemical Engineering

New Cooperative Education Program Offers Students Professional Experience, continued

Four other students have co-op assignments in Boulder with Roche Colorado and Baxter Healthcare — two are working this spring and two others will work this summer. Yet another student will begin a co-op assignment this summer in Minneapolis with 3M Company. Other students and companies have expressed interest in developing future co-op opportunities starting this summer or next fall.

Students are given increasing responsibilities with each successive co-op assignment, corresponding to their increasing technical abilities and knowledge gained from academic studies and experience. Many co-op students eventually become full-time employees at the companies where they completed their co-op assignments. It is increasingly common that companies will hire only graduates who have been co-op students, recognizing the value of that work experience, and typically at a higher salary than non-co-op students would receive.

Sophomore-level students with a 2.85 grade point average can apply to be in the new program. Students are continuously enrolled at the university through a six-credit hour co-op course offered through the Division of Continuing Education, for which a $650 fee is required in each of the four semesters of co-op work assignments. Students in the co-op program will spend five years completing all course and co-op requirements, after which they will receive both a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and a Certificate of Cooperative Education.

"It has been a great experience so far," says Tolley. "I couldn't be in a better learning environment than in this setting, putting my skills to work."

Companies interested in participating in the cooperative education program may contact Dr. Beverly Louie at 303-492-3687, or Professor Alan Weimer at 303-492-3759.