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Engineering Distinguished Lecture Panel on the New Face of Engineering in 2030

Will artificial intelligence put people out of jobs? Is the idea of working for one company your entire career obsolete? Will the engineering field include previously underrepresented groups? And how important are so-called soft skills?

These are some of the questions tackled by the industry panel at Thursday’s Engineering Distinguished Lecture, which was timed to coincide with CSULB’s Imagine BEACH 2030 crowdsourcing campaign to examine the future. Continue reading “Engineering Distinguished Lecture Panel on the New Face of Engineering in 2030”

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SCE VP Jill Anderson Urges Girls to Study Engineering, Help Solve World Problems

Jill Anderson, vice president of Customer Programs and Services at Southern California Edison (SCE), remembers the moment she decided to pursue engineering. She’d enrolled in a summer math and science camp in high school with the thought of raising her SAT scores. “At 16 years old, I didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do,” she recalled.

They were given a box of rubber bands, some pencils, wheels, and a mousetrap, and asked to build a racecar. After understanding that the spring in the mousetrap could be used to power the car, it was all over for Anderson.  “I was hooked,” she told the 170 high school girls at Friday’s Women Engineers at the Beach event. “I decided I’m going to be an engineer.” Continue reading “SCE VP Jill Anderson Urges Girls to Study Engineering, Help Solve World Problems”

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Griffith Co. Offers Opportunities for Civil Engineering and Construction Grads

griffith employeesBuilding a good reputation is important, says Griffith Co. Chairman and CEO Tom Foss. And Foss should know. He started at Griffith as a laborer four decades ago, and rose through the ranks, transitioning to foreman, estimator, chief coordinator, then Orange County vice president and district manager.

Established in 1902, Griffith is a midsized heavy civil construction company that employs about 1,000. “We try to do things that give us a family feel,” said Foss, a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council and a fundraiser for the Beaver’s Endowed Chair in Heavy Civil Engineering. “We want to make employees feel like part of the team.” Continue reading “Griffith Co. Offers Opportunities for Civil Engineering and Construction Grads”

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Northrop Grumman Holds Resume Workshop for Post-Military Students

Five veterans attend a resume workshopIf you’ve served in the military, you probably have a long list of accomplishments to include on your resume. But those acronym-rich descriptions can require some translating to make sense to civilian hiring managers.

On Monday, recruiters from Northrop-Grumman were at the CSULB College of Engineering to help veterans present their military experience in a way that  stands out for hiring managers going through stacks of resumes.

“The resume workshop for veterans offered tips on how to translate a military background to a civilian-friendly resume,” said Eddie Jimenez, a Northrop Grumman university relations specialist. “The idea is to help them create better resumes.” Continue reading “Northrop Grumman Holds Resume Workshop for Post-Military Students”

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Hundreds of Engineering Students Practice their Interview Skills

Countless online articles can tell you how to create the best impression during a job interview. But as with engineering itself, there’s no substitute for trying out those theories in the real world.

On Friday, the CSULB College of Engineering Office of Professional Development & Internships hosted its annual mock interviews, giving 530 students the opportunity to practice their interview skills with representatives from 48 employers. Continue reading “Hundreds of Engineering Students Practice their Interview Skills”

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G2 Software Systems Interviews for Open Computer Science Positions

San Diego-based G2 Software Systems is often enlisted to fix broken systems or refresh ones that are out of date. The company’s sweet spot is with the defense industry’s large, complex, and sometimes antiquated, systems. G2 was hired to create software that sends alerts throughout all branches of the military, notifies the continent’s defense and aviation organizations to suspicious aircraft, and lets military personnel be trained simultaneously around the globe.

On Wednesday, a group from G2 visited the CSULB College of Engineering to interview graduating computer science seniors for possible jobs or internships. G2’s founder, Georgia Griffiths, is a CSULB alumni and member of the Dean’s Advisory Council.

G2 General Manager Pete Keyes. COE Development Director Nicole Forrest-Boggs, and mathematician Christopher Priebe.
G2 General Manager Pete Keyes. COE Development Director Nicole Forrest-Boggs, and mathematician Christopher Priebe.

“She’s a great supporter of scholarships for the College of Engineering,” said COE Development Director Nicole Forrest-Boggs, whose office organized the event. “We’re very happy to have them here.”

The G2 contingent included general manager Pete Keyes, mathematician Christopher Priebe, and office manager Jessica Rose, a CUSLB alumni.

Priebe, who manages a technology team at G2, said job prospects are bright for computer science majors. “This is a booming industry. It’s a seller’s market. There’s a lot of competition for engineers,” he said. Continue reading “G2 Software Systems Interviews for Open Computer Science Positions”

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Professional Development Speaker Series: Working as a Google Engineer

If you want to know the questions that Google interviewers ask, don’t believe the dozens of books and blog posts written on the subject. Because the minute an interview question is found to be published, it’s added to the list of banned questions, says Google software engineer Chris Clark, who was at CSULB Tuesday to talk about what it’s like to be an engineer at Google.

Clark was the top computer science student in his class at UCLA, where he double majored in applied mathematics. He won a Hewlett-Packard scholarship that guaranteed him three internships at the company.

But after completing his first summer internship there, he declined a second one in favor of internships at Xerox and then Microsoft. After his 2008 graduation, Microsoft hired him full-time. Seven years ago, he was recruited by Google.

The search engine giant, said Clark, “is very good at empowering every engineer.” The company’s open environment and support of its employees is legendary, as are its kitchens.

Clark said the micro-kitchens serve a purpose in addition to keeping employees in snacks, refreshments, and meals. “They foster communication with other people. You might go to pick up a water and overhear someone trying to solve a technical problem and end up in a conversation,” he said. Continue reading “Professional Development Speaker Series: Working as a Google Engineer”

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CECS Introducing Colloquium Series

The Long Beach State Department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science this semester will be launching a Colloquium Series to provide a forum for industry best practices and to make research more tangible for students.

Each semester, there will be 4-5 talks by invited speakers from academia and industry, said CECS Assistant Professor Birgit Penzenstadler.

The first talk will be on Thursday, Sept 28 from 12:30-2 p.m. in VEC-110. It will feature Ph.D. candidate Jayden Khakurel, who will discuss Human-centered Design and Wearables. Continue reading “CECS Introducing Colloquium Series”

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Making the Most of Career Fairs

A year ago, Electrical Engineering majors Daniela Bosze and Jose Gomez were in the same position as the 70 students who attended Tuesday’s Southern California Edison information session—wondering how to make the most of career fairs.

Bosze and Gomez attended the Edison info session last year, and stopped by the Edison booth at the fall Engineering Job & Internship Fair. Although Bosze said she hadn’t yet taken any classes in power, she expressed an eagerness to learn. Gomez hadn’t taken power classes either, but spent time before the job fair getting up to speed.

“You have to convey the message that you’re trying to learn,” said Bosze, who, like Gomez, is now a year-round Edison intern. Continue reading “Making the Most of Career Fairs”

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Northrop Grumman Holds Resume Workshop for Military Veterans

DSC_0274In the military, the unit is more important than the individual, said Northrop Grumman’s D.N. “Doc” Massard. But that’s not the case in private industry, where you must stand out as an individual to get hired.

A Northrop Grumman military recruiter, Massard was at CSULB Thursday to provide resume advice for engineering students who are military veterans. The company also supports a study room where the College of Engineering’s 120 veteran students can gather. Continue reading “Northrop Grumman Holds Resume Workshop for Military Veterans”