Co-op in the College of Engineering

Cooperative education at Northeastern got its start in the engineering program in 1909, when four railroads and the gas company became the University’s first co-op employers. Today, co-op remains central to the College of Engineering undergraduate program. More than 600 companies and organizations in over 33 states employ Northeastern engineering students on co-op, in engineering fields that are constantly evolving.  In fact, you will find just about any co-op assignment imaginable, from working on traditional civil engineering projects such as Boston’s Big Dig, to positions in areas of engineering that weren’t even named a generation ago.

Northeastern’s growing strength in these newer areas of engineering—such as biomedicine and nanotechnology—provides you with opportunities for engineering research co-ops working with one of our many corporate, academic, and government partners.  And if you prefer working on the development of actual products to research, you’ll find that the Boston region is a hotbed of commercial activity in 21st century technology.

The high level of industry knowledge among the engineering faculty and co-op coordinators is another strength of the co-op program in the college. Academic faculty are able to use their industry background to help students make the theory-to-reality connections essential to engineers, while the co-op coordinators, dubbed “the machine behind the scene,” use their industrial experience to make more informed matches of students to jobs and serve as mentors for their students.

Our co-op faculty members are integrated into the college, providing you with plenty of support for your job search, during co-op, and afterwards as you reflect on how the experience dovetailed with your classroom learning.

However, as is true of the co-op program throughout the University, you will need to compete for top co-op positions in engineering, just as you will for full-time positions after graduation. That is part of the value of co-op in preparing you to succeed as a professional in the real world.

Students and Employers, please visit the College of Engineering site to learn more about our program and cooperative education.