News about recent ECE Grads at Bechtel:

Chad Collar was a member of last year's Bechtel-sponsored Senior Design team. Kevin Saso is a WCE alum. Bechtel recently hired Rich Gray into a management position. Rich graduated in the Fall, having served as WCE's President.

From the Bechtel Globe: January 2005
This article is excerpted from a monthly newspaper that is delivered in hardcopy to every Bechtel employee.

College and university campuses have long been a source of new employees for Bechtel, mostly via job fairs and on-campus interviews. At Michigan Technology University (MTU) in Houghton, Michigan, Bechtel is one of the sponsors of MTU's Enterprise Program, which pairs industry partners with engineering students to build students' business, technical, and communication skills, while they study and work on multifunctional teams.

As part of the program, Bechtel identifies a real-world engineering topic or problem for a student team to address, and designates company mentors from Bechtel Construction Operations, Incorporated (BCOI) to help steer the student team.

"This year, Bechtel challenged its team to develop a method to detect energized coaxial cable in the telecommunications industry," says Randy Denelsbeck, chief construction engineer in Bechtels Telecommunications GBU. "The industry currently has no way to detect energized coaxial cables in mid-stream, so an energized line can be interrupted by mistake, or worse, a worker could get burned. The detection method this team is developing could solve potential safety and operational issues."

Bechtel also provides materials and access to testing and processing facilities not available on campus. Mentors visit the MTU campus as needed to evaluate student reports and presentations and advise on program planning.

The student team's final report, due in April, will include all technical research, field testing, full data analysis (using Six Sigma tools), and a prototype of the tools, equipment, and testing devices developed to provide a solution to the problem.

"Bechtel's sponsorship of the Enterprise Program is an indication of our commitment to enhance engineering education and helps us recruit top graduates," says Denelsbeck.

"Our 2003 senior design projects produced two candidates that Telecoms hired for field engineering jobs," Denelsbeck adds. They are Chad Collar and Kevin Saso, field coordinators on the AT&T Wireless project in Dallas and in Chicago, respectively.

"On-campus programs like this one provide Bechtel a way to see how students -- potential employees -- put their skills to work addressing the demands of business, including managing cost, schedule, and customer expectations," says Denelsbeck. "The MTU program has produced high-performing candidates with a desire to work for Bechtel because they've experienced firsthand what its like inside the company."