Illinois mechanical engineering alum Amy Mueller recommends that students use their time on campus as an opportunity to prepare themselves for becoming professional engineers.
As a student, she was involved with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Mueller is now a project engineer at McDonald’s and is currently helping to develop standards for restaurants built in the U.S.
From an excerpt of an interview with WIE:
“As a Project Engineer at McDonald’s, [Mueller] helps to ‘develop the mechanical and plumbing standards for all new McDonald’s restaurants built in the US. This included training the architecture and engineering firms that design McDonald’s restaurants, researching new more efficient equipment, and supporting project managers and the field teams on new restaurants built in their regions.’ Her interest in industry sprouted from her positive internship experiences, which made her realize how different the working world was from college. She used her time as an intern to find new styles of communication that worked well in the new environment.
The Fundamentals of Engineering exam is one of the first steps to becoming a licensed engineer. [Mueller] suggests taking the FE as a student or soon after graduation. She feels that students are in a good position for taking the exam because they are in the habit of studying for exams and can review all the material needed for it in recent or current classes.”
Vignette written by:
Taylor Tucker, September 2017