Dispatching a job application to automobile industry behemoth General Motors with a cover letter she now says was “a bit risky,” Megan Mogouei didn’t worry too much about the outcome. After all, she hadn’t been seriously looking at the car sector when she began applying for entry-level positions during the capstone project period of her undergraduate SFU mechatronics degree.
It took Etienne Naugle 10 years to find the program he always wanted to do. “I wish this had been available when I first went to school,” he says, looking back on his time as a mature undergraduate student in the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering. “I always wanted to be an engineer but I just never found the right course.”
Ask any group of undergraduates on the SFU Mechatronic Systems Engineering program for a roll call of potential employers they dream about working for and one company will likely hover near the top of most starry-eyed wish lists. Cupertino-based consumer technology pioneer – and one of the world’s most successful corporations – Apple Inc. is a fantasy destination for many ambitious engineering students.
While fellow students in the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering spent their time keeping up with their classes, George Cheng discovered a passion he hadn’t anticipated. “During my undergrad, I did a lot of research projects as well as research-focused co-op terms. I ended up developing a real love for research,” he says.