For industrial engineering major Kathryn Pecha, UW-Milwaukee combined the two things she was most looking for in a university: a strong engineering program and a D1 track and field team.
“It all aligned really well,” she says. “And UWM is close to home, so my parents can attend more meets.”
During her time at UWM, Pecha got hands-on experience in engineering through undergrad research. “I did undergrad research the summer before freshman year. I met a lot of cool people I’m still friends with,” she says. Like most of UWM’s engineering students, she also did internships and co-ops, with hers taking place at Lakeside Manufacturing and at Foxconn.
“The industrial engineering program gives you a solid foundation of principles you should know, and the professors are good at connecting you with outside sources. They want you to continuously learn, whether it’s from their syllabus or outside the classroom,” Pecha says.
Another prominent aspect of Pecha’s UWM experience was studying abroad. “One of my favorite memories from the program so far has been studying abroad in Taiwan,” she says. “Besides classes, I did a co-op at a Foxconn facility and worked in a group with people from Taiwan and Indonesia. I would have never met those people otherwise.”
UWM offers a wide range of study abroad programs each year across all discipline, and students can study abroad for a few weeks, for a semester or for an entire academic year. Options include faculty-led programs, where UWM students travel abroad together with a UWM faculty member; exchange programs, where students attend a university abroad and take classes there; and internships.
