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CORRIDOR
Cornell Fellows receive experience
Reporter: Tim Kenyon
tim@corridorbiznews.com
Tripled participation from the first to the third year of the Cornell College Fellows program shows organizers that it is successful in grooming students to get a jump on future careers.
Program coordinator RJ Holmes said more than 90 students have completed the program in just three years of operation. They gain real-world work experience at Corridor employers such as Rockwell Collins, the University of Iowa, Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust, the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra and the Fifteen in 5 Expand Downtown Housing Initiative.
The program also places students in various study areas throughout the country and internationally.
Cornell alum Dean Riesen pushed the program idea shortly after joining the Mount Vernon college’s board of trustees. Mr. Riesen, now a Phoenix-area based real estate developer, said his inspiration stemmed from experience he gained as an intern in finances in 1979-80 for Rockwell Collins while attending Cornell.
“I support from five to seven students every year,” he said. “I also contributed a $1 million gift to Cornell and a big chunk of that is still supporting this fellows program.”
Many other alumni sponsor individual fellows by making a $5,000 contribution for a domestic internship or $7,000 toward an international experience, Mr. Holmes said. Each fellowship is named after the donor, he said.
Each fellowship project participant must go through an application and interview process with Mr. Holmes and the employer representative. Once approved and started, participants submit reports to their workplace supervisor and to Cornell program officials during the approximately two months they are in it.
Donors get the benefit of being involved as fellows progress in their programs. Donors are invited to fellows’ final oral presentation, while recognition lunches are held twice a year for fellows, advisors, work supervisors and donors.
If the fellowship is unpaid, program funding occasionally helps students with a stipend for transportation, clothing and some other related costs, he said.
One program highlight is the success participant Dimo Dimitrov experienced as the result of his program work and subsequent hiring at Rockwell Collins. He applied for the internship after a tip from his advisor, professor Tony deLaubenfels.
Mr. Dimitrov said his internship opened the door to get work experience to complement the computer science and math knowledge he earned at Cornell.
“My internship experience with the company was very good,” he said.
His fellowship project focused on developing a skills assessment web tool that gave employees and management ways to score themselves and their employees on strengths and weaknesses.
The project provided a bonus toward determining his future. Mr. Dimitrov said it helped firm his decision that he was in the right field and he wanted to stay at Rockwell.
His time there initially was extended to part-time status after fulfilling the two-month fellowship requirement.
During his part-time role, he learned more about various areas at Rockwell thanks to manager Dana Smith, he said.
“Dana Smith put me in contact with other software engineers and I got to know the feel of an everyday work life sitting with a few engineers and observed and started applying to other positions that interested me,” Mr. Dimitrov said. “I got a call for an interview a couple weeks before leaving. On my last day, I got a call offering me a position. I was like, ‘sure I’ll take it.’ It was one less thing to worry about before graduation. I’m glad it happened.”
He said Rockwell’s global recognition as a worldwide company is a plus and offers many future opportunities.
“It’s a great place for beginners to start and advance as software engineers. I have no plans to move. Next year, I plan to pursue a master’s degree,” Mr. Dimitrov said. “I really like the group that I work with and doing what I wanted to do.”
As a software engineer, he works with data link products that deal with communications between the ground and airplane, sending and receiving messages via downlinks and uplinks rather than through voice connections.
“It’s very interesting because I work in a small specific area of airplane avionics but also interact in all other areas, so I learn about other domains as well,” he said.
Mr. Dimitrov, a native of Bulgaria, agrees with fellows program officials that Cornell’s block program — a one-course-at-a-time schedule — provides unique opportunities for students that they may not otherwise get at other colleges with a regular semester format.
“I enjoy and feel fortunate to work with the students by getting to see students blossom and come back more energized, motivated, focused and matured,” Mr. Holmes said. CBJ
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