Engineering (ALL STORIES PRINTED WITH AUTHOR, THEIR STAFF TITLE AT THE TIME AT WHICH THE ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED, AND DATE THE ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN IN THE BEHREND BEACON.) GE CEO Simonelli advises Behrend students RYAN FRANKOWSKI engineering reporter • industrial engineering February 19, 2010 Lorenzo Simonelli provided advice for students staring down the barrel of a bleak job market on Monday. Simonelli, the current CEO of GE Transportation, spoke to a packed Samuel P "Pat" Black 111 Conference Center. Those students in attendance came from a variety of backgrounds - business, engineering, communication - but all were united by a common de sire: attaining a job. Since Simonelli's section of GE em ploys over 10,000 people worldwide, he was a prime candidate to answer questions regarding that crucial job seeking programs that many students will soon face. Much of the presentation was ques tion and answer, and students could voice their own concerns as they stared down the job market. "What attracted you to the position as a CEO?" one student asked. "When you are given the opportu nity to become CEO, you take it," Si monelli responded. His career as a CEO speaks for itself as a success story. Originally from Italy, he has spent time in a variety of nations in various capacities for GE. His last residence was in Budapest, Hungary. He can speak French, Eng lish, Italian, and German after having moved 27 times. Having a second language, or even a third, is very important, he said, be cause it can greatly assist you in mov ing up the corporate ladder. Much of language-learning deals with expanding your own intellect, which Simonelli emphasized as a huge part of moving through a career. He recommended trying for a mini mum GPA of 3.2 coming out of under graduate studies. Still, when it came down to it, the biggest driving force in Simonelli's ca- .Plastics in • KRISTIN SLIWINSKI 30,•gint C-9 'my Clrem Cirroo Day 1; 'We Invoked from Erie latornollonall Alyport to Ve .4' "r r trait, where we boarded another flight to Frankfurt, Ger. di ' may After we arrived In Germany. vre f terted traveltu via train from Frankfurt m`voil _ _ .0.1. d,r• A li ble • • 41,111110. 1,1% eV*. al a armor a all -AV ". e a .g.k wk. aa aa all. all Pc- 'NM Aar. .1111111 M eaa awe, a, a Ara Amy. ~•••• to a a agar. a a wren Ay, , A 6 S 40.4{ , .011.6 /O. PV•IMI, *..:r„r dir.4lll fan. -- Day 2: "Upon arrival in Heidelberg we found our way to the hostel _ evrryunr gut settled USW their rooms and then we eruturod oat on the tom to get some much, 'tented CM= ►-rru-1 Vey 7; *Early rir today for an hour and a half-long train ride to Me' snenieti, Switzerland, where we totis .SChoftti.totttt 19 aSnits* hteh midges bilocotton mold tniumfacturino . N 6ulity m thiurehaes in niukb lin the media and packaging 1"741401110.151k. N., ,« It Russell Warley settling in as M.E. program chair CONNOR SATTELY editor-in-chief February 5, 2010 After half a year in his position as the Department Chair of the Mechan ical Engineering program, Russell Warley is starting to feel like he should really be there. He has become, in his words, a "leader among peers." Warley took over the position last July, when it was vacated by William Lasher's resignation. He has used the friendships and relationships with fac ulty and colleagues to create a type of "consensus" leadership of the depart ment. This has presented what Warley thinks is the best way to lead, but has also given several distinct challenges. "You don't just hit the gavel and have it done," he says, drawing from his 20 years of experience managing in industry, rather than a university "We have very competent, very col legial, cooperative faculty," he said. "We haven't had any issues with fac ulty even for a second, so that makes it very easy." Lasher, who held the chair position for a decade, still remains as a "fall back" for Warley, giving advice and as- BEHREND BEACON YEAR IN REVIEW A look back at the stories that define the 2009-2010 academic year at Penn State Behrend Photos by Jon Klein / The Behrend Beacon CEO of GE Transportation Lorenzo Si monelli spoke to a large assembled group of students regarding their futures with jobs, careers, and internships. reer was hard work, he said "I'm no different than anyone else," he said, "I just did hard work. GE is unique because you can start off at an entry-level position, and with hard work, you can work your way to the top." With the economy in a downturn and even GE experiencing difficulties, many students had a bleak view on the job and internship market. That outlook, Simonelli said, "de pends on what businesses of GE you apply for. With engineering, there def initely are opportunities; you just need to apply. There's no doubt we need leaders for tomorrow." For those who might not get hired right away, the operant idea is to maintain focus and effort in getting the position. Many complaints he hears from applicants, he said, came from people who applied and were 0 11..111111.1111111 , 11.0111•1 MPS OM. 10.41 , 11 ..10 II IN Minien* MIN Fyn _~-'~.•_•_ -a sistance when he can "I help with developing schedules for teaching - what classes are held when, who teaches what, and so on - as well as problems with students," he says. "Graduation requests, transfer credits, that type of thing." Despite the fact that Lasher advises the faculty member who is now the chair for his own department, he thinks Warley is off to a good start. A lot of that good start is due to the transition which actually began fairly well before Warley took the post. "Really, I ramped into the position," Warley said." He became the Dean's Representative to University Park, and dealt with a lot of students who needed to transfer after two years. That helped him prepare for many of the issues which come to his desk on a daily basis today. "Bill [Lasher] and I knew a little early that it was likely me that would be taking the role," he said, "so I started to work with him in advance on some things, start training early." Amongst those early training oppor tunities was the Fall 2009 Semester schedule, which the two created to gether last spring. "There's a lot of potential repercus turned down once and then quit. "If you don't get hired in summer, keep applying, keep at it, and eventu ally you'll get in." So what type of engineers are GE looking for? `All types of engineers, all across the board," he said, "there's a need for smart engineers." For Simonelli, his routine is fairly set, and he knows how to organize his priorities. "I get up early, and leave the office On Thursday, Oct. Bth, a group of 17 plastics engineering technology stu dents and five faculty members set off on a ten-day journey through Ger many and Switzerland. Among faculty is Ralph Ford, Director of the School of Engineering, and Jonathon Meck r ley, associate professor of engineer ing. Three seniors - Tim Farrell, Jessica Patz, and Keith Maloney - are blogging about their experiences as they travel. Aside from the experience they will gain in regards to German and Swiss engineering, the students on the trip are also experiencing foreign travel, many for the first time. "Students are learning how to navi gate through foreign countries using different transport modes," said Ralph Ford, the director of the School of En gineering. "For example, to get from Switzerland to Germany today for the Fakuma Injection Molding Trade show, we started on train, switched to a ferry boat, then had to catch a bus to sions there for even a minor error," Warley said. "If a certain class over laps and you don't notice until after the semester starts, then you've got to deal with contacting every student in a certain section of a certain class, and for many it can severely impact their semester schedule." The continual flow of problems has presented its challenges as well. "It feels like I'm a bit less in control, because you can't necessarily foresee the workload coming at you," Warley said. "It makes it hard to plan for and accomplish longer- or intermediate term goals." And it's taken its toll, he says. "Psychologically, I feel like with the flood of things that are coming in, that I'm somehow going to drop the ball or let something fall off the bottom of the to-do list. There's a little bit of appre hension, I think, but just mainly be cause I'm new. But he's quick to say that there's a lot still to do and accomplish. "I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to take the position," he said. "It'll probably take a full year cycle including the summer to see how I'm really doing in the position, assess how the last year went." late," he said, saying he had woken up at 4 a.m., having visited Milwaukee before his 7:00 speech in Erie. It's all in a day's work for Simonelli, who was named one of the top CEOs in 2009 as one of Fortune's 40 under 40. "Being a CEO can be a relatively easy occupation," he said. "Depend ing, of course, on the quality of the people surrounding you." the show. That combination was by far the fastest way to get there." Wednesday, the group woke early to take a train to Diessenhofen, Switzer land to tour SchOttli, "a Swiss high precision injection mold manufactur ing facility that specializes in molds for the medical and packaging industries." Johannes Strassner, a managing di rector for sales and marketing showed the group around, educating the group on "what Swiss technology brings to the plastics industry." The group then broke up into three smaller groups, each receiving an extensive tour of the factory. "In terms of insights, this is a good example of a company being able to stay competitive by adapting to their markets," Ford said. "[Students) also got to see a very technically advanced company that is staying ahead of com petition based on value of technology." On Thursday, the group visited the Fakuma injection molding show. "This event put students outside of comfort zone - which I see as a good thing," Ford said. "They had to interact with company representatives to un derstand their technology, most of the engineering editw October 16, 2009 Russell Warley. r En , • Engineering Editors gineenng Writer . . Kristin Shtymski Beth Bimber Ryan Frankatilki BEHREND BEACON April 30, 2010 www.thebehrendbeacon.com time discussing with people for whom English is a second language." At press time, the group was located in a small town in Switzerland, where they are seeing some cultural sights before a day of rest which, Ford says, "we all are looking forward to." Some mishaps have accompanied the group, but most have bordered on amusing rather than troubling. Ford recounts a faculty member who stressed the need for students to be on time, then missed a train after locking himself out of his room during a shower at a youth hostel. Though he caught up with the group later, the fac ulty member has been "razzed" by stu dents all week. Another incident, perhaps less amusing, occured when a faculty member left their Eurorail pass in his room, and was caught by authorities without it on the train. The engineering students and fac ulty will continue blogging about their experiences until they arrive back home on Sunday, October 18th. WHAT'S NEXT? RUSSELL WARLEY'S LONG-TERM GOALS FOR THE M.E. DEPARTMENT More classes online, larger online ele ment in classes that aren't online. Involve faculty and students to see how much of this is appropriate to do. 2. Wider reputation Many local M.E. employers are im pressed with Behrend. Warley wants to expand Behrend's good reputation out side of just Erie or Pennsylvania. 3. Promote innovation Employers know about the research and technology at Behrend - Warley wants to let employers know about the educa tional innovation that occurs in the g classes. 1. E-Learning
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