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Alumni

Renae and Jeffrey Veneziano, Master of Engineering, 2004

Teamwork in the Master of Engineering Program
Renae and Jeffrey Veneziano, Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, 2004

This dynamic duo completed their Master of Engineering Degrees on a part-time basis, while holding down full-time jobs. Renae and Jeffrey started their Master of Engineering Degrees during the Winter quarter of 2002-03, and completed their last degree requirements in the summer of 2004, only seven quarters later.

"The most positive aspect of the M.Eng. program was the flexibility," said Renae, who took advantage of the inter-disciplinary nature of the Master of Engineering degree to complete several courses in the College of Business in addition to a technical focus in control systems. Jeffrey, who holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University echoed Renae's comments when he said the he liked "the ability to wander around, and ... avoid stuff I'm not interested in."

After starting his Masters of Engineering program at RIT, Jeffrey started a new job with Eastman Kodak Company in their Commercial and Government Systems division. He currently works at Kodak as an electronics design engineer, and has been responsible for creating all aspects of a motor control circuit board, including the mechanical, thermal, packaging and electronic communication issues. As a design engineer, his responsibilities include:

Creating board specifications

Designing the board to meet specifications

Selecting and obtaining the appropriate parts, and designing around any part procurement issues

FMEA, stress, and worst-case analysis

Connections to and communications with other components in the overall system

Testing of prototype boards

Approving the drawings, materials list, and manufacturing instructions

Assembly and verification of the final product

Mechanical, thermal, and packaging issues

Jeffrey feels that his M.Eng. degree has directly contributed to his career development. He states

"My current job has also allowed me to utilize some of the skills I learned while at RIT. These classes include Advanced Controls Systems and Signal Processing from the Mechanical Engineering department, and Project Management and Statistical Analysis from the College of Business. This helps demonstrate one of the advantages of the Masters of Engineering degree; the ability to take classes from various colleges within RIT. Overall Experience The Masters of Engineering degree at RIT was at least partially responsible for my new job, and graduate internship position, at Kodak. Kodak management was impressed that I was going for a masters degree, and interested in furthering my education. The assignment at Kodak has allowed me to expand my engineering and design skills, as well as utilize lessons learned in my classwork at RIT."

Renae also completed an industrial internship with her full-time employer, Delphi Engine & Chassis at the Rochester Technical Center in Henrietta, NY. Delphi Corporation is the leading tier 1 automotive supplier in the world, and the Technical Center Rochester, located in Henrietta, New York, is the center for research, development, and testing of such automotive components as Fuel Rail Assemblies, Canisters, Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valves, Manifolds, Injectors and Valve Train components.

Renae decided to pursue an internship her employer while working on her M.Eng. degree. For her internship, she was given the additional responsibility of "Validation Engineer for Fuel Rails" on top of her prior responsibilities of "Applications Engineer for Fuel Rail Assemblies." As Validation Engineer, her duties were expanded to include responsibility for insuring that the product followed corporate procedures, and leading a cross-functional team (a team of engineers including: design, manufacturing, materials, applications, systems and analysis engineers) in the development of validation and confirmation plans to meet customer requirements. Key elements of the Validation Engineering job function included:

Leading development of the Analytical Design Confirmation Plan, Design Confirmation Plan and Validation Plan
Chairing Validation Planning Meeting, Product Test Procedure/Validation Plan Approval Meeting and Validation Readiness Meeting.
Reviewing the Confirmation and Validation Work Requests ¢ Reviewing Confirmation and Validation Results
Determining conformance to requirements
Ensuring incident notification for non-conformances.
Supporting preparation of the Validation Package

Renae also commented that her M.Eng. degree has contributed to her career. She notes that,

"As part of my new job function I personally had a chance to use the knowledge and skills I had obtained from my classes at RIT. These classes include Signal Analysis out of the Mechanical Engineering Department and Project Management, Technology Management and Statistical Analysis and Decision Making all offered by the College of Business. These classes were part of my concentration within my major of Master's of Mechanical Engineering (ME). Overall Experience This new assignment given to me by Delphi Corporation has given me the opportunity to demonstrate my engineering knowledge as well as my leadership skills. I have also acquired some new skills; I was trained in Robust Engineering and Shainin Green Y.
Delphi is continuing to keep me in this duel position of Applications/Validation Engineer for Fuel Rails. I am unique in that I am the only Validation Engineer who has not come from the Engineering Services Organization originally; instead I come from having an Applications Engineering background. Because of this I think I am able to bring more customer focus to our meetings as well as a better understanding of the customer requirements."

More mechanical engineering alumni highlights are coming soon.