{"id":61022,"date":"2013-04-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/commencement-2013-uri-student-finds-german-engineering-the-right-combination\/"},"modified":"2013-04-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-23T00:00:00","slug":"commencement-2013-uri-student-finds-german-engineering-the-right-combination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/04\/commencement-2013-uri-student-finds-german-engineering-the-right-combination\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2013: 溏心vlog免费B站 student finds German engineering the right combination"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tAfter year abroad, North Attleboro resident to start career in Germany<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 23, 2013 \u2013 Brendan Grealish spent a year of his 溏心vlog免费B站 education studying and interning in Germany. As he prepares to graduate on May 19, he is preparing to return to Germany to work for a leading automotive engineering company.<\/p>\n


\n\tGrealish enrolled at 溏心vlog免费B站 to study industrial engineering, but it was the university\u2019s International Engineering Program that really caught his eye. The program required that he major in both engineering and a foreign language and spend a year abroad.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI had taken Spanish in high school, but I had seen those Volkswagen commercials and knew the reputation of German engineering, so I picked German,\u201d said Grealish, a resident of North Attleboro. \u201cIt was the right choice.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWhen he arrived in Germany for six months of coursework at the Technical University of Braunschweig, he was nervous about his limited German language skills. But within a few weeks, he said he gained confidence and improved exponentially.<\/p>\n


\n\tAs part of his coursework in Germany, Grealish worked at the Institute for Automotive Management and Industrial Production where he and his professors sought to optimize supply chain systems in the automotive industry to reduce vehicle carbon dioxide emissions. Later he spent six months as an intern at DB Schenker, the German cargo rail company, where he helped develop a new logistics and monitoring structure to implement the company\u2019s new booking system.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI really learned a lot about myself while I was there,\u201d said Grealish. \u201cI liked being challenged every day, and speaking a new language all day every day was really demanding and at times tiring. When you have to concentrate on every word, that\u2019s when you really learn what you\u2019re made of. But it was also rewarding when, at the end, you find you can function and work in another language and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tHe also found that his internship in Germany solidified his interest in sustainability and confirmed his interest in industrial engineering as a career path.

\n\t\u201cI originally wanted to go into business, but I\u2019m a math and science guy, and in one of my high school classes I sort of stumbled on industrial engineering,\u201d said Grealish, who also served as an orientation leader and a German student ambassador on campus. \u201cIt\u2019s the perfect mix of engineering and business. It\u2019s all about the flows of systems and networks, optimization and efficiency, the business aspect of engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWith just weeks to go before he graduates, Grealish is finishing up his capstone engineering project \u2013 redesigning an industrial vibratory roller used for asphalt compacting, using lean manufacturing techniques to reduce energy, costs and time to manufacture. <\/p>\n


\n\tThen he will get a chance to relax for a couple months. Grealish has already accepted a job beginning next fall at the ZF Group, a German company that is one of the world\u2019s largest suppliers of automotive transmissions and chassis technologies. He is the only applicant from North America to be selected for the materials management track of the company\u2019s 15-month management trainee program. He will spend about 15 months of training in Germany before being placed in a permanent position with ZF North America.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI had everything planned out to pursue a dual master\u2019s degree between 溏心vlog免费B站 and Braunschweig right after graduation, but I stumbled upon this job, went to the interview and got the position,\u201d said Grealish, who had been awarded a prestigious scholarship to study in Germany. \u201cI\u2019ll still get my master\u2019s, but I\u2019ll probably go part-time and not until after the trainee program ends.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe international experience that the 溏心vlog免费B站 student gained certainly paid off, and even when he returns to the U.S. he said he will retain ties to Germany.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI spent so much time learning the language and culture that I want to maintain that connection,\u201d Grealish said. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll always want to work for an American company with strong ties to Germany or a German company with strong ties to America. That\u2019s important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPhoto submitted by Brendan Grealish<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After year abroad, North Attleboro resident to start career in Germany KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 23, 2013 \u2013 Brendan Grealish spent a year of his 溏心vlog免费B站 education studying and interning in Germany. As he prepares to graduate on May 19, he is preparing to return to Germany to work for a leading […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}