UC co-op student leads project for KY manufacturing firm

The Northern Kentucky Tribune profiled a University of Cincinnati student who is making the most of her co-op at a multinational aviation firm.

UC College of Engineering and Applied Science student Vitoria Rezende is working a co-op for Safran Landing Systems Kentucky in Walton, Ky.

Through co-op, or cooperative education, UC students divide the year between classroom instruction and employment at a company in their chosen field. It's a system UC invented in 1906 and has spent more than a century expanding through collaborations with national and international employers.

Today, UC is a leader in co-op, consistently ranking among the top schools for co-op in the the U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Rezende is working for the French company Safran, which makes aircraft landing and braking systems.

The Tribune is a nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism.

According to the Tribune, Rezende spent her first semester in co-op helping to lead a global ergonomic project focused on efficiency and improving worker safety. She is continuing the project in her second co-op rotation, where she helped make improvements in production, including a prototype she presented to management.

“I became very fascinated by the whole challenge,” Rezende told the Tribune. “It sparked something in me, and I really want to take it to the finish line. I worked really hard to present a new design, not only to our leadership team in Walton, but in France and Malaysia, too.”

Rezende, who is from Brazil, said she hopes to pursue a career in project management.

“I am super open-minded and optimistic and embrace every opportunity that comes my way,” she told the Tribune. “I want to make something impactful and leave the world a little better than I found it.”

Read the Tribune story. 

Featured image at top: UC College of Engineering and Applied Science student Vitoria Rezende is studying aerospace engineering and is working a co-op at an international aviation company. Photo/Pixabay