The Lassonde School of Engineering has launched Lassonde Co-op, a brand new program that gives students the opportunity to apply their knowledge and learn new skills in a real-world setting.
Lassonde Co-op has been designed in consultation with employers across a wide range of sectors, reflecting the breadth of Canadian and international companies seeking engineering talent. The first cohort from this program is spending their summer at top employers across North America, from Hydro One in Toronto all the way to Uber in Colorado (click here to learn more about two students currently completing their internships with Uber).
“Lassonde Co-op is absolutely critical to the learning experience for our students. We want them to truly understand what employers need and adopt a career-focused mindset throughout their time at Lassonde,” said Founding Dean Janusz Kozinski. “As Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg put it recently, today’s careers resemble a ‘jungle gym more than a ladder’. Lassonde Co-op will give our students the chance to get to know what it takes to make a difference in the modern workplace.”
Anton Sitkovets, fourth-year Software Engineering student, and Daman Chhina, third-year Computer Engineering student, headed to Uber’s offices in Boulder, Colorado to work with the tech giant’s map team.
The Lassonde Co-op program isn’t just for the summer. It runs all year round with students available for employers to hire during the fall and winter terms, as well as the summer months. It also represents one of the foundations of the Lassonde School’s Renaissance Engineering experience, which prepares students for careers that will take them in unexpected directions.
Lassonde is changing what students learn and how they learn it. A much broader curriculum includes opportunities to study commercialization at the Schulich School of Business and intellectual property at Osgoode Hall Law School together with entrepreneurship classes and placements with top employers through Lassonde Co-op.
The School is also embarking on a radical rethink of how students learn with a shift away from lectures towards hands-on learning, making prototypes and team-based collaborative projects. This concept of “flipping the classroom” will give students the freedom to watch lecture content online anywhere, anytime and come to class to solve problems together.
As well, the Lassonde School of Engineering has also launched the Lassonde 50:50 Challenge with the aim of becoming the first engineering school in Canada to achieve a 50:50 gender balance.
Click here for more information about the Lassonde Co-op program – including advice on how to build opportunities for York students by hiring a Lassonde student for your workplace.
Questions? Connect with Bob Eichvald, associate director for Lassonde Co-op, at bob.eichvald@lassonde.yorku.ca or 416-736-2100 ext. 44072.