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Q&A with ITM Co-op Marlo Bryant

UC mechanical engineering student loved the variety at ITM

Marlo Bryant is in her fifth year as a mechanical engineering student at the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Science. She spent this summer as a co-op at ITM, helping the firm with interesting projects around the country. We caught up with Marlo during her last week, and here are some of her reflections.

Q: What led you to ITM?

A: I was looking for a smaller company for my last co-op rotation because I had worked at a huge conglomerate and also a larger company. I wanted to really utilize the co-op program to get a feel for different industries and different size companies. I’m also interested in data analysis kind of work, so that’s initially why ITM sounded so interesting.

Q: Was there anything about your experience that will influence your future?

A: Yeah. I’ve been kind of struggling with what I want to do with an engineering degree once I graduate. But this co-op has definitely helped me narrow down that I’m

more interested and inclined toward test engineering as opposed to manufacturing or design. So, I think it has been really beneficial.

Q: What is it about testing that’s intriguing to you?

A: I like being able to see a project go from start to finish. Figure out what you are looking for, complete it and go through the results. You get a larger role in seeing the whole operation and having more responsibility instead of just having tunnel vision on one small role.

Q: Any particular experience that stands out from your co-op?

A: Going down and working on rockets and being able to go inside rockets and seeing the whole manufacturing center is super cool. And being trusted to work on what ITM is doing there is pretty awesome.

Q: What might you say to a classmate considering a co-op at ITM?

A: From talking to my peers, a lot of co-ops that they’ve been on are just sitting at their desk or doing the same kind of boring thing. A lot of companies just want their engineers to do the work and only have their co-ops there as support. But at ITM you get to have a big role in projects.

For more information about co-op opportunities or employment at ITM, contact Josh Fishback via phone: (844) 837-8797 or email: josh.fishback@itestsystem.com.

What’s a Co-op Experience at ITM Like?

in Aerospace | Defense, Blog Posts/by Ryan Welker

University of Cincinnati Mechanical Engineering Co-op Student next to the Bearcat statue.

Check out the Q&A with a recent UC grad who gained real-world experience doing hands-on learning

Brandon Walsh’s career came into focus in a powerful way during one of his co-op experiences with ITM. The 23-year-old recent University of Cincinnati graduate remembers the moment. He was watching a rocket launch from a distance while on an assignment with an ITM crew in Florida.

“Just watching it go up into the sky and disappear while watching a livestream and hearing updates on the rocket was pretty incredible,” he said. “It was very neat to see. It was a good five seconds after the launch that I heard and felt the blast.”

Walsh, who grew up in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, knew then that he wanted to learn all he could about aerospace. The mechanical engineering graduate is now pursuing his master’s degree in aerospace in a joint degree program that has him splitting time between UC and the University of Bordeaux.

He credits his ITM experiences for helping him lock onto his dream. Walsh co-opped with ITM in the summer of 2021 and again in the summer of 2022, so we caught up with him to learn more about his adventures.

Q:What was it like when you first started at ITM?

A:I enjoyed it from the start. During the interview, they talked about all the projects they do and all the traveling. That piqued my interest. Near the end of the interview they took me down to the lab and showed me some of the projects they were working on and all the tools that they had. Being able to go out to different parts of the country to work on various projects and having a lot of in-house projects to work on really interested me.

Q:You had co-ops at a couple of larger companies before coming to ITM. How would you compare the experiences?

A:I definitely got to do a larger variety of things at ITM. At the two previous companies, I was more set in a certain department and had a certain thing I’d do every day, every week. But at ITM I got to do a lot more hands-on stuff as well as the digital/computer side of things.

Q:What types of projects did you work on at ITM?

A: We did a lot of aerospace work, so trips to a space flight company. We worked on different rocket parts and got to see the process and talk to the engineering teams. We worked at an electric vehicle battery factory up in Michigan doing strain gauging. I got to go to West Texas to work in the oil fields on a project. It was just neat to see different parts of the country that I hadn’t really seen before, too.

Q:How was it getting such a wide exposure?

A: It helped further my education and understanding of the topics and things that I was working on.

Q:What stood out from your time in the lab at ITM?

A: Just seeing how this small company was making all these very precise and nice looking panels for (a world renowned equipment company) was really impressive. I got to practice and work on my skills soldering and using a drill press and taps and other tools.

Q: So, a lot of helpful hands-on work?

A: Yes. I’m definitely better at soldering now than when I started.

Q:Talk to me about the culture at ITM.

A:I enjoyed working with all the different levels of people there. It was easy to talk to all of them, and they had different amounts of knowledge and ways to relate to me. They were able to provide different pieces of advice and things that helped me along the way.

Q:Did the experience at ITM help shape where you wanted to head with your career?

A:Yeah. Definitely. It really confirmed that I want to go into aerospace. I hope to work in the field of aircraft or spacecraft.

Q:So seeing a rocket launch in person ignited something in you?

A: Yeah. That helped open my eyes.

For more information about employment or co-op opportunities contact Josh Fishback via phone: (844) 837-8797 or email: josh.fishback@itestsystem.com.

Co-op Student Finds Home at ITM – Literally

in Blog Posts/by Josh Fishback

Co-op Student Finds Home at ITM – Literally

Weston Graham found a whole lot more than valuable job experience while co-oping at Integrated Test & Measurement (ITM). He also found his dream home — a 7-ton bus he would convert into a tiny house on wheels.

The University of Cincinnati aerospace engineering major had joined ITM on a NASA contract testing rocket components in Huntsville, Alabama, when a Facebook Marketplace search unearthed the ideal fixer-upper, a 1995 8-window International bus in his price range.

“I couldn’t find housing, and I didn’t want to pay $600 a month for rent,” he said. “I thought a bus would be fun.”

After all, Weston had the mechanical aptitude. Having spent his formative years tearing apart and selling enough go-karts to buy his first car, why not go big? Really big. Only problem was the bus he desired sat 3.5 hours away from his Huntsville hotel room. He talked a coworker into a midnight run through Alabama and eventually parked the bus in his parents Louisville, Kentucky driveway.

“It is the only school bus ever produced with a mechanical DT466 engine,” he fawned. “It is a wet-sleeve design, so you can actually change out the cylinders and rebuild the entire engine without ever taking it out of the vehicle.”

After months of driving home from ITM every weekend to rehab his Skoolie, he’s nearly finished with the RV conversion. With furniture, kitchen sink, bed, closets and more installed before Christmas, he had only some electrical and plumbing work left as he wrapped up his Fall co-op.

The student’s ingenuity was no surprise to the ITM team. The Milford, Ohio, engineering firm prides itself on landing co-ops who are problem solvers, then giving them real-world experience. In fact, CEO Tim Carlier believes deeply in giving students the same types of opportunities he received while in college.

While pursuing his mechanical engineering degree at Ohio University, Carlier worked summers and extended breaks at Manta Corp. in the early ’90s. At 19, he was scaling a roller coaster at Kings Island to instrument and test the ride overnight. It was extremely valuable experience, and he wants to pass it along to the next generation.

That’s why co-ops at ITM find themselves traveling the country on assignment, helping with research projects in the R&D lab or even scaling a massive recovery boiler to help the firm monitor and improve efficiencies in a pulp and paper plant.

For Weston, two co-ops at ITM gave him the opportunity of a lifetime.

“I was at the office getting acclimated and learning how to install strain gauges when they said, ‘Well, we have a contract with NASA down in Alabama , and we’d like to send you down there,’” he said. “I mean you can’t really ask for much more than that being a first-year aerospace engineering student. That was a really cool experience.”

In addition, he liked working at a firm where the company leaders are so accessible.

“I don’t think you would be able to say in most jobs as a student that you see the CEO every day and you talk with him and go out to lunch.”

For more information about co-op or other employment opportunities at ITM contact Josh Fishback at (844) 837-8797.

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