Engineering Students Take Flight with GE Aerospace Internships

When GE Aerospace visited UMass Lowell last October to recruit summer interns, senior mechanical engineering major Alinna Hanna ’25 stood in front of a packed room of 75 students to share her story. She had interned at the company for two consecutive summers and had just received a full-time offer to return after graduation as a product definition engineer.

“I always thought the aerospace industry was really cool, so I just applied for the internship,” Hanna says. “I ended up getting the position, and it’s really changed my life because, well, now I’m working here full time.”

From that room of 75 students, three were chosen to follow in Hanna’s footsteps with product definition engineer internships this summer: Andrew Bonczek, Zachary Muniz and Ethan Norton — all rising senior mechanical engineering majors and all members of the UMass Lowell Rocketry Club.

Their paid 13-week internships at GE Aerospace’s headquarters in Lynn provided hands-on experience supporting the design and documentation for military and commercial aircraft engines and components. The students were primarily responsible for updating technical drawings and creating 3D CAD (computer-aided design) models.

The Francis College of Engineering students felt well-prepared for the work.

“It was shocking how quickly I was able to pick things up,” says Bonczek, an Honors College student from Westford. “Not because it wasn’t technical, but because I have so much experience working with this type of thing at UMass Lowell. I was able to apply it pretty seamlessly.”

Muniz, who worked primarily on turboprop and turboshaft components found in propeller planes and helicopter engines, embraced the challenge of learning about advanced mechanical systems.

“It was very heavy on the documentation, but they were also very good about getting us up to speed on some more advanced CAD practices,” says Muniz, who is from Foxborough.

Norton worked in the tooling department, using CAD software to design and manufacture the specialized tools and equipment used in the production of jet engines. 

“For as long as I can remember, I always loved anything that flies,” says Norton, who is from Reading. “Interning at GE was a great opportunity to gain some knowledge in the aerospace field and get my foot in the door.”

Bonczek, Muniz and Norton met through the campus Rocketry Club. While they contributed to different parts of the workflow at GE, they sat near each other and were in regular contact throughout the week.

“It was nice to have some of my buddies on the floor there with me,” says Muniz, who also noted a sizable presence of UMass Lowell alumni in the building — including Peter Rock ’83, executive chief consulting engineer and a member of the Francis College’s Industrial Advisory Board.

Before their GE internships, all three students had already built strong résumés through the university’s Professional Co-op Program. Bonczek interned at STS Aerospace, Norton worked at Edwards Vacuum, and Muniz completed a six-month co-op at Rockwell Automation.

“Co-op should be required for mechanical engineers. It’s probably one of the greatest things you can do for professional development,” Norton says. “Learning theory in classes is great, but experiencing how an actual workplace will be in engineering and getting the experience that you can actually talk about when applying for jobs is huge.”

Returning to campus this fall, all three students hold leadership roles with the Rocketry Club and are eager to share what they learned at GE with younger members.

They each plan to continue for master’s degrees at UMass Lowell and can see themselves working at GE Aerospace — just like Hanna, who is currently pursuing an MBA from the Manning School of Business.

Bonczek credits Hanna with paving the way for future interns from the Francis College of Engineering.

“Alinna’s been pretty influential in bringing some exposure to GE from UMass Lowell, which is really cool,” he says.