Dr. Barry Satvat, Sc.D., P. E.

Director of Graduate Cooperative Education &
Senior Lecturer of Chemical Engineering
College of Engineering
Northeastern University
342 Snell Engineering Center
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115-5000

Phone: (617) 373-3461
Fax: (617) 373-8121

Sample of Current Employers

• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• Biogen Idec Corporation
• Charles River Development
• Cisco Systems
• EMC Corporation
• FM Global
• IBM
• Intuit
• Novartis Pharmaceuticals
• Nuvera Fuel Cells
• Partners HealthCare System
• Verizon

"I am currently on co-op working as an intern for Children`s Hospital Boston and am working on a project about High Throughput DNA Sequencing Data Analysis. This wonderful experience provided by our school helps me to lock on my research interest and career orientation."

~ Taorong, Class of 2012, MS CSE Eng'g Software Design

Cooperative Education Policies

Full-time Graduate Engineering Students are eligible to participate in the Cooperative Education (Co-op) program. The Graduate Engineering Students who participate in the Co-op program are involved in extensive preparation, activity and reflection activities.

Prerequisites and Eligibility

Every potential College of Engineering Graduate co-op student must meet certain Eligibility Requirements, listed below, in order to participate in co-op. Below are general requirements for all students; however students must work closely with their cooperative education faculty coordinator to ensure that they meet any major-specific requirements and deadlines. The Director of the College of Engineering Graduate Co-op Program, in consultation with the Academic Department, determines if the student meets the eligibility requirements for any co-op period.

1. Students must be enrolled as a full-time Graduate Student in the College of Engineering at NU;
2. Graduate School of Engineering offers only co-op opportunities to the graduate students, i.e. Internships are not available;
3. Students, with the exception of the ones who are enrolled in the Information Systems (IS) Program (see number4 below), must have completed at least one full-time semester (two four-semester-hour courses) in the College of Engineering Graduate School with a QPA of at least 3.20 prior to the start of the co-op referral process and also prior to the start of the co-op work experience;
4. Information Systems (IS) students must have completed at least two full-time semesters in the College of Engineering Graduate School with a QPA of at least 3.20 prior to the start of the co-op referral process and also prior to the start of the co-op work experience;
5. Students must have at least one semester remaining in their degree program after the completion of the co-op work experience assignment;
6. Students must have successfully completed the "Introduction to Cooperative Education" course with a grade of "S";
7. Students may not hold a Graduate Stipend Assistantship at the University during the semesters planned for co-op;
8. Students must resolve any previous disciplinary or academic probation issues and must complete any incomplete course (no "I" grade in their records) prior to being referred to or applying for any co-op positions;
9. Students may participate in co-op activities with a single company for 4-, 6-, or 8-month (6 and 8 months are preferred). The duration of co-op cannot be longer than 8 months or shorter than 4 months;
10. Students on 4-month co-op assignments are allowed to have their co-op extended to a maximum of 8 months;
11. 4-month co-op assignment may be from January through April (Spring), May through August (Summer I/Summer II), or September through December (Fall). 6-month co-op assignment may be from January through June (Spring/Summer I) or July through December (Summer II/Fall). 8-month co-op assignment may be from January through August (Spring/Summer I/Summer II), May through December (Summer I/Summer II/Fall) or September through April (Fall/Spring, with the approval of the Program Director);
12. Students are permitted to participate in a second co-op during the summer semesters only. Students are not allowed to utilize any active co-op opportunities available on "Placepro Database" for their second co-op activities or return to their previous co-op employer;
13. Third co-op is not permitted under any circumstances;
14. Students cannot participate in co-op activities continuously for a full calendar year (with either one or multiple companies);
15. Students are allowed to take at the most one course during the fall and spring semesters while participating in co-op activities. Students participating in co-op during the full summer are only allowed to take a single course over the entire summer (i.e. summer I and summer II courses are not allowed);
16. Students must note that the co-op work experience is a course for which they must register as they would for any other course prior to the beginning of the semester. It should also be noted that the students must start their co-op work experience at the beginning of the semester and that they are not authorized to negotiate the starting date of the co-op work experience with the employers. The end date of the co-op assignment must correspond to the end date of each semester;
17. International students must have valid I-20s. Students who participate in a co-op activity during an academic semester will receive an I-20 extension of a single academic semester, irrespective of the length of their co-op activities. Only one extension will be given for a program of study;
18. There are no real connections between co-op activities (CPT) and Pre-OPT. Participating in one or more co-op assignments does not preclude participating in Pre-OPT activities unless the total amount of co-op assignment exceeds 12 months. Please contact your Program Director and/or ISSI Personnel for more details regarding Pre-OPT;
19. You may set up an appointment with the Director of College of Engineering Graduate Co-op Program (b.satvat@neu.edu) to resolve any outstanding issues;
20. Final decision regarding any exceptions to the above rules and regulations rest with the Director of College of Engineering Graduate Co-op Program.