Finding a Passion for Materials Through Co-op
Sara Canzano, E’19, chemical engineering, discovered her ideal career path through her co-ops at Raytheon, Henkel, and Rogers Corporation, which resulted in her first full-time job after graduation. She currently works at MIT Lincoln Laboratory as an assistant staff member.
When applying to universities during her senior year of high school, Sara Canzano, E’19, chemical engineering, knew she wanted to attend a school with a co-op program. After seeing the positive career impacts of co-op through her dad’s co-op journey, Canzano was inspired to develop her interests through experiential learning. This eventually brought her to Northeastern, where she was impressed by how thought-out Northeastern’s co-op program was.
“I really felt that Northeastern’s co-op program was a little more methodical than other universities and well organized,” says Canzano.
Canzano found her first co-op, a materials and process engineering role at Raytheon, through networking at a softball game during her summer break in her hometown of El Segundo, California. Initially drawn in due to its proximity to home, her role at Raytheon in California gave her a better understanding of what she wanted to do in the future.
“I originally thought that I was going to get a minor in biochemistry or biology,” says Canzano. “After doing that co-op, that really formed why I wanted to go into materials or something more nontraditional compared to a lot of my peers.”
At Raytheon, Canzano was exposed to working with adhesives while learning industry practices such as material characterization and contamination control. Her experiences there encouraged her to continue working in the materials field in future co-ops and her careers after graduating.
“I really took a lot of satisfaction in making something and then purposefully destroying it,” says Canzano. “That was a good stress relief, but I think pushing something to the point of failure is very interesting because of what you can learn from that.”
Canzano’s exposure to working with adhesives at Raytheon served her well in her next co-op, where she was a lab operations co-op at Henkel. Although the role required her to stay on the East Coast, this move taught her how to get out of her comfort zone and fortified her independence.
“I think I needed that nudge to prove to myself that I’ve been training for this moment to be independent,” says Canzano.
During her time at Henkel, Canzano drew on her experience with adhesives from Raytheon, working to support application engineers on different projects each week. While expanding her adhesives background, Canzano’s time at Henkel taught her how to communicate industry knowledge and data to customers effectively. In one instance, her communication skills contributed to closing the deal on a high-profile sale for an Application Engineer she supported.
Henkel also gave Canzano multiple opportunities to explore projects outside her traditional duties. She co-authored a white paper on Oscillating Die Rheometry, further developing her technical writing skills and giving her more practice communicating technical content at a basic level. She also explored time in other labs during her downtime, which she says allowed her to network with other engineers.
“That was one thing that I really loved and appreciated…” says Canzano. “It was good to have a lot of exposure, and I think that really helped get my name out there.”
Canzano’s time at Henkel was so successful that she considered pursuing her next co-op at their facility in Ireland. When this opportunity did not pan out, she interviewed for a role in Burlington, Massachusetts, as an engineering co-op at Rogers Corporation. According to Canzano, the hiring staff was immediately impressed by the skills and experience she garnered over just two years.
Canzano quickly earned the trust of her supervisors at Rogers Corporation thanks to her independence and leadership skills. This allowed her to take on additional responsibilities, including frequent trips to the Rogers facility in Connecticut to help support the needs of the Burlington site.
“I could tell that over time, more and more, I’d be doing things more independently or could be trusted to do things,” she says. “Being able to take ownership in what I did was great.”
As her co-op at Rogers Corporation progressed, Canzano’s responsibilities shifted from traditional materials characterization to higher-level projects. This included a prototyping effort that had significantly fallen behind, which Canzano was brought on to help catch back up.
“The goal was to deliver a hundred prototypes, and we went from being significantly behind to actually meeting, if not being a little early and overproducing the number of prototypes we had to do,” says Canzano.
During the portion of the company-wide town hall where select employees were acknowledged for their contributions based on nominations submitted by team members, Canzano was recognized in a company-wide town hall for her efforts.
Canzano was extended to stay on as a part-time worker during her final year at Northeastern and later transitioned into a full-time role after she graduated. She continued to support the same project from when she was a co-op and where she eventually became her site’s safety coordinator and the leader of Rogers’ co-op program. She remained there for about two years before she decided to make a career change.
Canzano is currently employed as an assistant staff member at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where she works on advanced packaging for microelectronics applications. She says she was able to secure the role thanks to the experience she accumulated during her co-ops. She also says the independent decision-making skills she developed on co-op have been critical to her job today.
“Lincoln inherently is a flat organization, so you don’t necessarily have the same [managerial] tiers like you do in an industry…” says Canzano. “I’ve really been able to be independent and be trusted.”
Her role at Lincoln Labs also calls on the leadership skills she practiced at Rogers Corporation. She currently serves as a team lead and was previously a co-chair for Lincoln’s LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group. In the future, Canzano hopes to take on a formal leadership role, and she has used her opportunities in co-op and full-time employment to continue developing her informal leadership skills.
Reflecting on her co-op experiences, Canzano says one of her biggest lessons is knowing when to advocate for your career development. “I believe you can unlock a lot of your potential if you demonstrate within reason that you’re capable of taking on elevated levels of responsibility,” she says. Her co-op experiences also reflect a sentiment she gained from her dad before her co-op journey began.
“It’s really important to know what you love to do, but it’s also important to know what you don’t love to do,” Canzano says. “Having different experiences and opportunities is so important.”