Tom graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 2008. He is currently
the Assistant Manager of Methods and Research with Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha, Nebraska.
Tom’s career with Union Pacific began with a co-op from June to December of 2006. He was hired
as a full-time employee in August of 2008.
Alumni
Michigan Tech has decades long tradition of placing graduates to rail industry careers. Since Rail Transportation Program was established more than 100 Michigan Tech graduates have started their employment in the industry.RTP alumni work for various industry companies, including Class I and smaller freight railroads, passenger railroads, engineering consultants and rail contractors, manufacturers, and DOTS. Our alumni often participate by supporting our programming. Examples for how Alumni can continue to be involved in RTP programming: organizing on-site field trip visits, providing student research project ideas and involvement, providing scholarship support, giving presentations.
We welcome our alumni to keep in touch! Let us know what you are doing. Please fill the Alumni Feedback Form or send an email to rtp@mtu.edu. We can share your news!
RTP Alumni in Rail Industry
Assistant Operations Manager, Railworks Track Systems, Inc.
Ed Hausen is a 2012 graduate with a BS in Construction Management. He has worked as an Assistant Operations Manager with RailWorks Track Systems, Inc. since August of 2012. “My interest for the railroad industry began as a child; I grew up in Chicago, IL, one of the nation’s largest hub stations. I grew up near a rail yard and just always loved to see the trains come and go. Then while attending Michigan Tech the Rail Transportation Program and the REAC opened my eyes on what the railroad industry has to offer for jobs.
TTCI
During my four years of undergrad in Metallurgical Engineering at Jadavpur University in my hometown of Kolkata, India, I did an internship in a steel foundry where I worked on designing molds of locomotive wheels, side frames and bolsters of freight cars and worked in the metallurgy lab and steel melt shop. Then after my undergrad, I worked as a technical engineer in Vesuvius, India for two years before coming to Michigan Tech to pursue my MS and PhD. At Vesuvius, I worked on manufacturing of refractory used in continuous casting of steel.
The Andersons
My first involvement with the rail industry came as a summer internship with CSX Transportation in 2007. The experience got me interested in a rail career, so after my return to Michigan Tech, I tried to find a way to combine my two passions; railroads and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Fortunately, I was able to secure another internship with Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad (LS&I) in Negaunee, MI for the summer of 2008 and after getting some more experience through Dr. Lautala’s CE 5409 Track Engineering and Design course, LS&I hired me full time as their Civil Engineer in 2009.
Staff Engineer, Patrick Engineering
Troy graduated in December 2012 with a BS in Civil Engineering and has since been working as a staff engineer for Patrick Engineering. “Growing up, some of my fondest memories were traveling to Pennsylvania to see the famous Horseshoe curve. Like a lot of kids, I wasn’t really aware of all the possibilities in the rail industry. That is until I came to Michigan Tech. I joined REAC and attended various events as well as AREMA conferences. The summer before my final semester, I had
an internship with Norfolk Southern in Toledo in the Maintenance of Way Group.
Senior Data Scientist, Predikto
After graduating from MTU in 2008, I enrolled in graduate school at Texas Tech University pursuing my PhD in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in the modelling/simulation and optimization based prediction of dynamic systems.
Senior Signals & Communications Standards Engineer, CN
At no point in my childhood and teen years did I ever think of “workin’ on the railroad.” It wasn’t until a gentleman named Pasi Lautala helped set me on a different track, by talking about railroads in my Controls class at Michigan Tech. After going to an informational meeting, and talking to CN at the career fair, I was sold.
Manager of Yard Operations, UPRR
Destine is a 2014 graduate with a BS in Operations and Systems Management. In July, 2014, she began work for Union Pacific Railroad as an Operations Management Trainee (OMT) in the Chicago, IL area. Upon completion of the OMT program Destine will become a Manager of Yard Operations. “Prior to taking the Logistics and Transportation course (OSM4700), I never considered working for the rail industry. The topic of railroads was one that I rarely heard about until this course. After classroom lectures and being assigned a project discussing the critical issues in rail transportation, I became fascinated."
Analyst - PTC, CN
Much of my day is spent on conference calls, working with PTC implementation, operations and testing, or working with the software build team. With the software team I work to compile all of the information they need (signals, switches, sidings, speeds, special operating conditions, etc.) into a set of checklists for specific geographic areas.
Sharma & Associates
Hamed worked on “Capacity Improvement Along the U.S. Shared-Use Corridors by Applying Timetable and Operational Management Techniques “ , funded by NURail. He was also a co-PI for another project, Evaluating the Use of Operational Management Techniques for Capacity Improvements on Shared-Use Rail Corridors. The project started in September, 2014, and was funded by the Center for Freight and Intermodal Research and Education (CFIRE). His Ph.D. thesis was closely aligned with project work and evaluated different U.S.
