The 2018 Networking Event brought established partners, new companies and a little rain to campus for student interviews September 10-12. Fifty seven students fielded offers from the companies in the Pacific Northwest and from as far away as North Carolina and New Mexico this year. Positions focused on R&D, product development, applications engineering, process engineering - and everything in between. Company technologies represented included everything from nail polish chemistry to LiDAR for self-driving cars.

The event kicked off with a semi-formal networking mixer and dinner Monday evening at the UO student union to welcome company partners to campus. Student representatives from each track shared tales of success and failure during an intensive summer of lab, classes and endless resume revisions. Keynotes by Knight Campus Executive Director, Robert Guldberg and Master's Industrial Internship Program Director Stacey York rounded out the evening.

Tuesday and Wednesday brought speed-dating-style interviews with a variety of companies as students made an effort to share the experience they have - and the passion they have for what they'll learn in the future.

As in past years, students greeted the event with excitement and trepidation. Kim Belmes, a student in the optics track said it best: "I feel the same way about the interviews as I do for roller coasters: terrified and exhilarated." And so the adventure began.

Interviewing Companies:

Arclin, Cree, Electro Scientific Industries, Emerald Kalama Chemical LLC, FormFactor, HP, Isovolta, Juno Therapeutics, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Lonza, Los Alamos National Laboratory, McConnell Labs, Inc., Microchip, Moxtek, Nanohmics, nLIGHT, Ouster, OnTo Technology, Quantum Innovations,
Qorvo, Serán Biosciences, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Timbercon, Voxtel Inc., WR Grace, and Zemax LLC.