Foster Career Growth by Making More Connections
Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Lauren Sumida, I’m from Oahu, Hawaii. I grew up in Mililani and I got my degree in mechanical engineering.
Why did you choose to attend the University of Hawai’i?
I chose the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa because financially, it just was the best option. I chose to go to Leeward Community College first and get my associates degree there. And then it was a seamless transition to UH Mānoa College of Engineering, which was also ABET accredited, so that was great. My parents and sister are also alumni of the college, so it was great to share that same achievement with them…I’m so grateful that I attended UH.
Why did you decide to go into engineering?
I always knew I wanted to be an engineer, I just wasn’t sure what type of engineering I wanted to go into. I was lucky enough to get chosen for a summer internship at the University of Hawaii going into my junior year, transferring into UH. I was actually going to electrical engineering and during that program they allowed us to do some research in a lab and I was chosen to do some electrical engineering research and I realized I did not love electrical engineering at all. After that whole research summer, I switched my major to mechanical engineering and here I am now.
How did you end up working at Boeing?
It’s an interesting journey. Honestly, when I graduated, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. When I was in school, my senior project was actually biomedical, mechanical engineering. When I graduated, I actually first moved to San Diego and I was doing underwater autonomous vehicles, something I never really worked on. My now husband got a job at Boeing and he decided, hey, we got to move to Seattle. So I applied and eventually got a job at Boeing as well.
How does your experience at UH help you succeed?
Working in a big organization, you have to put yourself out there and meet people and network and get people to know who you are. At UH I tried to do that. I joined as many clubs as I could. I did as many volunteer opportunities and just took advantage of what UH had to offer. That kind of correlates to what I do at Boeing now, just making connections and making a network, which really helps your career go far.