Eight companies and over 160 students attended the Jan. 30 event, held in the Grissom Hall Student Excellence Center. Graduate and undergraduate students talked with representatives from Ingersoll Rand/Trane, CNO Financial, PepsiCo, Hormel Foods, IU Health, Halliburton, Boston Scientific, and ConAgra Brands.

Gather Puchawin of the undergraduate Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE) and Mustafa Lokhandwala of the Industrial Engineering Graduate Student Organization (IEGSO) organized the fair, assisted by Industry Relations Director Dave Kotterman.

"The event was a huge success for being the first IE spring career fair to be organized," said Puchawin. "It was great to see enthusiastic students connecting with professionals, and we hope to see the career fair continue to give Purdue industrial engineers good opportunities in the future." 

"I am really happy that the eight companies and the IE students saw the value of attending the IE Career Fair," said Lokhandwala. "The diverse pool of companies that attended really showcased the multitude of opportunities available to us students in the industry."

Kotterman was enthusiastic about the students' cooperation on the career fair. "Your hard work was quite evident in how smooth everything ran - great participation from both organizations," he said. "You provided a great service to your fellow classmates and to the IE school!"

The first IE joint career fair took place during the 2016 fall semester and was also a resounding success, with 12 companies and 300 students in attendance.