Student Spotlight:

Francisco Gutierrez, Class of 2019

What did you do this past summer?  

Last summer I worked at PwC as a Start Advisory intern in the NYC office. I rotated around some of the different advisory services that PwC has to offer and had the opportunity to learn and network within the Firm. I also had the opportunity to shadow a Financial Crime Units project where I used my data analytics skills to perform budget analysis for the team. I am proud to say that I will be returning to PwC next summer as a Technology Consulting intern.

What led you to choose ISE?

I chose ISE because I believe it is a bridge between engineering and business, and because of the broadness of Lehigh’s ISE curriculum. Industrial engineers develop a mix of hard and soft skills and an understanding of the business world that give them a unique insight in any project they are assigned to. On the other hand, Lehigh’s broad ISE curriculum allows students to gain expertise in their areas of interest by taking the technical electives that align with these interests. In my case, I want to learn about optimization, data analytics, and machine learning.

What kind of research are you interested in doing?

I am currently taking an optimizations models and applications class which has sparked my interest in operations research (O.R.). Thus, I am interested in pursuing an O.R. project because I believe the future of decision making and sustainable growth lies in O.R. I have already expressed my project interest to a Lehigh ISE faculty member and received positive feedback about it. Similarly, I am registering for the INFORMS O.R. & Analytics competition where I hope to further develop my optimization and problem-solving skills. The theme for this year’s competition is “Redefining Vehicle Delivery with Autonomous Cars”.

What are you interested in doing after graduation?

I believe that the future of successful and sustainable businesses lies within technology innovation. Thus, after graduation, I want to work in the Technology Consulting field because I want to solve complex business problems through thought leadership and innovation. Hopefully, I will receive a full-time offer from PwC after my 2019 internship to pursue this career.

What is something ISE has taught you?

ISE has taught me that no problem is unique. It is through the tools we learn at school and work, and our critical thinking abilities that we can solve today’s complex problems. One common learning objective in the different classes I have taken is to develop the ability to effectively analyze unstructured data to arrive to precise, optimal solutions. I believe this is an indispensable skill to have in the workplace as the answers to most of today’s unique problems lie within these immensely large sets of data.