Matthew Lenza
’07, M.S., Management Science
’06, B.S. Integrate Business & Engineering (Industrial Engineering)
Project Manager, Technology Rotational Program
JPMorgan Chase

 

When I entered Lehigh as an IBE (Integrated Business & Engineering) student, I really didn’t know which engineering discipline I wanted to pursue. I eventually chose Industrial Engineering because I felt it would be most beneficial for obtaining a cross-disciplinary type position upon graduation, as an Industrial & Systems Engineering degree can qualify you for many business-related jobs in consulting and other similar positions whereas other engineering degrees may not be considered. The fact that our IE/ISE department is ranked as one of the best in the country also helped me make my decision.

At the end of my sophomore year, I had interviewed for many internship positions including Hershey Foods, UPS, MarketRx, Boeing, and others. A position at Crayola specifically caught my attention, where I began working as a full-time employee during the fall semester while still a student at Lehigh. I continued to work at Crayola the following summer to complete my co-op requirements and gain real life industrial engineering knowledge outside of the classroom. This gave me the chance to re-think my future career path and decide what specific area of industrial engineering interested me the most. In addition while a student in ISE, I also began working on a new type of snowboard-binding design with the knowledge that I gained through the ISE department, for which I won a $25K grant.

While completing my master’s degree, I started working full-time for UPS as a management trainee in their Industrial Engineering department. Subsequent to that, I had other job opportunities and offers come my way from multiple companies including Accenture, Lockheed Martin, JPMorgan Chase, and other opportunities from within UPS. I’m currently working for JPMorgan Chase as part of their Technology Rotational Program in their credit card line of business. My current role is in Project Management, and there are plenty of other opportunities here to allow me to pursue a variety of technical and business related jobs.