Vivian Reilly Named Co-op Student of the Year

If she could speak to the first-year version of herself at Northwestern Engineering, Vivian Reilly would have some simple but strong advice about doing a co-op: Ask questions, embrace the value of the co-op, and try to learn as much as possible.

“I think doing a co-op is a great way to figure out what you are interested in for a future career,” Reilly said. 

A student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering, Reilly was awarded the Walter P. Murphy Cooperative Engineering Education (Co-op) Program Student of the Year title for 2025. Reilly did her co-op at Austin, Texas-based Enovis, a company that produces orthopedic implants.

Co-op is an educational program which allows engineering students to alternate periods of academic study with full-time periods of paid work experience related to their academic and professional goals.

Reilly sat down with Engineering Career Development (ECD) to reflect on the invaluable experiences gained during her two-year co-op and their impact on shaping her future as an engineer.

How did it feel to work with seasoned engineers in your industry?

Working with seasoned engineers allowed me to learn so much. They were all eager to teach me everything and really embraced me as part of the team. It was amazing how quickly they brought me up to speed and taught me how everything worked. It felt like I was truly a member of the team since I was there for so long.

I also got the opportunity to work with multiple parts of the team, including the product development and research and innovation teams. This allowed me to get a better sense of what role I would want in the future. Overall, this experience was a great opportunity to learn about this industry and my future career.

What was the most rewarding part of your co-op experience?

Seeing how the things I had designed and worked on in my first term were being implemented in my second and third term was really rewarding. Additionally, being there for the end stages of a product launch was a really cool experience. During my first and second term, I helped complete some validation testing for a product going through Food and Drug Administration approval. During my third term, the product was successfully launched. It was really cool to see the impact my work had, and I really appreciated the opportunity to be there for a product launch.

Why did you decide to do a co-op?

I really wanted to get a true feel for the biomedical devices industry, as I am very interested in that field. I did not feel like a summer internship was enough time to truly learn what it is like to work as an engineer. I wanted to experience working in a company longer term and I felt like a co-op was the perfect opportunity to do just that. The ECD office made it simple to incorporate a co-op into my time at Northwestern while still completing my degree, so I decided to take the opportunity to explore what working in the medical device industry is like.

How has ECD helped you in this process?

I worked with assistant director Dannielle Curtis, who enrolled me in the co-op Career Development (CRDV) course and then helped me maintain that throughout each of my work terms. Everyone at ECD was super helpful and great to work with throughout the entire experience.