W. P. Carey Undergraduate Co-op Program gives companies like Honeywell access to eager new talent

The W. P. Carey Undergraduate Co-op Program is designed to provide students with more immersive, meaningful work experiences through paid positions that allow them to work and interact as real employees prior to completing their degree. For Honeywell and its two co-op students, the benefits became apparent immediately.

Being a part of the first group to participate in a new program requires an organization to be flexible and open to new ways of operating. Honeywell's team was familiar with the traditional summer internship role when ASU's W. P. Carey School of Business approached them with something different: a co-op.

The W. P. Carey Undergraduate Co-op Program is designed to provide students with more immersive, meaningful work experiences through paid positions that allow them to work and interact as real employees prior to completing their degree. For Honeywell and its two co-op students, the benefits of the program became apparent immediately.

Participating students were able to gain much more hands-on work experience than they would've at a part-time internship. The team at Honeywell was also amazed at how quickly students were able to contribute to projects, applying knowledge and skills gained in the classroom to devise real-world business solutions.

Beyond an internship

The W. P. Carey School of Business invited Honeywell to participate in the first round of its new Undergraduate Co-op Program, and the team was willing to give it a go, even if it was a bit of a new position for them.

"We didn't understand at first what the co-op is," says Liz Durnan, principal IT business partner at Honeywell Aerospace. "We are very familiar with internships, and those are usually during the summer, so we didn't really understand what the difference was with the co-op."

Students selected for a co-op position typically work with a company for six months and take no classes or reduce their academic coursework during that timeframe so they can focus on their professional role. This allows students to gain realistic experience in the world of work, boosting their employability after graduation.

"After we hired [our two co-op students] Nathan and Megh, we realized we like this program," Durnan says. "It's actually better than a summer internship because it's a longer program. We can coach the students, and then there's a return on investment, because after we coach them, we can hire them."

Seeing an immediate impact

The first two students Honeywell hired through the co-op program were Nathan Tang (BS Economics '26) and Megh Patranabis (BS Supply Chain Management/Finance '26). Dan Trimble, director of IT for Honeywell Aerospace, worked directly with Nathan Tang during his co-op experience and was highly impressed with Tang's skills and work ethic from the beginning.

“When Nathan joined the team, I initially expected to guide him through our processes and familiarize him with the software and data we use," Trimble says. "As I began outlining the project, he shared that he already had experience with the software. This was a welcome surprise, as it allowed him to contribute immediately and collaborate seamlessly with the team. His prior knowledge helped accelerate our progress and strengthened the overall project effort."

Thanks to the experience gained through his W. P. Carey coursework, Tang was able to start contributing by creating flowcharts and reports using software such as Tableau. "This initial engagement also became the foundation for several additional projects that Nathan went on to support successfully," says Trimble. "I truly appreciate Nathan’s initiative and expertise, which have had a lasting positive impact on the team and our work.”

He adds, "It's been exciting to have someone start and be able to see the value right off the bat."

When speaking about the interview and hiring process, Durnan says, "What I experienced with Nathan when I interviewed him was that he was very open-minded and flexible. He's open to any type of project, and that's the kind of quality we're looking for from future co-op students as well."

Preparing students for the future

The co-op program experience is designed to prepare students for long-term business careers through invaluable experience within leading companies. At Honeywell, co-op students gain exposure to various teams across the organization and the different processes and technologies that each of these teams uses.

"It's not like you're locked in," Trimble says. "There are so many places you can work, and each site and place is different."

But beyond the experience that each individual organization provides, the co-op program helps students improve important professional skills — communication, collaboration, and turning insights into action, among others — and gain the confidence they need to make an impact in the workforce.

When asked what he hopes students take away from their experience with Honeywell, Trimble says, "I want them to see that they can do it. That they can look out there, see problems that are there, and have the mindset of, 'I can do anything.'"