Page 39: of Marine Technology Magazine (June 2014)

Sweetman said the only durable assets of any academic in- stitution are its faculty and good reputation. “We have both in our joint teaching/research model,” he said. “Students receive world-class teaching on our Galveston campus and benefi t from engineering research. My doctoral students are getting degrees at Texas A&M in College Station and our professors have joint appointments on both campuses. Our campuses complement each other.”

When Sean Musick graduated from Texas A&M Galveston in 2007, he also had great potential for successful career. “I chose the right place for my career plans,” he said. “It had resources of a major university and class size of a small campus.”

Musick started his career as part of structural engineering evaluation team. His work took him to Trinidad and Tobago;

Nigeria and the United Kingdom. “The job was well worth my time, and I have learned a lot” he said. “I started out in equal range with my peers, but learned I was better suited for the job than engineers who came out of other programs. All

I had to do was understand the scope of the project, whereas counterparts from other schools had to be trained on basic ter- minology in understanding offshore oil and gas structures and principles.

Today as corporate quality manager for Wood Group Mus- tang Engineering, Musick says the perseverance taught him was a key factor, “You can make a great career and honest living in engineering. Aggies persevere. We’re willing to go the extra mile.”

Musick’s boss, Don Leinweber vice president of corporate services, agrees that Aggies go the extra mile. “Mustang en- deavors to be a client’s fi rst choice for engineering, procure- ment and construction services related to onshore, offshore, pipeline, automation and process plants worldwide,” Leinwe- ber said. “We look for people who are self-motivated and not afraid to work. Our recruiters have found that many Aggie gradu- ates from Galveston are better prepared than those from other programs. We get more leadership DNA and service-oriented professionals in these Aggies we hire. We hear so much posi- tive feedback about recruiting Galveston students like Sean.

A&M just does it right.”

Blake Sanchez Dr. Bert Sweetman www.seadiscovery.com

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