NC State graduate concludes White House internship

For many students, working in the White House is a distant dream — but that’s not the case for one N.C. State University graduate.

Anup Engineer, who graduated in May, has been working for President Barack Obama’s administration since September. His internship ends this month.

Engineer became the first student from the university chosen for the White House Internship Program to work for the Obama administration.

He has been interning in the Office of Presidential Correspondence, which is responsible for maintaining communication between the American public and the president.

“I applied for the internship because I wanted to experience the wide breadth of issues that the federal government works on — rather than focusing on a particular topic — and I feel like I have been able to do that through this internship,” Engineer said in an e-mail.

He said his science, technology, engineering and mathematics coursework has been invaluable in his career and encourages incoming students to consider majors in these fields.

As a business administration and an environmental technology double major, Engineer has interned at NASA and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. He has also worked for Dell and the N.C. Geological Survey.

“The prevalence of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) in our society has steadily increased over the years, and I can’t see that trend changing much over my lifetime,” Engineer said. “I believe that if we as a society want to stay relevant with the times — then we must appreciate this trend.”

But NCSU is not the only UNC-system school succeeding in getting students intern positions in the White House.

“We’ve had at least three UNC interns at the White House since the beginning of the (Obama) Administration,” said Shin Inouye, the director of specialty media for the White House.

There is value in both a science and a liberal arts education when it comes to landing internships, Engineer said.

“Both the UNC curriculum and the N.C. State curriculum prepare students to think critically about different problems and give different approaches,” said Linda Taylor, a lecturer in the department of forestry and environmental resources at N.C. State.

Getting a more liberal undergraduate education and then concentrating on engineering at the master’s level would be more beneficial, said Michael Aitken, chairman of the UNC environmental sciences and engineering department.

But the individual is the largest part of the formula for success.

“Anup’s success both here at NCSU and with his internships reflects largely on Anup,” said Elizabeth Nichols, a professor in the university’s environmental technology and management program. “He has made the most of his education and opportunities.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.