Embry-Riddle Student Highlights the Importance of Industry Experience

Embry-Riddle has always been the plan for Matthew Jolliffe (’23). Growing up just down the road from the Daytona Beach Campus in Deland, Florida, he first toured the university in seventh grade. "It felt like there was a lot that I could do here,” Jolliffe recalled from the experience.

Flash forward to fall 2019, sophomore year. Jolliffe landed his first internship with General Electric Aerospace (GE) based in Cincinnati, Ohio . There, he got hands-on experience in supply-chain quality engineering and found a new passion to occupy his free time: mountain biking.

Riddle Mountain Biking Club

Jolliffe returned to Embry-Riddle after interning at GE, switched his major to Mechanical Engineering and joined the Riddle Mountain Biking Club. By his second semester in the club, he was co-president and helped plan the club's first trip out of state to Asheville, North Carolina.

“We were able to get sponsors and the school gave the club some money. With that we were able to go to some actual mountains. It felt like; this is how the hobby we enjoy can get the support we need to make it more fulfilling,” he said of the trip.

Since then, the club has secured more funding and donations to assist them in pursuing their passion. They now have a storage trailer, two bikes available for borrowing (for students who may not have access to their own), necessary repair tools and more.

Internships at BMW and Fox Racing

Mechanical Engineering student Matthew Jolliffe ('23) standing in Embry-Riddle's Formula One SAE Lab. (Photo: Embry-Riddle / Bill Fredette-Huffman)

During summer 2020, Jolliffe completed another GE internship, this time virtually. One year later, he began the first of three BMW internships in Greenville, South Carolina.

There, Jolliffe worked in the body shop (where vehicles are assembled and assessed) on quality engineering. His first rotation at BMW was project-based, with a focus on gaining an understanding of the manufacturing process and the duties of a quality engineer.

“After that, I came back to school for fall; then, in the spring I went back to BMW.  I became a shadow of a full-time quality engineer and followed him in his day-to-day life,” Jolliffe shared, continuing about his latter rotations at BMW, “It was nice going back for the second rotation and especially the third rotation because they all knew me and I knew them. It’s less of learning processes and more starting to get the work done, so I’ve really enjoyed that.”

Between his second and third rotations at BMW, Jolliffe took on an internship at Fox Factory in California. At Fox, Jolliffe got a unique opportunity to combine his work with his passion; he was tasked with analyzing warranty submissions for mountain bike components, another aspect of quality engineering.

Jolliffe describes going from BMW to Fox as a change in pace, organization size and structure.

“Going from BMW, where there are  120-150 interns every rotation, to five with Fox, was a shock. The whole company is a lot closer,” Jolliffe shared, continuing, “At BMW, with such a big company, people work there because it’s work. At Fox, people work there because it’s their passion or their hobby... that’s what I felt and enjoyed. It’s just a completely different culture, going from such a large company to such a small company.”

Back at BMW for his third and most recent internship in fall 2022, Jolliffe worked on the online quality management system that keeps employees updated on happenings related to quality control within the body shop. This project gave Jolliffe the chance to connect with the vice president of the body shop and other organization leaders, as well as earned him a spot in a coveted BMW leadership program, for which seven interns were chosen.

Advantages from Internships

Internships provide valuable learning and networking opportunities seldom found elsewhere. Jolliffe’s experience has well-prepared him for a career in engineering and given him a competitive advantage over other graduates entering the workforce.

Jolliffe’s advice to students on their own journeys through higher education is something he has kept in mind throughout his own schooling: “No rush!”