A future in mechatronics engineering just got a lot brighter for a pair of Vaughn College students.

Bridgette Valencia and Ariadna Nobmann, both seniors, received internship offers while attending the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) annual conference in Chicago last month.

Valencia, who will graduate in May, begins her internship this summer at Cummins Inc. in Columbus, Ind. Among other projects, she will develop an enhanced scooter/mobility device commonly used by senior citizens and the disabled.

Nobmann’s internship begins in January 2012 at GE’s facilities in Louisville, Ky. She will focus on engine design for aircraft.

Both students were offered the internships while at the conference. GE representatives were impressed with Nobmann’s 3.6 grade point average in the notoriously challenging field of mechatronics. The experience was similar for Valencia. “One of the representatives at the conference asked about my background and they gave me the internship right away,” she says.