Renee Fieldhouse

2011 Co-op Hall of Fame Inductee

Co-op Alumna

Renee credits the co-op Program for being a major reason behind her decision to attend Purdue. After graduating from Purdue, Renee started her career in 1984 with Hughes Aircraft Company (Los Angeles) while pursuing a master’s degree in Engineering from UCLA. She spent eight years at Hughes on many different assignments, culminating with a Los Angeles Area YWCA Leadership Award and an assignment at the GM “Factory of the Future” in Saginaw, Michigan.

Renee then migrated around the world/US and then returned to northern IL with Woodward in 2005. She reconnected with Purdue as a Woodward representative at job fairs. She worked as a production engineer on a fuel control project that keeps the US’ Blackhawk and Apache helicopter fleets in the air. In addition to the co-op Program, Renee credits her involvement with the Purdue Society of Women Engineers (SWE) for contributing to her life’s successes.

In the late 1990s, she initiated “The Fieldhouse Award” to annually acknowledge the hard work of a mechanical engineering major who is also involved in SWE and is preferably a co-op student. Renee typically presents the award personally each February at the SWE awards banquet. She sponsors “The Fieldhouse Award” through the Society of Women Engineers and also supports Women in Engineering Programs at Purdue.

Degrees

B.S. '84, Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University
M.S. '86, Mechanical Engineering, UCLA

Current Position (as of nomination)

Senior Project Engineer for Taylor, a division of Carrier Commercial Refrigeration, Inc., in Rockton, IL