Mohd Apurbo grew up watching his father fix things. His dad sold industrial
equipment, including generators, boilers, and chillers sometimes as large as
entire rooms, but he never left that world at the office. He would bring
home broken parts, fix them up, and put them to use around the house.
"Engineering wasn't just work for him, he genuinely loved it," Apurbo said.
"That rubbed off on me."
When his father got too busy, Apurbo took over as the household's go-to for
repairs. He did it for his mother, then did it because he wanted to. Without
fully realizing it, he had found his calling.
Now a second-year mechanical engineering student, Apurbo recently completed
his first co-op, working with teams across multiple Exelon companies,
including Delmarva Power, Atlantic City Electric, and Philadelphia Electric
Company. He has since been extended to continue part-time as the academic
term resumed. He chose Exelon for its scale and its culture, and because the
work sat at an intersection he had not yet explored.
"Exelon is huge, with so many different parts I could move into," he said.
"I also heard they really push for an inclusive, flexible, and understanding
work environment. On top of that, I've been interested in electrical
engineering, especially utilities, so this felt like the perfect chance to
try it out."
That bet paid off in a visible way. At PECO Co-Op Day, a company-wide event
where student co-ops present the projects and solutions they developed
throughout their co-op to engineers, managers, and mentors, Apurbo and a
colleague were named Best Presenters among all PECO co-ops. Their project
was a system constraints report, a tool designed to help executives quickly
understand what is happening across the transmission grid, why it is
happening, which customers are affected, and what steps are being taken in
response.
The work was not a simulation. The report is planned for use at the
executive level, and Apurbo has continued refining it in his part-time role.
He collaborated with teams across the Exelon family of companies, gaining
exposure to how a large energy organization coordinates across regions and
stakeholder groups.
"The project aims to improve decision-making for executive and public
affairs stakeholders to help customers better understand the situation and
the steps Exelon is taking to support them," Apurbo said. "I'm looking
forward to refining the project, expanding its capabilities, and bringing it
closer to full implementation."
Outside of that flagship project, Apurbo worked on studies on outages and
potential future system constraints on the transmission grid, drawing on
both the technical foundation his coursework provided and an adaptability he
did not expect.
"I knew the technical side from school, but I never understood the bigger
corporate picture until now," he said. "My mechanical engineering mindset
helped me pick up transmission concepts faster than I expected."
He also came away with a broader understanding of how careers evolve inside
large organizations, specifically how moving up often means moving away from
the technical work that first drew someone to engineering. It was a
realization that sharpened his own ambitions.
"My goals now go beyond my discipline," Apurbo said. "My goal is to work in
a corporate setting and eventually move into management."
Drexel's co-op program put him in position to discover that goal firsthand,
and the experience has raised the bar for what comes next.
"I genuinely loved my co-op experience," he said. "My boss and higher
management were super supportive and patient. I think I really lucked out."
His father, who once brought broken parts home just because he loved the
work, would recognize that feeling.