UC engineering co-op medalist is company's first in Portugal

“I was always interested in how things worked,” Miskovic said. “Mechanical engineering came to mind as a great way to explore that passion. It’s one of the most versatile majors in engineering and has allowed me to do many things.”

“From the day that I walked into Leoni, I was able to work on an important project, and a month later, my boss sent me to North Carolina to present it to the customer,” he said.

The customer was Caterpillar Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of construction equipment. For his third co-op, Miskovic moved to North Carolina to work with Caterpillar on behalf of Leoni.

“That opportunity gave me a chance to have a sort of co-op within a co-op, because I was working for Leoni and Caterpillar at the same time,” he said.

His final two co-ops with Leoni were in Portugal. His boss at the time presented him with the opportunity and shared that it was something the company had not done before. However, the offer came with a caveat. Since Miskovic would be the first Leoni co-op in Portugal, they didn’t have a system in place to help him with the logistics of the move, such as the visa process and finding transportation and housing. Additionally, if he were to live there for two semesters, he needed to learn to speak Portuguese.

Miskovic wasn’t deterred; he was up for the challenge. Over the course of eight months, he took more than 50 courses in Portuguese and was able to master the language.

Although Miskovic was at one company for all five of his co-op rotations, he received a wide variety of work experience in many departments at Leoni. In Portugal, he had three main roles: manufacturing, costing and designing.

In manufacturing, he worked as an operator performing tasks including assembly and assisting manufacturing engineers with improving manufacturing times. In costing, he used his operator experience to provide estimates of labor and materials required to create customers’ wiring harnesses. In designing, he took customer designs and created internal 2D drawings that fit Leoni standards and specifications. Working in different areas of the company gave him a complete view of what Leoni does.

UC students often choose to work for multiple companies during their five co-op rotations, but two things kept Miskovic at Leoni: opportunities and connections. Working with Caterpillar, being the first co-op at Leoni Portugal and traveling to the United Kingdom on a customer visit were some of these opportunities.

After graduating this spring, he will be moving to Raleigh, North Carolina, to work full-time with Leoni.

“My engineering position at Leoni, called a resident engineer, is someone who covers a variety of topics, serving as a liaison between the customer’s design team and Leoni’s manufacturing plants spread around the world,” Miskovic said.

Along with the 2023 Herman Schneider Medal, Miskovic also received the Peggy Jarvie International Work Experience Award from the Cooperative Education and Internship Association.

Feature image at top: Miskovic at SC Braga game in Portugal. Photo/provided.