United Airlines provided members of the 2024 Governor’s STEM Scholars class a tour of the United Hub at Newark International Airport in November. The event provided 18 Scholars with a comprehensive look at STEM in the aviation industry.
The day began with a student forum where numerous United employees shared their experiences and expertise in aviation, giving the Scholars a look into the day-to-day work of those behind-the-scenes at one of the busiest airports in the region. Scholars learned from Aileen Torres, Assistant Manager, EWR P&E team; Cyrus Sarkari, Managing Director of Airport Operations Customer Service; and Monica Slater Stokes, Managing Director of Government Affairs. John Weigand, Managing Director of Airport Operations; Shah Mrugesh, Senior Director of Technical Operations; Baha Yildirim, Principal Engineer of IT Systems; Darlene Del Roasrto, Senior Manager of Station Operations; Mike Stewart, Manager of Facilities Command Center; and Alexandria Perotti, Director of DRE Planning and Development also spoke about their career paths and job responsibilities.
After going through the TSA checkpoint, Scholars visited the United Airlines Facility Maintenance Command Center and the Tower Control Station Operation Center where they learned how United employees work to provide real-time maintenance to the airport and how they coordinate on take off and landing of flights into EWR.
Scholars were able to visit United Hangar 54 - the Tech Ops and Stores Operations Facilities where they learned how airplane engines are maintained and even got to board a plane and learn how pilots operate the aircraft.
One Scholar said of the event, “I really enjoyed the tour of the facility and learning about the different opportunities available apart from just being a pilot and how all of the operations come together.”