Finding a Fulfilling Career in the Power Industry Through Co-op

Peter Kushkowski, E’58, mechanical engineering, was introduced to the power industry while on co-op at the New England Power Company. He had a highly successful career, working on innovative technological projects in an industry vital to the common good.
Peter Kushkowski, E’58, mechanical engineering, has always been mechanically inclined. Growing up as a first-generation American, Kushkowski observed his father and grandfather working on projects around their family’s farm, from adding a bedroom wing to their house to installing indoor plumbing. He was looped into these projects at a young age, igniting a spark to be hands-on in his work.
Now retired, Kushkowski had a successful decades-long career in the power industry. The impetus for his postgrad career was a formative co-op experience, which exposed him to the field and transformed into a lifelong career. “Co-op introduced me to my 35-year career in the power industry,” says Kushkowski.
When applying to college, Northeastern’s co-op program was an opportunity that drew Kushkowski to the school, both as a way to support himself through college and to gain hands-on experience in the workforce. Having watched his friends in the year above complete their first co-ops, Kushkowski recognized how varied the working opportunities were, allowing him to find a role that suited his interests.
“There’s the aspect that is attractive to both the theoretical or practical types like me who like to be hands-on,” says Kushkowski. “Whatever co-ops are offered may appeal to you depending on your personal capabilities and desires. Make the best of every opportunity.”
Kushkowski took a position at CBS Hydron in the industrial engineering department for his first two co-op terms. He worked in a plant that produced miniature glass receiving tubes and was part of a team that conducted time and motion studies on the workers to improve productivity. This exposed Kushkowski to the importance of efficiency in his work, a lesson he took into his future co-ops, postgraduate career, and the rest of his life.
“It instilled in me a need for whatever I do engineering-wise to be efficient,” says Kushkowski. “That became a part of me through the rest of my career, doing things both effectively and efficiently.”
Working in a plant early in his career also gave Kushkowski knowledge of plant functionality integral to his later career. “As I got into the power plants, it became even more important to have the run of the plant.”
On his second co-op at National Radio, Kushkowski worked in the company’s drafting department, arranging electronic components on the radio’s chassis. Although the position served as a way to learn drafting techniques and allowed Kushkowski to connect with his colleagues, he quickly realized that deskwork was not for him. “I wasn’t moving around,” he says. “I just sat at a table all day drawing.”
Kushkowski knew he needed a change of pace for his final co-op. He pursued an opportunity at the New England Power Company after his professor arranged an interview at the Salem Harbor station. The day of the interview led Kushkowski to a moment of epiphany where, while standing on a balcony that overlooked the plant’s enormous turbine hall and boiler room, in the overwhelming din and throb, he saw his future career laid out in front of him.
“It just blew me away,” says Kushkowski. “When I saw that, and the job was in the mechanical engineering field, that ignited my interest.”
He stayed at the New England Power Company for his remaining co-op terms, working at the Salem Harbor station. In his role in the instrument department, Kushkowski learned the functionality of a coal-powered plant and the process of generating steam electric power. He stayed on at the Salem Harbor station after graduation, a role he was happy about despite the derision from his peers who reasoned, “Once a Co-op, always a Co-op.”
“I became the goat of the class because nobody stayed with their co-op employer,” says Kushkowski. “Those guys were looking at it from the wrong end.”
At the beginning of his full-time employment, Kushkowski worked as a datalogger, keeping track of plant instrumentation by recording figures with pen and paper. A role he initially did not understand the importance of, datalogging familiarized Kushkowski with plant functionality at a highly detailed level.
Kushkowski participated in the startup of the Yankee Atomic Electric plant in Rowe, Massachusetts, where he continued his work as a datalogger before transferring to the Connecticut Yankee (CY) plant. He was one of two people, both alternating Salem Harbor Co-ops, selected to install the plant’s first digital computer, a process that relied heavily on their extensive knowledge of plant operations.
“We were using that knowledge and then converting it into digital,” Kushkowski says. “That was cutting edge, very challenging, and very interesting.”
Following the success of the Connecticut Yankee computer installation, Kushkowski was moved to headquarters to start a process computer engineering department that applied real-time, sensor-based computers to monitor the environmental effects of the power plants, in-plant computers similar to CY, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) in power control centers. He remained in this position until his retirement.
Alongside his typical career duties, Kushkowski became a prolific writer, penning letters and memos to be circulated internally or submitted to publications. “I became rather conversive and fluent in how to express myself in ways that were meaningful to others,” says Kushkowski. He continues to write today and has been featured in notable publications, including the Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal.
When considering his career, Kushkowski is most proud of how his work was vital to an integral part of society. He recalls moments in his career taking red-eye flights, looking out the window, and reflecting on his contributions to the sight before him.
“At night, you’d see lights from horizon to horizon,” says Kushkowski. “I would say to myself, ‘I’m part of all that.’”