Industrial engineering at Disney

When Georgia Cruz moved to Clarence, New York from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a high school student, she had a dream to dance on stage with Mickey Mouse. Six years later, while not exactly dancing with Mickey, she is instead working as an Industrial Engineering intern at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.

 Georgia started to discover her interest for engineering during her junior year in high school. When she found out that her passion for Disney and career goals could align, she knew that being an industrial engineer at Disney was the career for her. From that point forward, every decision she made during her college years was focused on what Disney would like to see on her resume.

 As an intern in the project development team, Georgia is involved with evaluating new features and attractions coming to Disney. For example, she is conducting a capacity and demand analysis in the Animal Kingdom, where the Lion King show had to be temporarily closed during construction to expand the park. This involves a lot of data collection and analysis, such as observing and counting areas in the park to see where guests went instead of the closed exhibit (guest flow and behavior), as well as the number of people in the area, where they went instead, and how long they had to wait at neighboring attractions. This data is then used to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate how the changes in the park impacted guest behavior. She is often called upon to present her results to fellow team members and sometimes executive-level managers.

Georgia's data collection and analysis at Disney, combined with an experiential learning engagement at a Buffalo print services firm, were the foundation for her pursuit of the Lean Six Sigma methodology. Through completing continuous improvement projects and fulfilling other requirements of a program administered by UB TCIE and the industrial and systems engineering department, she earned her Six Sigma Black Belt certification.

 Georgia plans to apply for a full-time position at Disney once her internships ends in May. She has already passed her “mid-term” evaluation, and is hopeful that she can put her skills to work as a permanent employee.

 The Industrial and Systems Engineering degree program requires every student to participate in an internship during their senior year.