The Company We Keep

From Brooks Automation’s headquarters, perched on a hilltop in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, you can see Fox Hall, UMass Lowell’s 18-story residential tower, some 6.5 miles away. The direct line of sight between the university and the robotics company is a fitting reminder of the close connections and ever-evolving relationship between the two.

Brooks, a provider of precision vacuum robotics, integrated automation systems and contamination control solutions for the world's leading semiconductor chip makers and equipment manufacturers, employs dozens of UMass Lowell alumni and hires students from the Francis College of Engineering for its summer internship program. It also sponsors senior capstone projects for student engineers. In turn, UMass Lowell provides access to its core research facilities and a reliable and steady pipeline of skilled professionals, an asset for any company operating in a market for which qualified talent is highly competitive.

“Brooks Automation is a great collaborator for UMass Lowell,” says Chancellor Julie Chen. “It’s a productive partnership on all levels: Our students get opportunities to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to real-world challenges and Brooks benefits from the collective know-how of our university community.” 

Inside Brooks, a key champion of the partnership is alumnus Leigh Sharrock ’03, the company’s senior director for systems engineering. Sharrock, who earned a degree in electrical engineering, says the two organizations are a good match, with shared values and a common roll-up-the-sleeves ethos. Interns and early-career professionals from UML bring energy and fresh ideas that do not go unnoticed, he says. 

“Their perspective and their work ethic differentiate UML students,” says Sharrock, who has mentored UMass Lowell interns as well as recent alumni at the company. “Brooks is busy and fast-paced. It’s fairly high-pressure and UML students adapt well.”

Mechanical engineering major Jonas Flores says his six-week internship on the vacuum systems team last summer was a “great learning experience.”

Flores, a senior, says he was comfortable asking questions and making suggestions on projects. Senior engineers welcomed his input and offered feedback, he says. 

“I felt like I learned something every day. It was just what an internship is supposed to be,” says Flores, who is interning there again this summer.

Brooks also paid for Flores and another UMass Lowell intern, Marlis Occilant, a junior industrial engineering major, to attend the Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers national convention in Salt Lake City last November.

“It was an amazing opportunity. I had never been to a professional conference.” says Occilant, who is also returning to Brooks this summer.

Emma Woodthorpe, Brooks’ chief people officer, says having a close relationship with UMass Lowell has helped the company meet its talent needs and has provided access to a pool of highly qualified, diverse job candidates. 

“It’s been a phenomenal partnership for us,” she says.

Kevin Twitchell ’14, ’20 had no idea how closely the university and Brooks collaborated when he landed an internship with the company as an undergraduate.  

“The amount of time and effort that Brooks puts into working with UMass Lowell is impressive,” says Twitchell, who joined the company as a full-time engineer in 2020. 

Sharrock says the relationship started a dozen years ago with the donation of a six-axis robot, the type used in industrial manufacturing. The company was planning to scrap the robot when his colleague and fellow UML engineering graduate Dana Atwood ’92 suggested it might find a home at UMass Lowell.

Now, the company sponsors three industrial capstones for College of Engineering seniors every year. Teams of four to six students are assigned a project, typically something that Brooks engineers haven’t had time to tackle. 

Sharrock says everyone benefits: Students get real-world experience and Brooks gets cost-effective help to address an engineering challenge.

Brooks was also one of the first corporate sponsors of the university’s Research, Academics and Mentoring Pathways (RAMP) program, a six-week summer program for incoming engineering students from underrepresented groups.

In addition, the company has sponsored a lab for engineering students at Ball Hall on North Campus and four employees – Sharrock, Atwood, Joe Hallissey ’00 and Jeff Cavins ’10 serve on College of Engineering advisory boards.  

“It’s great to have a front-row seat to see all that’s going on and changing at the university and to figure out how Brooks can help,” Sharrock says.