The Company We Keep: Entegris

02/18/2022
By Ed Brennen

Anish Chorghe ’19 had a hunch why everyone was being so helpful during his mechanical engineering internship at Entegris — and while working with them on his Industrial Capstone Senior Project.

“I thought they were being nice to me because I was a student,” he says.

Now that he works full-time at Entegris, a $1.9 billion global supplier of products and systems that purify, protect and transport critical materials used in the semiconductor device fabrication process, Chorghe realizes he wasn’t receiving any sort of special treatment.

“There’s a real culture of teamwork at Entegris,” says Chorghe, a native of Mumbai, India, who joined the company as a supplier quality engineer in 2019. “If I need help with something, no one would say, ‘This is not my job.’ They find someone who can help.”

Founded in Minnesota in 1966 as Fluoroware, a startup serving early microelectronics manufacturers, Entegris today employs approximately 6,600 people in over 40 locations across the United States, Asia and Europe. With global headquarters in Billerica, Massachusetts — just a 10-minute drive down Route 3 from UML — Entegris is a prime destination for engineering, science and business students looking to gain hands-on internship and co-op experience, not to mention for graduates ready to embark on their careers.

“It’s easy to see that UML provides the necessary tools for students to be well-rounded professionals,” says Sue Rice, senior vice president of global human resources at Entegris. “They come to work with a desire to learn more, engage more, and provide a fresh and innovative set of ideas to their Entegris teams and colleagues.”

Entegris’ connection to UMass Lowell starts at the top with President and CEO Bertrand Loy. Several years ago, Loy was invited to tour the UML campus by Jerry Colella ’78, president and CEO of MKS Instruments in Andover, Massachusetts. (Both men belong to a group of Merrimack Valley corporate CEOs who meet to discuss philanthropy.)

Loy liked what he saw during his visit to campus, and Entegris soon became a Preferred Corporate Partner with the university. In 2018, Entegris formalized a Campus Program for the summer internships and six-month co-op positions it provides to around 20 UML students each year. While there, students get the opportunity to meet and network with company leaders. They can also receive career coaching on things like résumé writing, interview skills and developing a digital presence.

Most recently, the company announced that it is funding two three-year, $75,000 scholarships to sponsor UMass Lowell engineering students from underrepresented populations. The scholarship, the first of which was awarded to Nardine Faheem this winter, is part of the company’s plan to invest more than $30 million in STEM scholarships and internships for women and individuals from underrepresented communities in the U.S. and internationally by 2030 through its charitable arm, the Entegris Foundation. 

“Future excellence in our industry depends on a broad and diverse group of talented individuals who can contribute their insights to solving complex technical challenges,” says Loy. “We’re excited to support the development of a student in the local area who aspires to a career that benefits from a strong STEM education.”

One recent hire who typifies the kind of diverse talent that Entegris is looking for is chemical engineering alumna Julia Doyle ’21. After earning a nursing degree from Simmons College and working as a registered nurse for more than a year, Doyle decided to shift gears and pursue a chemical engineering degree at UML.

The move has worked out well for Doyle, who landed a chemical engineering co-op job at Entegris in the spring semester of her senior year — and was then hired as a new product development  engineer at the company after graduating in May.

“I wanted to complete a co-op because I wanted to experience what it would be like working as an engineer,” the Stoneham, Massachusetts, native says. “It helped me gain a strong understanding of how products and processes are developed to achieve our high-quality standards. And I was able to give them a preview of my work ethic and communication skills, which are very valuable to my position today.”

Mechanical engineering alum Greg Dorian ’18 completed two summer internships at Entegris following his sophomore and junior years. Working on gas filters at the company’s satellite location in Bedford, Massachusetts, Dorian realized Entegris was the place for him after meeting Loy.

“We got to sit down and talk with him during the internship. For a company this size, I feel like it’s almost unheard of to be able to do something like that,” Dorian says.

Upon graduating, Dorian was accepted into the first cohort of new three-year, rotational Entegris Leadership Development Program. He got to spend a full year working in three different areas—product development, manufacturing and quality engineering — giving him a 360-degree view of the company. He was then hired full-time as a research and development engineer last June.

“It’s honestly everything that I could have wanted in a position after the rotational program,” says Dorian, a native of Watertown, Massachusetts, who will complete a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at UML this spring — which Entegris helped pay for through its Employee Education Assistance Program.

Dorian has represented Entegris at several recent career fairs at UML, where he gets the chance to tell fellow River Hawks why he loves going to work every day.

“You don’t get stuck in what you’re doing here,” he says. “You’re learning, and they make sure you’re achieving your goals. I love that mentality.”