UNH Today

Like many seniors, Aidan Hughes ’24 felt some apprehension as he approached his final semester as an information systems and business analytics student at the UNH Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics.   

But he didn’t know then that his capstone project with Marmon Aerospace & Defense was about to lead to his first full-time job after college.   

“There was uncertainty going into the spring semester, and then the capstone started, and I established some important connections,” Hughes says. “Things happened quickly. I went from capstone project to diploma, to an internship at Marmon, to being a full-time employee by September.”   

Marmon, based in Manchester, New Hampshire, and Naples, Florida, specializes in manufacturing aerospace and defense cables and wires. During the spring 2024 semester, they enlisted the help of Paul College students to translate vast amounts of data into a visually appealing and actionable shipping and bookings report.   

“Marmon was very hands-on with the capstone project, and their employees made themselves available to us, which was a tremendous help in working through any questions that we had,” Hughes says.    

The hands-on nature of the project allowed Hughes to network with multiple Marmon employees, including Silvino Ferreira, vice president of operational optimization and digital transformation.    

Unsure of his post-graduation plans, Hughes asked Ferreira about opportunities at Marmon. Ferreira urged him to apply for the summer internship but made no guarantees.   

“The capstone experience helped me build a network at the company, and that worked to my advantage during the interview process as I had an opportunity to interview with people I had already met,” Hughes says.  

Hughes was able to secure the internship and spent the summer on multiple projects, including working on automation solutions and developing dashboards for data visualization. He also continued his efforts to build connections throughout the company.  

“I spent time in the manufacturing warehouse getting to know everyone. There were two coworkers particularly that I would check in with to ensure everything I’ve built for them was working properly,” Hughes says. “That way, if there were an issue, they’d feel comfortable coming to me and saying, ‘It’s broken, please fix it,’ rather than approaching someone they don’t know. Building relationships is important not just with the people who might hire you, but also with your coworkers and peers."

Hughes knew there was a chance the internship could be extended or turned into a full-time position, so he approached it with urgency and worked hard to prove himself. Ultimately, his performance earned him a full-time data analyst position.

"I like to refer to what I do as translation — it's another language. Not everyone understands that language, like not everyone knows English or Spanish,” Hughes says. “You need people who can translate data because that data holds information we wouldn’t otherwise have. If you can take millions of rows of data, like some of the data sets I work with, and turn that into years of analytical insights, you can give people valuable information for the future. You can take what looks like a messy jumble and turn it into a clear picture of how your company works and how to improve it.”   

Marmon is focused on expanding its analytics team, and Hughes sees this as an exciting chance to grow professionally while making a meaningful impact on the company.  

Ferreira says partnering with Paul College on the capstone projects was a significant benefit to Marmon, and he looks forward to continuing the relationship in the future.  

“It provides students with real-time opportunities to integrate with local businesses to develop business solutions, as well as learning to influence their solution to the internal stakeholders,” Ferreira says. “I was inspired by the level of commitment the students showed in supporting this program as well as the individual excitement to learn our business and the importance of analytics in driving process improvements and awareness at all levels.”  

Hughes credits Peter Zaimes, lecturer of decision sciences, with connecting him with the capstone project and for leading the UNH Sports Analytics Lab, in which Hughes was also involved.   

Reflecting on his time at Paul College, Hughes says the experiential learning opportunities were especially valuable because they gave him the opportunity to work on professional projects as a student, making the transition into a career much smoother. He urges current students to take advantage of these opportunities.   

“For me, the most influential part has been the work I did outside the classroom,” Hughes says. “The classes are important, but there’s real value to applying that knowledge in real-world situations.”