Cole Shegan Siniawski ’26 needed only a short commute from his suburban family home to downtown Pittsburgh, where he interned at PNC Bank headquarters this summer.
Shegan Siniawski outside PNC Bank’s corporate headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh.
The knowledge required to apply and prepare for that internship was even closer to his campus home — a short walk to the Knowlton Center for Career Exploration.
Last fall, Shegan Siniawski, a data analytics and economics double major, leaned heavily into resources that have made Denison No. 2 for best career services among all U.S. colleges and universities.
“The Knowlton Center has been a tremendous help with preparation of my resume, cover letters, and how to answer interview questions,” Shegan Siniawski says. “They were the main source for helping me to land my internship.”
He also credited Matt Miller, assistant director of data analytics, for identifying the best possible internships based on Shegan Siniawski’s experience and interests.
The student’s initiative and the university’s expertise in career development led Shegan Siniawski to the ideal summer job in his hometown. He was among 23 quantitative analytics interns at PNC.
Shegan Siniawski worked in the retail lending department, writing analysis in the form of visualizations and dashboards. It was a role perfectly suited to his skillset.
“The work is very interesting,” Shegan Siniawski says. “I love putting visualizations together because they convey a story. Good visualizations help drive insight, and can be easily interpreted regardless of someone’s technical background.”
He developed an interest in numbers and math at a young age, but it was his passion for hockey that led him to data analytics. Not satisfied with conventional statistics, Shegan Siniawski gravitated to advanced metrics and underlying numbers to better understand player performance.
Last summer, he attended Carnegie Mellon University’s sports analytics camp. He worked on a hockey-related capstone project under the direction of Pittsburgh Penguins’ data analyst Katerina Wu and met with Jill Reiner ’22, a data analyst for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Shegan Siniawski wants to work in data science, and has a passion for sports analytics. But he’s also intrigued with the business world – his data analytics concentration is in economics – allowing him to build a wide base from which to launch a career. He spent his spring studying abroad in Switzerland, interning at a company where he helped generate new content for its financial literacy app.
“Cole has been a joy to interact with,” says Blake Gooch, assistant director of the technology, data & science learning community at the Knowlton Center. “We’ve had chances throughout his time here to work together, crafting his career documents. He asks good questions and applies his insights, which will continue to work to his advantage in the future.”
Shegan Siniawski remains in contact with the Knowlton Center, but he no longer requires assistance in landing his first job after graduation. His internship at PNC was so successful the company offered him a full-time position in its asset liability management development program.
He starts work in June 2026 – just a short commute from his family home.
