Lock It In

Internships empower MSOE students to secure full-time jobs before graduation.

From developing technology for rockets, to finding a niche, to following a Regent’s footsteps, MSOE students are making their marks in internship programs and locking in full-time jobs before graduation.

When it came to post-graduation plans, Andrew Kempen ’21 had his eye on the sky. “I read Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashley Vance a number of years ago and was instantly captivated by Elon’s vision of the future and the stated mission of SpaceX. Ever since then, working at SpaceX has been my dream job.”

After interning at Hydro-Thermal and Collins Aerospace his sophomore and junior years, Kempen’s dreams became a reality when he landed an internship at SpaceX the summer before his senior year. As an intern he worked on developing sensors for the Dragon capsule and for the Starship program. He then accepted a full-time position as a sensor development engineer after graduating in May 2021 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering.

“Everything we work on is pushing the boundaries on either what we know or what we can do,” said Kempen. “But once you are able to overcome those challenges, definitely the most rewarding part of the job is having a hand in making parts and technologies that actually go on rockets to space—and back!”

Andrew Kempen ’21

Typically, 80–85% of MSOE students have one or more internships while at school.

Jake Egan ’21, on the other hand, held not one but four different internships at Mayville Engineering Company, Agricycle Global, FedEx Ground Corporate Office and Steel Craft Corp. He joined Steel Craft full time as a manufacturing engineer after graduating with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and minor in business administration in May 2021.

Not only did these internships allow Egan to apply what he learned in class and sharpen his skills, they also helped him find his niche. “I started as an architectural engineering student my first year at MSOE. After learning about industrial engineering and spending a summer working in a sheet metal fabrication factory, I fell in love with industrial engineering.”

Jake Egan ’21

Rather than holding internships, nursing students gain their external, hands-on experiences through clinicals where they’re able to explore different areas of nursing to find their perfect fit. “For me, that was the NICU,” said Anna Spaude ’21, a NICU nurse at Children’s Wisconsin. “I always knew that I wanted to work with the pediatric population, and I knew that the NICU was the place for me after my clinical experience.”

In addition to her clinical experience helping her find her perfect fit, she also served as a patient safety companion (PSC) at Children’s Wisconsin throughout her senior year at MSOE.

Anna Spaude ’21

“Having clinical at Children’s and working as a PSC hugely helped me to secure my full-time NICU nurse position. It’s good to get your foot in the door at an organization to show your hard work ethic and positive attitude! Networking and going above and beyond at clinical experiences and at hospital jobs are wonderful ways to establish a great reputation.”

As many students embark on their job hunts, they are often encouraged to network and make connections with people in their desired industry. At the Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall grand opening celebration in September 2019, Kam Mitchell made a connection that shaped his future when he posed for a photo with Jensen Huang, founder of NVIDIA, and MSOE Regent and alumnus Dr. Dwight Diercks ’90, NVIDIA’s senior vice president and benefactor of Diercks Hall.

Pictured left to right: Jack Haek, Will Busch, Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, Kam Mitchell and Dr. Dwight Diercks ’90 at the Diercks Hall grand opening celebration.

After meeting at the event, Mitchell emailed his resume to Diercks, who then helped connect Mitchell with the right people at NVIDIA. Mitchell spent summer 2021 as a front-end developer intern where he built graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for GPU services for cloud computing fields of deep learning and AI.

“My favorite part about the NVIDIA internship was my team,” said Mitchell. “From top to bottom, everyone was always helpful and responsive. They gave me both life advice and career advice. They really defined what it meant to be more than just a work team.”

Mitchell is looking forward to reconnecting with his team in June 2022 when he will return to NVIDIA as a full-time software engineer. “It feels great to have my full-time job already locked in.”

Whether it’s securing a lifelong dream job, testing out the waters or making the right connection, MSOE interns are gaining invaluable experiences and jumpstarting their careers.

From Walt Disney World to Google, our summer 2021 interns made a splash from coast to coast.

John Paul Bunn

John Paul Bunn

Majors: Computer Science and Computer Engineering

Internship: Google’s Student Training in Engineering Program (STEP)

Amber Rothe

Amber Rothe

Majors: Biomedical Engineering and Computer Engineering

Internship: Clinical research at Cleveland Clinic

Close up: Rothe worked on developing instrumentation to collect data that will help researchers better understand movement disorders.

Abigail Ksioszk

Abigail Ksioszk

Major: Electrical Engineering

Internship: BioResearch Associates

Daniel Folos

Daniel Folos

Major: Construction Management

Internship: Project management intern at Michels Directional Crossings Operations

“ I went on multiple trips across the country visiting several horizontal directional drilling sites for various utilities and several of Michels’ satellite equipment yards shadowing people in a variety of positions. I enjoyed my time at Michels as they are a family-owned and operated company and treated me like family the entire time.”

Jesse Sierra

Jesse Sierra

Major: Software Engineering

Internship: Collins Aerospace

“ I worked on developing radio waveform software to allow vehicles, planes and ships to talk to one another while on the battlefield.”

Anne Blejwas

Anne Blejwas

Major: Architectural Engineering

Internship: Walt Disney World College Program

Gabriel Smith

Gabriel Smith

Major: BBA Management Information Systems

Internship: Component tracking system analyst intern at Komatsu Mining Corp.

Nicole Ratts

Nicole Ratts

Major: Biomedical Engineering

Internship: Test engineer at Plexus Corp.

“ I got to work with multiple medical companies’ products to check, test and fix mechanical and electrical systems within each product’s assembly process. It was a great experience being able to directly apply the coding and circuitry knowledge I’ve been learning in my classes.”

John Cruz-Barcenas

John Cruz-Barcenas

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Internship: Neighborhood services advocate for the 33rd Ward Alderman’s Office, Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez

David Xiong

David Xiong

Major: User Experience

Internship: Marketing student intern at Bradley Corp.

Jake Chudecke

Jake Chudecke

Major: Industrial Engineering

Internship: Quality systems engineering intern at Tesla Inc.

“My favorite part was being surrounded by innovators and seeing these major advancements of manufacturing in operation.”