Hands-on experiences put engineering grad in driver's seat for career opportunities
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—As the checkered flag waves on Noah Gould's college experience, he's keeping his foot on the accelerator.
A summer 2024 graduate of Western Michigan University's manufacturing engineering technology program, his revved up resume packed with multiple internships and hands-on experience through Bronco Racing Formula SAE team—helped him secure a full-time job at Plascore in Zeeland, Michigan, as a manufacturing engineer.
"I'm really excited to be working there and be part of the engineering process from start to finish," he says.
Gould, who grew up in Highland, Michigan, has always been fascinated by how things work. He was involved in FIRST Robotics in high school and enjoyed building things, from remote-controlled cars to an electric skateboard. The prospect of broadening his engineering skill set in Western's state-of-the-art College of Engineering and Applied Sciences facilities while also experiencing the excitement of Division I athletics sealed his fate as a Bronco.
Once Gould arrived on campus, Formula SAE seemed like a natural fit to shift his interests to the next level. Every year, the team manufactures a formula-style vehicle to race against competitors from around the globe.
"It's all student designed, manufactured, built and tested," he says. "It's an extension of what you learn in the classroom. Your math problem or your physics homework could say that an output might work, but you have to actually go test it. That's where the Formula team comes in. It allows for real-world application, which has helped me get internships and jobs."
While Gould was eager to work on the team's traditional race car, his spark for innovation fueled an interest in amping up the Formula arsenal with an electric vehicle (EV). After spending several years as the electrical lead, he moved to vice president of the EV team and helped build the organization's first electric race car—building the battery was his senior design project.
"The Formula team is basically the best unpaid internship ever, because you actually get to solve real-world problems. The best way I can describe it is it's the hardest fun I've ever had," he says. "It gets you a lot of skills to be able to take out into the workforce."
The team—and the ability to gain resume-worthy experience in the emerging EV field—also opened doors to travel and career opportunities. Gould and his Bronco Racing peers were able to travel to Tesla's headquarters in California twice to tour the facilities with some Western alumni who work there. Gould has also been in contact with executives from Ford Performance and other industry leaders interested in both the team and his growing electrical knowledge.
GEARING UP FOR SUCCESS
In addition to bolstering his engineering education through automotive innovation, Gould has also completed multiple internships to boost his industry experience.
He spent two summers at GAST Manufacturing in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The first year involved a great deal of data analysis and getting to know the company's products. That allowed him to deepen his involvement the second summer, conducting competitive analysis and developing ways to improve competitors' products.
"There was a customer who came to us and said, 'We're buying this unit from another company, but it keeps failing on us.' So, I did the analysis and came up with a version of our unit for that, and as far as I know, it ended up making it to market and satisfying all customer needs."
The experience he gained at GAST helped Gould land his next role at Sterling Industries in Kalamazoo first as a CNC operator, using a computer numerical machine to machine parts, and then as a quality engineering intern.
"When I started at Sterling, I was working on the floor and got to actually see how the parts are made. Then I was able to do some more work on the engineering side and get my hands dirty fixing all of the problems I noticed on the floor."
Having such a robust portfolio of work under his belt made Gould an ideal candidate when it came time to start interviewing for post-graduation jobs.
"Western's engineering program prepared me for success by providing resources to help me find different internships and jobs while also helping me build my resume," he says.
Gould's ultimate goal is to steer back into the automotive engineering lane and combine his technical skills with the love for racing he developed in through Formula SAE.
"I'd love to be able to build my own race car to be able to race in different series," he says. "That's the dream."
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