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Hi! My name is Ethan Boicey. I’m a senior at Kent State University majoring in currently set to graduate in Spring 2026. I’ve had an incredible start to my career, getting to work for incredible companies, with incredible people, all over the country.

Most recently I interned at NASA in Houston, Texas, General Motors in Parma, Ohio and I am excited to announce I will be traveling to Redmond, Washington to intern with SpaceX on the Starlink engineering team! I have found my passions for space, engineering and the pursuit of excellence at none other than Kent State University and the College of Aeronautics and Engineering (CAE).

I never planned to be at Kent State. I started college as an undecided student who enjoyed working with my hands and fixing cars with my dad. It wasn’t until the CEO of a local machine shop moved in across the street from me that I landed my first ‘real’ job. I discovered a passion for engineering and manufacturing. Watching CNC machines carve out precise manifolds and being part of the manufacturing process was exciting and meaningful to me. That’s what made me choose mechanical engineering.

Kent State was close to home, affordable, and I had heard great things about the campus.

I declared engineering my sophomore year and haven’t looked back since. The CAE has been incredibly supportive and offers essential services for success ranging from resume help to career fairs to interview prep. The faculty and advisors genuinely want you to succeed and they’ve been directly influential in helping me land heavy hitting internships and grow as both an engineer and a person.

My goal is to share my path with the next generation of students to show them you CAN be wildly successful at a school like Kent State. While there is definitely room for growth, Kent has the tools available to help you succeed.

I would love to share a little about my previous internships and current clubs with the hope of sparking excitement and interest in Kent State, the College of Aeronautics and Engineering, and to draw motivated and driven students to come find their OWN stories of success at Kent State University.

At NASA, my job was to identify, analyze and solve recurring issues in mission critical infrastructure. Some of the systems at Johnson Space Center are over 60 years old. I’d go out into the field, look at systems that had consistent, reoccurring failures, and ask: ‘�³��?’ Why is this component failing? What patterns can we spot? What can we fix permanently instead of patching up? One of my main projects involved creating a predictive maintenance system using AI and analytics to anticipate equipment failures before they happen—helping NASA reduce downtime and save money.

Before that, I was at General Motors programming industrial robots to error-proof their manufacturing lines, improve the manufacturing process and increase operation efficiency.

Before that, I helped design a steering system for an experimental electric vehicle. Each internship added another piece to the puzzle—design, manufacturing, systems thinking—and it all ties back to the educational foundation I built at Kent.

But Kent State hasn’t just helped me land internships. It’s also given me the chance to dive into research and technical projects I’m passionate about.

I’m currently working in Kent State’s unprecedented CubeSat club. Which was recently awarded a prestigious grant to work with UNP to build 6U CubeSat

 carrying hyperspectral imaging payload to low Earth orbit. I have the opportunity to participate in the spacecraft’s electrical power system design, working with a team to balance solar input, battery storage and mission power needs. This is just one example of an incredibly exciting opportunity to explore as a student at Kent State.

Looking back, one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that you don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to be successful. I certainly am not. You just have to work hard, be consistent and ask for help when you need it. I didn’t get my NASA internship until after my 88th application. Rejections are part of the journey, but every one of them made me better. It taught me to stay disciplined, keep improving and never be afraid to ask questions.

To any high school student considering Kent State: if you're willing to put in the effort, this university will open doors for you. The opportunities here are real, from aerospace research to Fortune 500 internships. You don’t have to know everything coming in. You just have to start.

And who knows? One day you might find yourself dodging a foam ball in the “Interns vs Astronauts” dodgeball game at NASA. (Yes, that’s a real thing. And yes, I crushed.)

Thanks for reading,
Ethan Boicey