Bagley Student begins highly-competitive Tesla internship
May 19, 2015
STARKVILLE, Miss. — A Bagley College senior will make a name for himself and Mississippi State University with a leading automotive company.
This summer, electrical engineering major Hagan Walker will complete an internship with the Tesla Motors University Program. He will be based at the company’s Palo Alto, California, headquarters.
Walker is the first student from Mississippi State to student to be selected for this program. After enduring a four-month interview process, including preliminary, exploratory phone screenings followed by several technical phone interviews with a hiring team, he said he’s excited to get started.
“I think seeing cars being made in a real world setting and seeing how design and production works on a big scale will be really cool,” Walker said.
Considered one of the world’s most innovative automotive companies, Tesla Motors is credited with producing one of the first mass-market electric vehicles. Its Model S, a type of luxury sedan, can go from 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds and travel approximately 300 miles on a single charge.
At Tesla, Walker will serve as a validation engineer for the powertrain hardware team and will be tasked with ensuring the safety and smooth functioning of the Model X car by testing several electrical subsystems before the vehicle reaches consumers in the fall of 2015. The Model X is a crossover vehicle that features “exhilarating acceleration,” falcon wing doors and room for three rows of seating.
Gigi Masari, a recruiter for Tesla Motors, said Walker’s previous experience as the electrical lead for Mississippi State’s EcoCar2 team made him a strong candidate.
“During the interviews with both the university and engineering teams, it was apparent Hagan was incredibly passionate about electrical engineering and the automotive industry,” Masari said. “He was very communicative, had previous and relevant industry experience, and is involved with an on-campus student team to gain further real world experience. This combination made him stand out from other applicants for this team and role specifically.”
Masari said internships with Tesla Motors are extremely competitive across the technical and automotive industries. The company offers hands-on work experience with an industry-leading product, aiming to help achieve the company’s mission by accelerating the adoption of sustainable transportation. The university team at Tesla Motors is expected to welcome 300 summer interns out of the tens of thousands of applicants.
Walker said working with Tesla Motors is an opportunity that many may not be aware of, and he hopes to open a door for other students to intern with Tesla Motors.
“A bunch of people want to get out of college and work for Apple or Google, and this is another one of those high caliber jobs that people really want and have interest in,” Walker said. “Honestly, I didn’t really expect to get it, but I didn’t think that reaching out was going to hurt anything. It’s one of those things you should definitely try. Try and see where those things take you.”
For more information about the Bagley College of Engineering, visit www.bagley.msstate.edu
By Jen Nguyen