Student Spotlight: Kacey Gavin

What makes Washington State University’s Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture stand out from the crowd for those looking to get a degree?

We ask mechanical engineering major Kacey Gavin for her thoughts on what makes WSU such a special place.

Clubs, internships help guide Kacey Gavin to success

One of Kacey Gavin’s favorite activities in high school was her after-school robotics club, but she never thought that it would lead to Washington State University and a pathway to a career in mechanical engineering.

It wasn’t until Gavin stumbled upon club activities going on at Dana Hall while touring prospective colleges with her dad that she realized she could continue doing what she loved when she went to college.

Talking to alumni about WSU’s mechanical engineering program, as well as leadership experiences in the Society of Women Engineers and other clubs helped Gavin cement her choice of WSU over the other schools she visited.

“What got me really excited was that not only do they have these clubs, but students are really active in these clubs, and that’s what set WSU apart from the other universities that I visited.” Gavin said.

In high school, Gavin was involved in FIRST Robotics, where she helped build and design four 125-lb robots. That experience laid the foundation for the depth of learning she would receive while majoring in mechanical engineering.

“In robotics, I was doing a little bit of everything– managing people, even doing a little bit of graphic design stuff here and there,” she said. “I like how multidisciplinary robotics is and now I’m getting that same sort of experience studying mechanical engineering.”

Kacey’s work experience in engineering also began in high school, where she did two internships. She continued exploring various industries at WSU. She first worked at Marathon Petroleum in North Dakota, where she learned about the oil refining process, project management, developing project scopes of work, and the amount of pre-planning that goes into projects.

In her junior year, Gavin took a semester off to work at Blue Origin on their New Shepard sub-orbital launch vehicle before working at Micron Technologies the following summer, where she learned about semiconductors and fabrication processes, as well las the automation that goes into manufacturing the memory chips that are in many of our electronics.

She was an intern at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Moscow, Idaho, as well, where she learned about PCB manufacturing processes and the efforts that go into starting a new factory.

Gavin said her although internships have given her unique, hands-on experiences she never would have attained in the classroom, the opportunity to receive guidance from mentors really stands out to her.

“I’ll always be thankful for those mentors who took time out of their busy schedules to help me understand some of the complex processes that are involved in these industries I have worked in.”

After graduating in 2025, Gavin hopes to start her career in the industry to build her engineering skills so she can become a mentor for a FIRST robotics team, like her high school mentors did for her.

“At the end of the day, I want to be in a role that I am well supported in but still challenges me so I can spend my extra time giving back to the program that inspired me to study engineering in the first place.”