It didn’t take long for Yash Patel ’24 to get his career off the ground.
Originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, Patel was drawn to Lehigh by the interdisciplinary opportunities. “I was really wanting to do a business plus an engineering-focused degree. I applied for IBE [Integrated Business and Engineering] and was accepted.”
When he arrived on campus, he enjoyed his classes but wanted to explore more, especially materials science. Under the advice of Professor Bill Best, Patel transferred to the Integrated Degree in Engineering, Arts & Sciences (IDEAS) program in his sophomore year.
Between his participation in clubs, internships, and hands-on study, Patel developed a multifaceted skill set and has spun that with his Lehigh education into an aerospace career as a manufacturing engineer at Blue Origin.
Challenge Accepted
At Lehigh, Patel used his time on campus to dive into the unique opportunities. He found the classwork engaging and challenging, but he felt the most valuable education came from clubs and hands-on learning.
Freshman year, he met Troy Wilford-Hunt ’22, an IBE student who invited him to join the Formula SAE team. Sophomore year, Patel served as chassis lead, and junior year, he moved to engineering lead. He credits the club with giving him the mechanical skills he would later apply as part of Blue Origin’s team. “A smaller school and smaller team gives you a lot more responsibility and you learn a decent amount more,” Patel recalls.
In the Field
He secured internships in battery manufacturing engineering at Rivian and Tesla before graduating.
“I knew I wanted to do something in aerospace,” Patel recalls. “I learned a lot at Rivian and Tesla but wanted to transfer into aerospace because I wanted to work with more complex hardware, which presented a tougher challenge to mass produce.”
Patel says the appeal of aerospace for him lies in the sheer scale and precision of the projects. “There is a lot of cool hardware you get to work with. We have to manufacture with dimensions a fraction of an inch to make these huge engines. If it's off by a fraction of an inch, they will tear themselves apart.”
While he didn’t walk into Blue Origin with a ton of experience in mechanical or aerospace engineering, he says his hands-on experience set him apart. “Most manufacturing is built from the same principles of simple machining and welding but gets more and more expensive,” he says. “I had experience with that as a machine shop supervisor at Lehigh.” He was able to use that knowledge base to build on any technical skills he had not yet learned.
More valuable were the soft skills he gained during his internships. A willingness to learn and an ability to communicate effectively became valuable attributes. “In my internships, it was less about the technical skills. It was about the ability to learn those technical skills to be a part of their team. I knew the biggest skill I needed to have was communication skills and expressing my thoughts clearly. So far, that’s been proven true.”
His role includes asking a lot of questions. He needs to have a solid understanding of the hardware and look for ways to solve problems. “In the manufacturing process, things go wrong, and I'm there to get them back on track. I'll look at ways to improve the process and redesign. Is this the best possible path forward? If it’s something I can deal with, I'll create instructions to fix it.”
Still Learning
Living in Huntsville, Alabama, Patel is now studying aerospace engineering as a graduate student at University of Alabama in Huntsville. He aspires to learn more about propulsion engineering. “Propulsion engineers are the designers that create the drawing and the design parameters,” he explains. “As manufacturing engineers, we create the instructions for the design, and I wanted to get a better understanding of why certain design choices were made.”
Patel says he’s interested in being the one who creates the designs that reflect his professional values: precision, quality, and clear communication. “I want to make designs that can be mass-produced while still being precise and meeting quality standards.”
Those values were nurtured at Lehigh and set him apart in the field — but he says none of it would have been possible if he didn’t take the chance of applying to Blue Origin. “I'll be honest; I think I got super lucky,” says Patel, who says he didn’t have the experience or personal connections one might expect to be necessary. “I cold applied.”
His advice to students entering the job market with their eyes on aerospace: “Don't be scared. There isn't a lot out there, but they are looking for people who can tailor their experience to apply to aerospace roles. Don't be intimidated; apply what skills you do have to the role.”
So you might as well shoot for the moon.
