Fellow:Alan Xia

Alan Xia 2.jpg

Serving as UIF Since: Fall 2015

School: Kettering University in Flint, MI

What he does now: Improvement Engineering, Model 3, Tesla, Inc

What that means: Focuses on creating solutions for production and vehicle engineering design for the Tesla Model 3.

Contact him about: working with administration; project funding; small school challenges, automotive and tech!

Alan is a former University Innovation Fellow who graduated from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. At Kettering, Alan obtained a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate degree specializing in Automotive as well as a degree in Electrical Engineering. Kettering University is a cooperative education school, where co-ops occur twice a year. As a result, Alan has worked at multiple different positions at three different companies (Ford and General Motors).

At Kettering University, Alan was involved with probably more than he should've been, being a leader on Student Government, honor societies, a variety of clubs, and notably ASME and the Kettering Entrepreneur Society.

Over the years, Alan has been known for creating initiatives on campus that try to give students an additional opportunity to learn and create things on their own, starting from Open Lab Days, an initiative that opened the welding and foundry labs to the public to allow participants to learn the respective skills and create things without the stress of a class-lab environment. In addition, Alan co-founded The Kettering Builder's and Innovation Network (kettering-bin), a group that provides multidisciplinary mentorship to extracurricular student projects. In addition, it provides funding for students to try their projects without fear of failure.

As a fellow, Alan has had the opportunity to help others learn through his experiences by joining talks and giving an ignite for the Spring 2016 SVM. He hopes to continue to be a part of the active UIF community.