Ethan Kleine, a senior in applied mathematics and computer science from St. Louis, says that his membership with Missouri S&T’s Formula Electric Design Team has helped him get hands-on experience – which has led to internships almost every summer of his college career.

“Our team makes a lot of our own parts for the car, so it really lets team members get involved,” says Kleine. “It also helped build my resume in the early part of my college career.”

Kleine has now interned at companies such as BJC Healthcare and Stauder Technologies, and says he “hit the Career Fair hard” this fall, looking for the right fit for the start of his professional career.

With his internship experience and 4.0 GPA, his dream of working in software development and one day retiring early could well be a reality. 

“I like being able to solve things without ordering parts,” says Kleine. “It is also easy to test and retest processes, and I enjoy the brainstorming with others and butting heads about solutions – development is a team process.”

Kleine says that there is a current stigma for computer science majors facing a poor job market, but he thinks that S&T students can overcome it given the right circumstances.

“My advice for new computer science students is to start in extra-curriculars early and keep your grades up,” says Kleine.  

Designing his own future

“My favorite thing about Missouri S&T is the involvement with design teams,” says Kleine. “S&T is known for its design teams, and I knew I wanted to get involved with one of them immediately after my first campus tour visited the design center.”

Kleine now plays a lead role on Missouri S&T’s Formula Electric Design Team. As last year’s software lead and this year’s data acquisition lead, he has managed software development for the car’s dashboard, fault controller and, most notably, its car controller — the system responsible for coordinating motor and battery operations, throttle and ignition. He also drives the car at the competitions.

Kleine says his math background has helped him tackle the complexity of writing code for so many components, contributing to the team’s strong performance at last summer’s competition where they were one of only 12 teams driving at the competition’s endurance event.

Bowling down the competition

Kleine says that one thing that helps him get away from the stress of academics and future considerations is his sport – bowling. Since age 12, he has participated in weekly tournaments. He continues that tradition as a member of a local bowling league in Rolla.

“My mom said I needed to pick a sport when I was younger, and I picked the one I have been playing with my grandfather for a while,” Kleine says. “I like bowling practice the most – working on accuracy and consistency. Most of the time I don’t even bother turning on the scoring.”

Kleine has bowled two perfect 300 games so far, and has the bowling ball that his grandfather has bowled a perfect game with too, which he hopes to one day use to roll another 300.

“My only official 300 game was with my high school team, and it played out like a sports movie ending,” says Kleine. “It was in one of the final weeks of my high school season, and the last two lanes were battling it out for the win, and I rolled a perfect game with both teams’ members watching. It’s a great memory for me.”