Ten-year-old David Kane watched the movie Apollo 13 and realized what he wanted to do when he grew up.

Fast-forward 12 years, and Kane is now a junior at IUPUI pursuing degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics with hopes of landing a career in the aerospace industry.

“There’s a scene where they’re told they have to quickly figure out how to make two differently shaped objects fit together, and I realized that high-pressure problem solving atmosphere is what I wanted,” says Kane, whose dream job is to work for an aerospace company developing products for space exploration.

He says IUPUI provides the perfect combination of small classes and seasoned professors to support his engineering goals.

“Our engineering professors have a great balance here because they do research and they teach so they’re on the cutting edge of what’s new,” says Kane, who serves as the Engineering and Technology Student Council President. “The class sizes are small compared to other engineering programs so you can still get to know your professors one-on-one.”

As a Chancellor’s Scholar, Kane used his $2500 Honors study abroad stipend to take his interests overseas. He spent a week in Germany studying sustainability through an engineering lens. He visited energy power plants and a Mercedes-Benz car manufacturer to compare sustainability measures used by the United States and Germany.

While at IUPUI, Kane has held leadership positions in the award-winning honor societies Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma. Due to his outstanding service in Alpha Lambda Delta, he was awarded the Stemler and Trow Scholarships. However, Kane credits the organizations for much more than scholarship opportunities.

“ALD/PES gave me a friend base that has a similar focus on academics and has helped me meet people from different schools on campus,” says Kane.

Kane’s favorite of his many service projects is the annual holiday project, where the organizations’ members identify local families in need and shop for Christmas presents for them. Students spend the day finding the perfect gifts for every family member, wrapping presents, and enjoying a dinner together afterwards.

Recently, Kane completed an industrial engineering internship with UPS where he evaluated the efficiency of package handling. He created an over 800-page master operating plan for UPS—an experience that helped him appreciate how many different departments come together to complete one job.

“My leadership experience with the Honors College Peer Mentor Program and ALD/PES helped prepare me for my internship and taught me how to be a self-starter, which is something they said they really appreciated during my exit interview,” says Kane.

“I saw a problem and would fix it before anyone noticed there was even a problem, and the Honors College really helped cultivate that mindset.”