Tauber Institute alumni bring their operations expertise to leadership roles in a wide variety of fields, all over the globe. Read about what some of our alumni are doing today, and learn about the impact their Tauber experience has had on their career paths.
EGL (BSE/MSE-ME) ‘19
Senior Battery Data Analyst
Rivian
When she was a Michigan Engineering student, Tauber alumna Madeline Gilleran discovered her fascination with the challenges of the electric vehicle industry through the real-world experience of her Tauber team project. Maddie joined the National Renewable Energy Lab after graduation and now she works for Rivian, makers of Electric Adventure Vehicles.
What drew you to the University of Michigan?
I attended a Society of Women Engineers (SWE) engineering camp for high school students the summer going into my senior year of high school that happened to be at the University of Michigan. I didn't know much at all about the university before attending this camp, as I was from a high school where only a few students attended U of M each year. However, once I was there, I fell in love with the school. The people I met were fantastic; its giant North campus with so many resources, buildings, and labs was very impressive; and I was also able to explore Ann Arbor during its Art Fair week.
When you think back your Tauber experience, what stands out?
The people definitely stand out. The program is structured in a way that you spend a lot of time with the other Engineering Global Leadership (EGL) students throughout both undergrad and grad school, and luckily everyone in EGL tends to be very friendly, outgoing, and interesting. I still am in touch with many of them today across several cohorts. It was also a great experience to take Ross MBA courses as an engineering student to balance out my curriculum, and also learn from the MBA students at U of M who were in my classes or on my Tauber internship team.
In what ways did your Tauber experience shape the professional that you are now?
My Tauber experience was my first professional experience in the climate tech space. I worked with two MBA students on a project for Pacific Gas & Electric to help this utility assist their commercial customers in switching from conventional vehicles (gasoline or diesel) to electric. I learned about challenges to electrify from a customer's standpoint, such as not understanding how their electricity bill may go up due to complicated rate structures, or being frustrated with the time it takes to add grid capacity for an electric vehicle charging station onto the grid. I was fascinated with the electric vehicle space and knew I wanted to continue my career in that space.
What advice would you give to current or future Tauber students?
My advice would be to not be afraid to take a road less traveled! I took a less traditional post-Tauber full time position at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden, Colorado and it was a fantastic place for me to start my career. Also remember that you can (and should) continue to learn and grow after university. I picked up Python during my time at NREL and am now a battery data analyst at Rivian taking machine learning courses in my spare time. Career paths are not necessarily linear.