8/27/2021 Julia Park
Written by Julia Park
Neil Chiruvella (BSME ’20) was just a junior when, while taking a Gies Business course called “Making Things,” the TA asked him if he wanted to work for his startup, in the Research Park. Chiruvella joined Hinetics as a temporary manufacturing engineer, then a full-time junior mechanical engineer, working alongside several UIUC PhD candidates.
This experience – “watching the way they divided and conquered some very in-depth technical challenges to come up with self-adapting solutions to mercurial problems” – inspired Chiruvella to strive to hone his own skills through more rigorous coursework and problem-solving.
He quickly realized MechSE’s M.Eng.ME program (Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering) could give him the best opportunity to deepen these skills. Chiruvella even elected to combine his last semester of undergrad (Fall 2020) with his first semester of the M.Eng. program, which allowed him the freedom to take the classes he wanted as well as help him decide whether to pursue a PhD or enter industry.
Chiruvella is now an engineer at a Hawthorne, California-based aerospace startup, and plans to take one class each semester, graduating from the program in the next year and a half.
“I wanted the power the degree would offer me over my future and my interests. The professors present on far more rigorous topics, and they also expect more from the students and I really enjoy responding to that type of challenge,” Chiruvella said. “Being in the program also allowed me to target my job search at extremely competitive positions without fear of being overlooked due to “inexperience.” The program itself has been very well organized and designed to really cater to individual students. The support from Susan Roughton and Dr. Jiajun He has made it really simple for me to plan out my goals months and even years in advance.”
In his work, Chiruvella – who lives just a 10-minute drive away from both the office and the LA beaches – said he is never bored and constantly driven thanks to the unique challenges he faces every day and the lofty goals of the company.
Many of Chiruvella’s experiences as an undergraduate in MechSE prepared him for the challenges of both the M.Eng.ME program and his career. During his first three undergraduate years, he was heavily involved with the Illini Solar Car team.
Additionally, the long nights before major project deadlines, full of software and fabrication hurdles to overcome, also helped him grow as an engineer. “Learning how to constantly adapt our solutions to a changing situation was priceless experience,” he said. He served as Treasurer and Head of Dynamics and was on the team that built the first solar car at UIUC in more than 20 years (Argo) and shortly after helped design the newest car (Brizo), which the team unveiled this past school year.
“One thing I really wish my classmates had known while we were undergrads together was that they really could do anything. Illini engineers are hot commodities across all of industry, and not just as engineers. There are so many project teams, startups, and research groups at UIUC. With the right amount of forethought, willingness to fail and perseverance through rejections, any Illini can accomplish whatever it is they aim for. I think my search for new challenges outside the classroom is really what has defined my success at UIUC. Once you take that first step towards a possible future, every next step afterwards becomes even more feasible to envision and attain.”