For Isaac Kremer ’29, the sky is the limit. Literally.
The mechanical and electrical engineering double major dreams of going to space. And he’s already making major strides, attending NASA’s L'SPACE Mission Concept Academy during the fall semester.
“They give you an idea of how NASA missions are laid out and how you go through from the brainstorming phase into the implementation of different designs and testing,” said Kremer, also in the midst of an engineering internship at fabricated metal products firm SFS Group. “I'll be working with teams of other students all across the country through virtual meetings. It's a program to lead you into a NASA internship.”
Then in the spring, he will take a semester off to intern with Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos’ space technology company Blue Origin Enterprises in Kent, Wash. He discovered the application for the electrical systems engineering internship on LinkedIn, a day before it was due. Despite that inauspicious circumstance, he got the position.
Kremer says he’s always been interested in engineering, taking apart old electronics to find out how they work at a young age. He refined that interest at Berks Career & Technology Center, where he studied mechatronics engineering for three years while also attending Daniel Boone High School.
Despite space’s strong pull, it’s far from Kremer’s only interest. He’s a Renaissance man, according to his mother Kim, the senior administrative assistant at Alvernia’s College of Innovation, Discovery and Enterprise, which houses the John R. Post School of Engineering. It’s a wonder he finds enough hours in the day.
He’s an engineering lab assistant. He tutors students in physics, calculus, chemistry and computer science. He’s big into working out, rock climbing and hiking.
Oh, and he earned his private pilot’s license over the summer, helping to scratch his space itch a bit.
“You've got the aerodynamic factors there,” he said. “Flying planes, I get that aspect of getting closer to the space industry. And I've always thought, piloting plus engineering is a really good pathway to get to space one day.”
Alvernia's engineering program is still new, with its inaugural class graduating in May. That newness coupled with the small size are major pluses to Kremer, who likes the fact that there is more room for improvement and change compared with an established engineering program.
“Here I have more involvement in the nitty-gritty,” he said. “I like that I'm learning while the university is also learning. The benefits of a smaller engineering program is that you get more of that one-on-one time with the teacher and more time with the people who are experts in the craft or the idea of what they're doing. And you get to collaborate more with teachers and really delve into research.”
Kremer's success is no surprise to Joseph Mahoney, Ph.D., chair of the John R. Post School of Engineering.
“Isaac came to Alvernia with a strong foundation of practical skills, and over the last three semesters our coursework and projects such as engineering design have helped him build on that experience,” Mahoney said. "His opportunities with Blue Origin and NASA show how his persistence and growth are leading him toward the next steps in his career.”
