Alumnus lives out his dreams through engineering role with General Motors

When he was just 16 years old, Kushal K C made an entire solar-powered car as a proof of concept and tested it in the streets of his Nepali hometown.

“I used whatever parts I could find around with whatever resources available. I wasn’t chasing a career back then, I was chasing a feeling — the belief that I could build something that moved, something that mattered, something that paved a path for a better tomorrow,” Kushal said. “That little car became more than just a project. My entire community came out to watch the test ride. I got featured in national newspapers, magazines and even got an award from the prime minister of Nepal. I realized that engineering wasn’t just about machines, it was about impact.”

More than 16 years later, Kushal is still building cars, just in much bigger garages.

The St. Cloud State University alumnus is now a project manager for General Motors, working and living in Detroit, Michigan — the original mecca of the auto industry.

When Kushal was first looking to pursue an engineering education, SCSU’s strong program, diverse community and overall affordability attracted him to St. Cloud. Once he got to campus, he found a university that went above and beyond to support its international students while providing professors who helped Kushal network and advance in the field of mechanical engineering.

“I admire those professors to this day, and I know if I go back there, I still look forward to meeting with them,” Kushal said. “Some of them really helped me shift into realizing how I thought engineering should be.”

While on campus he was involved in the University Program Board — now the Huskies Events and Activities Team — and met the woman who is now his fiancee. Kushal was also part of the Nepalese Student Association as well as a number of other international student organizations, and served as a graduate assistant. He earned his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering in 2020, and was so impressed with SCSU’s engineering department that he continued on to earn his master’s in executive engineering management in 2023.

Throughout his time with GM, Kushal has worked in mechanical engineering, software program management, and his current role in project management “touches all sides of the car, basically.”

“I’m fascinated by cars, and especially alternative energy for cars,” he said. “I’ve had that interest since childhood.”

Kushal said he’s looking forward to working more in the sustainable mobility sector, with electric vehicles and how to continue improving them.

“Someday in the future, I want to be somewhere where I can make that kind of decision, like, ‘This is more sustainable. This has better impact for our environment, for our future going forward, right?’” Kushal said. “For now, I'm still learning. I love cars. I want to be in this for the long game. One thing I really want to see is what can we do to extend the range in our current EV. People have a lot of questions, and I want to see how we can get there to solve those questions.”

Kushal encouraged students to utilize all the resources and networking opportunities SCSU has to offer, whether it’s the Career Center’s resume and interview prep, reaching out to faculty about research opportunities, or anything and everything in between.

“For students or anyone pursuing engineering, I have to say that engineering is really hard. If you really are passionate about engineering, just don't give up that easily. It's hard for everybody, not just you. I'm five years out of engineering, and I'm still struggling sometimes and have to find my old books or look up formulas,” he said. “There's a lot of ambiguity around real-world problems that we don't know, but in engineering, we don't have that much ambiguity. It helps train us to go to that ambiguous situation and solve an issue, right? So don't give up. It's hard, but it works out eventually.”

Recently, Kushal had a full-circle moment when he was able to support the Corvette CX and CX-R concept models through his role with GM.

“Standing next to these concept cars, I couldn’t help but think back to that 16-year-old kid. The journey changed but the dream never did,” he said. “The tools are different. The scale is bigger. But I’m still building, still learning, still chasing a more sustainable future — one vehicle at a time — and still dreaming the same dream I had when I was 16.”