Michael Kuntz

Michael Kuntz realized that choosing mechanical engineering as a major was a good decision when he was working a co-op job at Bobcat Tractor Company in Tucson at the same time that he was designing and building a car for the Society of Automotive Engineers collegiate design competition with a team in Tempe.

“I felt stretched thin, but I was really enjoying what I was doing at work and for the first time felt like my engineering skills were positively contributing to the company,” he said. “Then when I drove to Tempe I felt even happier getting to design a racecar with my friends.”

Kuntz says he can’t imagine doing anything else but engineering.

Growing up watching jets from Luke Air Force Base fly over his home, he’d always liked all kinds of machinery and his father encouraged him to consider mechanical engineering. He chose ASU because it is “a world-class university right in the valley, and this world-class university was willing to welcome anyone with a drive to better themselves.” So Kuntz made sure he got everything the university had to offer.

During his undergraduate years, he participated in the Engineering Projects in Community Service program as well as the Formula SAE team, where he was the chief engineer for the 2018-19 academic year.

After graduation, Kuntz will join the college graduate program at Ford Motor Company in Detroit, where he will rotate through six positions in the company before choosing a role. He eventually hopes to pursue his master’s degree.

Kuntz says that the most rewarding outcome of his undergraduate career has been personal growth.

“After meeting hundreds of people from varying backgrounds striving toward the same goal, enduring multiple internships and making it through challenging coursework on a regular basis, I will be coming out of my engineering studies a cautiously confident person, unwilling to give up,” he said.  

Read about other exceptional graduates of the Fulton Schools’ fall 2019 class here.