Alexander Lomis, a career-driven and ambitious aerospace engineering student, was honored with the J.E. McDaniel Award for his exceptional academic performance as a co-op student. The award is bestowed annually to a graduating student with the highest overall GPA, who is enrolled in the co-op program at Georgia Tech.  

“This award was absolutely a great honor to receive. On one side, the award makes me take pride in my hard work and commitment to academic performance. More broadly, it leaves me feeling like I have nothing to regret about how I allocated my time at Tech,” said Lomis.

From January 2019 to December 2021, Lomis completed four rotations as a mechanical engineering intern at Anduril Industries, a local aerospace company. He worked on the Special Programs team, developing unique, one-off payload designs for ALTIUS-600 aircraft.

“The best part of the co-op experience was working with other established and talented engineers. I was able to learn so much from my mentors, while also being able to contribute to projects in significant ways,” he said.

The experience was so enjoyable, he joked that he stopped co-oping because he needed to graduate.

The Nashville native was driven by his passion for understanding how things work from a young age. He would take things apart, to his parents’ dismay, but he eventually learned to put them back together. That fascination and desire to tinker led him to the world of remote-controlled drones and planes, as well as hobby and full-scaled rocketry. When he landed his first job repairing drones, he realized he wanted to design them one day.

“When I was applying to colleges, Georgia Tech was one of the top-rated schools for aerospace engineering - and now ranked number 1. Also, the proximity to home meant that I would have an easier time adapting to living on my own,” he shared.

At Tech, he quickly became interested in the control systems aspect of aerospace engineering. He shared that understanding how to model complex systems in a simplified and accurate way, along with developing autonomous controllers for those systems, was an incredibly engaging experience.

His knack for learning led him to the Aerospace Systems Design Lab, where he conducted undergraduate research under the direction of Research Engineer Jung-Ho Lewe. Lomis worked on a project developing a set of internet of things (IoT) connected smart sensors to better sense and record building energy, occupancy, and air quality trends across campus. “This project required mechanical, electrical, and software engineering skills and gave me the hands-on outlet I needed to stay focused,” he said.

His focus remained strong as he navigated the academic rigor at Tech, but he realized he needed to be more than just a student.

“During the last two years at Tech, I was able to focus more on making meaningful relationships, creating lasting memories, and stepping away from the computer more. Being recognized for my academic performance and maintaining my 4.0 GPA, without sacrificing personal growth along the way, is what makes receiving this award so meaningful to me.

Now that his time at Tech has come to an end, he’s moving to Boulder, Colorado, to work at Black Swift Technologies as an aerospace engineer, developing fixed-wing drones for climate science research in extreme environments.