One of Tesla Motors’ missions is to make cars with sustainable energy. This mission fits with graduate student Shreekant Shukla’s mission.

Shukla worked as a Design, Research and Development intern at Tesla Motors as well as a supplier for the motor company. Shukla graduated from WSU in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and is currently working on his master’s degree in industrial engineering. 

“If it’s manufacturing, you can enter any field, like the food industry, automotive industry, medical industry,” Shukla said. “I have a design background. In my masters, I got the knowledge of manufacturing … that helped me to understand how the products are built on the shop floor.”

As an intern for the motor company, Shukla’s job was to develop the sealing environment for all Tesla vehicles as well as perform root cause analysis on design and/or quality issues. 

“As a design engineer, you have to consider all the factors, like the quality, how the products are made on the shop floor, how is it going to be cost effective, are you going to produce that in the factory, is it going to be from all sorts of suppliers,”  Shukla said. “It’s got to be something that includes all the steps.”

From this internship, Shukla said he gained more knowledge about manufacturing while working in a fast-paced environment.

“You learn a lot. Everyday, there are different problems, different things you have to work on,” Shukla said. “It’s progressing very fast, so you need to give more than 100%.”

Shukla’s best friend, Sushmita Shinde, said Shukla is a kind and helpful person, who is always keen about gadgets and upcoming technology.

“He is passionate about his work for designing the automobile commodities and giving the best output to the organization,” Shinde said. “I wish him all the best for his future endeavors.”