Alex Holland studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of North Dakota, where he gained hands-on experience through undergraduate research and an engineering internship before landing a full-time role as a Nuclear Engineer at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard — a career path he has held for nearly eight years. His journey shows how pairing classroom learning with real-world experience can open doors to highly specialized, in-demand engineering fields. Alex's story is a great example of how curiosity and persistence — from building low-cost satellites in college to publishing research — can take you further than you might expect.