General Electric

Timothy Raab

Owen Schelenz

Electrical Engineer

For Owen Schelenz’s eighth birthday, his ecologically-minded parents gave him a solar-powered portable radio. Fascinated by the concept, Owen took the radio everywhere and would clip it onto the bus window on school trips so he could listen to sun-powered tunes. At GE, Owen delves deeper into his curiosity about free energy sources, and researches ways to make solar energy a viable part of the power grid.

When did you first become interested in engineering and energy?
As a kid, I loved taking all sorts of things apart and was curious to look inside and see how they worked. I’m most interested in renewable energy, and that solar-powered radio motivated me to figure out how renewable energy could be captured, transformed, and distributed.

What sparked your interest in GE?
I started interning with GE during college, and during my third internship, I met members of the GE Global Research Center and was just floored–their projects were the stuff of science fiction, and I just knew I had to try to work there.

What is a typical day like for you?
Today I collected some data on a solar inverter out in Arizona, analyzed a circuit schematic for in preparation for some testing, then taught an entry-level power electronics class for our engineers. Tomorrow I am pitching a proposal to get funding for a new inverter technology project to the CEO. And I’m always in the lab.

What advice would you give to recent grads?
As an engineer you should always learn something outside of your direct line of work. GE definitely encourages that, both through the internship programs and in the workplace. There are about 3,000 engineers and scientists all working on different technologies here and countless opportunities to help expand your knowledge in both formal and informal ways. Also, don’t underestimate the value of internships. About 75 percent of our new hires are the direct result of an internship or co-op program. As an added bonus, internships are key to gaining exposure to many different areas of GE in order to better focus your talents.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
I’m constantly stimulated by my work at GE, but what I like best is not only working in a field I find interesting, but also with people who have similar passions. I’ve been itching to build a do-it-yourself Segway since college, and through a coworker who was similarly interested, I finally got the chance to explore that engineering curiosity (and the Segway even works!).

What challenges do you face in your job?
Time management. Honestly, there’s not enough time in a day to work on all the cool things we do here.

What excites you about working at GE?
Our work in the field of solar energy is really exciting to me. It’s not just about injecting power into the grid, it’s about making solar energy a reliable, grid-friendly power source for the global grid. Solar power has great potential, and we’re working toward to seeing more of it around us.

What competencies are in demand at GE?
Anything related to energy is a hot topic, so we’re looking for engineering backgrounds, whether that’s electrical, mechanical, software, or materials engineering, or computer science–and we’re definitely hiring.