Entrepreneurial engineering student forges his own path

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Volgenau School of Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering

Daniel Scott Mitchell spent all of the 2019-2020 school year at internships across the country. Tesla was the first of his three internships.

Entrepreneur and senior mechanical engineering major Daniel Scott Mitchell came to George Mason University with a mission to build a toolkit of experiences and problem-solving skills to prepare him for his career. By taking chances on himself, he has more than achieved his goal.

Mitchell, an Honors College student, completed a variety of internships and research assistantships, but his success at starting his own business ventures across the engineering and technology landscape sets him apart. Most notably, he took a leave of absence for the 2019-20 academic year to complete three internships at companies across the United States.

“I have always felt that I learn better by applying knowledge in practice,” he says. “I did different things at each internship, and it was a unique opportunity to work in different areas with different problem-solving skills and mindsets.”

He crisscrossed the continent by first moving to San Francisco to intern at Tesla in fall 2019, then traveled to Boston to intern at a 3D printing company called Formlabs, and finally, he worked remotely for a company called Rivian that makes electric vehicles.

Mitchell sees internships as an opportunity to not only apply your knowledge but to discover what you enjoy, and that is part of the reason why he deferred his formal education.

“Internships are a great opportunity for students to try things out. It is an established agreement between you and a company to learn as much as you can, try and do a good job, and walk away having learned something in a short period of time,” says Mitchell. “You can’t do that with a full-time job.”

Aside from his impressive list of internships in his time away from Mason, Mitchell has always been solving problems and maximizing his time learning and innovating. He enjoys many other entrepreneurial ventures, and he is always looking for a new challenge.

“My motto is ‘I make therefore I am.’ For me, I see a need and I don’t want to wait around for a solution to appear, I want to tackle it myself,” says Mitchell.

It was this mindset that also pushed Mitchell to start a podcast with Mason Engineering alum Farbod Moghaddam, BS ME ‘19. Their podcast—Next Byte—is sponsored by Wevolver, an online knowledge repository and community for cutting edge information on engineering and technology.

“I’m an avid podcast listener, and I saw the need for a podcast that talks about the cutting edge of different fields in engineering and tech that didn’t go into granular details. My friend Farbod and I decided to take it on ourselves. We pitched Wevolver, and they loved the idea. It was in the works for a few months, but we are releasing podcasts weekly now,” says Mitchell.

Mitchell’s interests span the technology and engineering space, but he originally chose mechanical engineering because of its versatility. “It is very interdisciplinary, and I wanted a degree that I thought could give me the skill set I need to solve problems. Mechanical engineering here at Mason has definitely lived up to that,” says Mitchell, who has also served as president of Mason’s chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of American Military Engineers.

Long-term, Mitchell aspires to own and run his own company, but he will take all that he has learned at Mason and in his research, business, and internship opportunities into whatever opportunity comes his way.

“I have a lot of hobbies, passions, and interests,” says Mitchell. “But the one thing I always fervently pursue is to build new things and solve problems.”

Rebecca Pearcey offers a behind-the-scenes look at political campaigns as part of the First Tuesday series

rstaffo2 — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 17:08:27 +0000

Rebecca Pearcey offers a behind-the-scenes look at political campaigns as part of the First Tuesday series rstaffo2 Wed, 09/23/2020 - 13:08

Learn more about the First Tuesday series

Register for upcoming First Tuesday events

On September 22nd, Rebecca Pearcey joined Mason Professor Steven Pearlstein for what would the third conversation in his First Tuesday series of conversations with special guests who bring first-hand experiences in the world of politics. Pearcey shares her political insight drawn from her role as political director of the Elizabeth Warren campaign.

“[Working as a political director] is something different every day,” says Pearcey about what drew her to her career. “It’s making sure you have a plan if X-Y-Z happens, and you make decisions very quickly. That’s what I like about it.”

“When I was in college, this wasn’t a professional line that I understood or knew about. I took a job straight out of college… I went not knowing anything…and I got the bug. My mission was to go wherever there was good work and find out which candidate [I] like the best.”

Pearcey started as the Regional Field Director for the presidential campaign of Richard Gephardt. In the following years, she directed campaigns including Walmart Watch, Ted Strickland’s governor campaign, Obama’s presidential Ohio campaign, and John Greg’s electoral campaign. In 2014, she was the Northeast Regional Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and most recently, in 2020, she was the political director for Elizabeth Warren’s presidential run.

Rebecca Pearcey in conversation with Steven Pearlstein. Screenshot by Audrey Butler/Honors College

There is no doubt Pearcey’s position as political director is a critical role during a candidate’s campaign, and during the conversation, Professor Pearlstein commented on the diverse areas her job covers, asking, “What don’t you do?”

When Pearcey first began work on the Warren campaign, her job was to “liaise and advise the senator” on matters of public relations and creating teams to network and gather support. As time went, however, Pearcey saw her job evolve to organizing constituencies, surrogate scheduling, managing delegates, and even traveling personally with her candidate. “It is a lot of everything, [and] it’s what you make it.”

In addition to carrying out the extensive tasks as political director, Pearcey has also faced the struggles of breaking into a profession dominated by white men.

“As long as I can remember, when I started becoming senior staff, I was the only black person in the room and also the only female in the room... I’ve made it a point to talk to younger staffers… about what the dynamic was like 20 years ago, versus what it is now…and how to place yourself in a position where you’re comfortable, [where] you’re heard, and you understand what your power is and what levers to pull to get the power and make the decisions.”

Rebecca Pearcey

Since her last campaign, Pearcey has joined the board of the iVote Civil Education Fund, helping launch an “effort to encourage people to vote early, from home, by mail – any of the different ways people can vote since the pandemic.”

“Since May… 35 states have changed the laws on what it takes to vote,” says Pearcey. “There are literally millions and millions of people who may be face with new challenges to vote and so our effort has been focused on making sure people have the tools necessary to get it done this November.”

The First Tuesday series continues on Tuesday September 29^th from 9:00 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. with Rick Wilson, a Republican media strategist, as well as co-founder and “creative genius” of the Lincoln Project. The First Tuesday series is sponsored by the Honors College and the Schar School of Policy and Government. The events, which are coordinated in conjunction with Pearlstein’s Honors 131 course, are open to all members of the Mason community: register to participate.

Date	Speaker
Sept. 8	Peter Hart Dean of American Pollsters
Sept. 15	Mike Henry Former Campaign Manager, Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Gov. Terry McAuliffe
Sept. 22	Rebecca Pearcey Policy Director, Elizabeth Warren presidential campaign
Sept. 29	Rick Wilson Co-founder, Lincoln Project Republican media strategist
Oct. 6	Amy Gardner Political reporter and editor, Washington Post
Oct. 13	U.S Rep. Jennifer Wexton Democrat, Virginia 10th District
Oct 20	Danny Diaz Republican political and communications strategist, George Mason graduate
Nov. 10	Tom Davis Former Republican Congressman from Virginia, Rector of George Mason University

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial engineering student forges his own path

Topics

Rebecca Pearcey offers a behind-the-scenes look at political campaigns as part of the First Tuesday series

Learn more about the First Tuesday series

Register for upcoming First Tuesday events

Watch past events in the First Tuesday series