Student Spotlight

David Word, a senior from Las Vegas, never had any plans to come to BYU. Throughout high school, he wanted to join the military and eventually received a four-year Army ROTC scholarship to a university that was not BYU. However, because he was “chasing a girl,” David chose to attend BYU instead. He was able to transfer his scholarship and participate in the Army ROTC program here. Although things didn’t work out with the girl, David stayed because of the experience BYU offers.

David started out as a mechanical engineering major, but then realized that he wanted to study something more hands-on because he grew up working in a machine shop with his dad and loved tinkering. At a friend’s suggestion, David decided to try manufacturing engineering and fell in love with it.

David’s favorite resource is the machining lab in the Crabtree basement, where he works as a TA for two manual machining classes and pursues personal projects such as making aluminum Pinewood Derby cars. David also enjoys fixing things; he even had the chance to fix the cannon that’s fired at every BYU home football game.

David is currently on BYU’s Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Baja capstone team, which works to create a single-seat offroad vehicle for rough terrain competitions. He is also pursuing a minor in mathematics, which he hopes to use someday as a high school teacher and coach after his career with the Army.

When David isn’t busy with school and ROTC, he enjoys spending time with his girls: his wife and their two-year-old daughter. They love to spend time outside, go paddleboarding, and just enjoy the nice weather whenever they get the chance.

David says that the most valuable thing he has learned at BYU is the relationship between the gospel and the secular side of life. This an experience unique to BYU that David is very thankful for. His advice to engineering students is to try lots of different clubs and activities and not get locked in on a certain major. “There is a lot of value in finding what you actually want to learn,” he says.

We are so glad that David is a part of our College of Engineering family!