Interning with Kearfott Corporation: Student Internship Spotlight

In the summer of 2025, Jerry interned with Kearfott Corporation. As an Electronics Design Engineering Intern, his primary duty was to optimize BLDC motor commutation with Hall effect sensors. He replaced old Hall sensors with a new type with increased precision and performance, which also required hardware rework on the motor units such as high-precision soldering tiny integrated circuits (IC) chips. Additionally, he developed and modified code in C language to reflect the hardware changes.

Name: Jerry Gao

Class Year: Class of 2027

Major: Computer Engineering & Electrical Engineering

Internship: Kearfott Corporation

Internship Location: Black Mountain, NC

What skills or knowledge did you gain from this experience?

The most important skills I gained from this experience were critical thinking and communication skills. Taking on a complex project requires the ability to fully understand what one is working with, what the next steps are, and how to go about resolving any issues. So, keeping a mental map of everything going on at once is really helpful. Communication is also key to making strides toward the final goal, as effective communication with supervisors and colleagues ensures that one is on track and receives help when needed.

What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them?

The main challenge I faced involved overcoming the learning curve associated with my project. Having almost no professional industry experience prior to this internship, everything I worked with was completely new to me. Despite having some classroom experience with certain tasks, such as soldering and low-level C programming, much of the advanced theoretical framework involving BLDC motors, Hall sensors, and digital signal processors was initially unfamiliar to me. Climbing a learning “curve” instead of simply a learning “step” meant that I constantly ran into situations where I thought I knew what I was doing, then became more confused a few minutes later.

Overcoming this challenge required a strategy commonly mentioned by my supervisor — “crawl, walk, run.” Being confused leads one into a crucial time to be resourceful, from digging up documentation to extensive self-research (Google) to asking plenty of questions. It is especially important to ask as many questions as possible when surrounded by industry professionals with decades of experience; as one of my colleagues would say, “it’s not a stupid question, it’s a learning question.” It may seem like we’ve been crawling forever — constantly attempting to figure out what we’re even assigned with and scrambling to see workarounds to roadblocks — but the importance of this foundational step for future success in later stages cannot be understated. Through this, we can eventually reach our end goal.

What advice would you give other students looking for similar opportunities?

This advice applies to me as much as it would to any students looking for similar opportunities, as I am also currently searching for opportunities for this upcoming summer. I believe that putting yourself out there is key. Be confident and humble about your skills and knowledge, and on the job, always keep an open mind and be ready to learn, not just the what but also the how and why. This ensures the most optimal takeaway from a seasonal internship experience.

Is there a memorable moment or highlight from your summer that stands out?

A memorable moment from my summer did not take place in the office but on the 4th of July — an evening spent away from work but with my colleagues. My supervisor invited my fellow intern colleagues and me to his farm for a Fourth of July celebration with plenty of food, fireworks, go-karts, and more fun. We had a blast and shared some very deep conversations on the drive back late at night. It was definitely one of the most memorable nights of the entire summer.