Tony Mebane, UNC Charlotte c/o 2020, B.S. systems Engineering, Minor in Mathematics
Written by Zacch Estrada-Petersen
Spring 2020 UNC Charlotte graduate Tony Mebane is just one member of what some have coined the “Class of Corona”, a term for the millions of high school and college grads this year who’ve matriculated, sans graduation ceremonies, into a world of global uncertainty.
However, from the time he was young, there was one thing the Graham, North Carolina native was certain of. He knew exactly what kind of work he wanted to be as an adult.
“Ultimately, I really want to work for Disney, or some type of amusement park company,” he says. “When I was a kid, I had a little roller coaster game. And so I always wanted to build roller coasters when I grew up. I went on Google and asked ‘Who designs roller coasters?’, and it said ‘An engineer.’”
In 2016, a freshman Mebane enrolled at UNCC to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering, but soon found that he wasn’t really into the mechanical aspect of the field.
“I was more into the overall picture,” he says, “And also into using math to make decisions. That brought me to systems engineering, which was a better suit for me.”
Although systems engineering traces its roots back to the 1940s at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, many people outside of the discipline are unfamiliar with what the field entails. In Mebane’s own words: “I’m that person that makes sure everything in a system works together.”
He uses the example of a car manufacturing process to describe how multiple engineering disciplines collaborate, and where a person with his degree would fit in.
“You have the civil engineers - they’re building the structure of the car,” he says. “Mechanicals are working on the engine. Electrical and computer people are working on the interior, the radio and the brake system. And then you need someone who pulls all those things together, and I would be that person.”
As a mechanical engineering student, he recalls roughly four Black students in his class of about 100. Moving to the systems engineering track, he found a smaller cohort but roughly the same number of Black students.
“I honestly feel like engineering should be pushed a little more because a lot of people don’t have a good definition of what it is,” he says. “We need to make more opportunities available to where people can get some type of experience with engineering and understand that it’s not the stereotypical type of description that they always get.”
For his senior design project, his team designed a virtual construction template, which allowed them to see what a construction project would like in real life, but using virtual reality.
“It allowed us to point out flaws and potential failures in our design,” he says, “And allows you to tweak that stuff before you even lay the concrete down.”
“Engineering isn’t always about building with lego blocks,” he adds. “It’s about understanding how different principles work, and how you can use those principles to your advantage to make something better. I know people with PhD’s in engineering who don’t even work as engineers, but the major teaches you problem-solving skills that you can use in different fields.”
In addition to his coursework, Mebane served for three years as a Niner Guide (University tour guide for prospective students), and four years as Student Alumni Ambassador, including two as president. He was a member of the UNC Charlotte chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of System Engineers, the Engineering Leadership Academy and even the Voices of Eden Gospel Choir.
He obviously stayed busy. But even as of January of his senior year, he didn’t have any solid job prospects, and throughout his college career had never worked an internship, which often serves as a gateway for many students into their first post-graduate position.
Even so, he still had his heart set on going to work on roller coasters when he heard about an aerospace and defense conference that several other students would be attending in Washington, D.C. in late February. Since that industry wasn’t part of his planned career trajectory, and since he found the cost of attending the conference prohibitive, he didn’t plan to go. Days later, despite not having shown interest in the conference, he received an email from a UNCC administrator letting him know that someone had paid for him to attend. That being the case, he opted not to pass up the opportunity.
It’s a good thing he went. On the second day of the conference, he woke up early and got to the career fair when most companies were still setting up their booths and weren’t yet engaging with the students. But he was able to strike up a conversation with the representatives of a global aerospace and defense company. The chat led to an interview, then to a second interview, then to an offer on the spot. All in the same day.
This coming August he’ll leave North Carolina, bound for Melbourne, Florida, where he’ll serve as an aerospace engineer, working with telescopes and missile-locating systems. Two other students from the conference also received and accepted offers from the same company, although both in different states.
In Mebane’s case, he’ll be located roughly an hour away from Orlando and all of its attractions and theme parks. If one day the rush of the roller coasters that inspired his career in the very beginning calls back out to him, he won’t have to go too far to make his original dream a reality.
By the way, he never found out who paid for him to attend the conference. But he is certainly grateful.
The My Brother’s Keeper Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte is an endowment fund targeted to Black males majoring in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields at UNCC. The "What They See Is What They'll Be" blog series, adopted from the motto of 100 Black Men of America, is a blog series featuring personal stories of Black men from the UNCC community who are actively engaged in those fields. The goal of the series is to serve as a source of information and inspiration to others aspiring to follow similar career paths. To learn more, or to contribute to the endowment fund, visit www.unccmybrotherskeeper.org.