Student, University of Colorado Boulder

Jake McGrath

Contact Form

Name

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

Subject

Message

About

I am Jake McGrath, a senior at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I am currently pursuing a MS/BS in Aerospace Engineering with minors in applied math and leadership studies. This site is particularly dedicated to my journey over the past four years as an undergraduate at CU Boulder. I am also an engineering honors student and have been very fortunate to be involved with the Engineering Honors Program since my freshman year. I do research here on campus with Dr. James Curry; we are using Wi-Fi data to make a map of device activity on campus.

I am fascinated with flight and have been from a young age. I am a private pilot and love taking pictures with my drone. I am in the process of starting my own company, M-Tech LLC, which creates custom, user focused software for programs and departments right here on campus. Somewhat surprisingly, I have been an electrician for my parent's electrical company since I was fifteen. I work with and own cows on my family farm and ranch in Haxtun, Colorado. The ranch was founded well over one hundred years ago, and I am proud to call myself a forever Coloradan.

Learn More About Me

Education

My Philosophy of Education & Leadership

Read more about my philosophy of education and leadership here.

MS Aerospace Engineering Sciences

Autonomous Systems

August 2021 - May 2022

BS Aerospace Engineering Sciences

August 2017 - May 2021

Minor Leadership Studies

Presidents Leadership Class

August 2017 - December 2020

Minor Applied Mathematics

August 2017 - December 2020

Learn More About My Education

Professional Experience

M-Tech

January 2019 - Present

M-Tech, short for McGrath Technologies, is a company I started to sell user focused software to campus organizations and various private entities. M-Tech started because of the Presidents Leadership Class (PLC), a four year student organization here on campus. PLC approached me and wondered if it was possible to create an app that students could use to keep track of their progress in the program. After months of development, the MyPLC suite was born; what started as a simple app evolved into a robust program that manages the student database, tracks service hours in real time, hosts a custom email marketing platform, and of course, allows students to keep track of their process in the program. Check out MyPLC for iOS and android, or visit the M-Tech website (coming soon).

Balloon Deployment System

August 2020 - May 2021

The Balloon Deployment System (BDS) is the name of my senior project in Aerospace Engineering. The primary function of the BDS is to allow for a single person to safely launch large, high altitude balloons in any condition. The project is for Dr. Dale Lawrence and his HYFLITS team here at CU Boulder. Learn more about our project here.

Presidents Leadership Class

August 2018 - Present

In addition to my work with the Presidents Leadership Class through M-Tech, I have worked on the program’s staff since my sophomore year. PLC is a student run organization; while we have three full time professionals working for the program, as many as fifty PLC students hold positions which ultimately help steer the program’s direction. I started working for PLC as the assistant director of recruitment and selection, later becoming the director of recruitment and selection my junior year. I lead a team of 10 to recruit and conduct interviews of prospective students as well as manage our high school relations and social media presence. Most recently, I have partnered with a few alumni to work on the Corporate Fellows Program, a fundraising project aimed at strengthening our relationships with industry partners.

Swimlane

May 2019 - August 2019

I had the amazing privilege of interning with Swimlane, a cybersecurity company in Louisville, Colorado. When I worked here, I was primarily responsible for creating and updating various Python modules that would integrate with the company’s larger platform. Swimlane is focused on cybersecurity automation; they create tools that give system administrators more flexibility and speed when responding to cyber threats.

Over-All Electric

May 2015 - Present

I have been incredibly fortunate to be involved in my family business since I was fifteen years old. I started out by washing the company fleet in the summer. Once I could drive, I joined our delivery crew in transporting materials from our Englewood warehouse to different job sites across the state. Shortly after, I began an apprenticeship as an electrician and have worked in both commercial and residential settings. Most recently, I have transitioned to administering the office’s technology suit and order management system. On the weekends I do accounting focused on receiving and keeping track of customer payments.

Scott Farms

2009 - Present

Scott Farms is part of my family’s Colorado legacy; founded in 1908 by my great grandfather, we are some of the few but proud centennial farmers. I have been very involved with the family farm from a young age. I bought by first cow from my grandfather when I was nine years old for $325 (my life savings at the time). Since then, I have continued to grow my heard and learn the ins and outs of keeping a ranch healthy and thriving.

Learn More About My Professional Experience