Honors Alumni Voices: Achal Patel

"One of the most formative aspects of my honors experience was the opportunity to step outside of my core aerospace engineering curriculum and explore ideas through a broader, interdisciplinary lens. Courses like Aviation in American Culture and honors philosophy seminars challenged me to think about aviation not just as a technical field, but as something shaped by history, ethics, and society. These classes pushed me to ask different kinds of questions and helped me develop a more well-rounded perspective on the work I was pursuing. I also still remember my first-year honors seminar, where we built an Inuit kayak as a hands-on way to learn about Indigenous Arctic cultures — a creative and memorable experience that made learning tangible and helped me form some of my earliest friendships in the program."

Achal Patel graduated with university honors from the University of Kansas in 2022 with a degree in aerospace engineering and a minor in business, as well as a certificate from the Global Awareness Program. He is currently a member of Harvard Business School, where he anticipates graduating with a Master of Business Administration degree in May 2027. Following his time at KU, Patel worked at Embraer Executive Aircraft, where he led strategic initiatives across partnerships, merges and acquisitions, and corporate venture capital, including evaluating emerging technologies and helping guide new product development.