Meet James Garcia: NYU Tandon senior and one of General Motors’ newest design engineers

James Garcia is one of the lucky people who can accurately say they are doing the job they’ve dreamt of since childhood. A Mechanical Engineering major and member of the Class of ‘26, he has already been hired by General Motors and will be heading to GM’s design headquarters in Michigan to work as a design engineer after graduation.

Learn more about him, his time at Tandon, and his professional journey.

It’s exciting that you can go into your senior year with a job already lined up. How did that come about, and how did your summer at GM go?

Yes, I am extremely blessed and fortunate! I worked very hard my junior year applying, interviewing, and prepping for the best internship, and that paid off.

My summer at General Motors was nothing short of transformative. As an Engineering Design Intern in the Advanced Vehicle Development Chassis department, I had the opportunity to contribute directly to the design of vehicles that will be hitting the roads in the next decade, and I even got a chance to work with GM Korea and GM Mexico on particular projects.

I optimized brake line bundle design using Siemens NX and modal analysis using SimSolid, conducted Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies to improve airflow in defroster and mirror systems, and validated suspension performance using NX Motion. I also developed an AI-driven VBA automation tool in Excel that streamlined mass roll-up comparisons across multiple engine platforms, a solution that will save countless engineer-hours. To top it off, I shadowed a Corvette calibration engineer during vehicle testing, experiencing first-hand how simulation data translates into performance on the track.

It was a rare opportunity to apply cutting-edge CAD, FEA, and CFD to vehicle systems while learning directly from world-class engineers. When GM extended an offer to return full-time, accepting was an easy decision.

Having a job already means you can just relax all year, right?

Quite the opposite. If anything, it motivates and excites me to push myself harder this last year. I don’t take this opportunity for granted. My focus is on using this year to sharpen every technical, creative, and leadership skill I can, so when I walk into GM on day one, I’m not just an employee, but a well-rounded engineer ready to contribute at the highest level.

How did you decide on a career in engineering?

From the very beginning, it felt inevitable. Ever since kindergarten, teachers told my parents I was going to be an engineer. Whether it was building elaborate Lego structures, sketching designs, or dismantling gadgets just to feed my curiosity and rebuild them, I was always consumed with the idea of creating and problem-solving. Engineering became less of a “career choice” and more of a natural extension of who I am.

Why Tandon?

My path to NYU was anything but straightforward. I’m a first-generation college student, so in many respects, I had to navigate my education without much of a blueprint. Once I determined I wanted to obtain a degree in engineering, I focused on schools in New Jersey due to cost considerations and proximity to family. In fact, at the time, I had already committed to another engineering school as a track athlete. It was actually my sister who insisted I widen my horizons. No matter how many times I refused, she always insisted, so to appease her, I submitted an application to NYU without knowing much about the school.

When my acceptance letter came, I tossed it aside, still determined to stay local. It wasn’t until my sister pulled it out of the trash and made me sit down to research Tandon that I realized the magnitude of the opportunity. From that moment, the decision became obvious: NYU wasn’t just another school, it was an entry point into a world of innovation, discovery, and design at the highest level.

Any favorite courses or subjects?

Without question, my first CAD class. The moment I opened the software, it felt like everything clicked, like I had finally discovered the perfect fusion of art, design, and engineering. CAD has given me a language to express ideas I’d been carrying since childhood, and it solidified that this is the kind of work I want to dedicate my life to.

Besides that, what have been some highlights of your time here?

Honestly, there are too many to count. I’ve been involved in NYU Motorsports, where I serve as Co-Lead of the FSAE Brakes team, designing and optimizing the vehicle that our team will ultimately race at FSAE competition. I’ve also contributed to other Vertically Integrated Projects throughout the years, and I’m Vice President of Patent Pending, our entrepreneurial innovation club. Beyond that, I’ve taken on leadership roles as treasurer of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers chapter, and I’m an active member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

I also serve as a mentor for Engineering Tomorrow, a nonprofit where, alongside an engineer in industry, I speak virtually to high school students nationwide, helping them see engineering as an accessible and exciting career. And outside of structured clubs, I constantly take on personal projects that relate mainly to motorsports, such as a Formual One-inspired racing simulator steering wheel and an F1-inspired remote control car.

As a first-generation student, I had to figure things out the hard way at first, but I’ve made up for lost time by diving into every opportunity to learn, build, and lead.

Tell us a little more about your family.

My parents are my everything, and everything I am comes from them. My father and I worked on cars together from the time I was young, and he nurtured my curiosity for how things worked. But it went beyond cars: I was always by his side when he designed and built things around the house, whether it was fixing something, inventing clever solutions, or just creating for the fun of it. Trips to Home Depot became part of my childhood, where I got to witness his creativity in real time and see how imagination could turn into something tangible.

At the same time, my mother and father worked long hours, always putting my future first. I remember vividly watching my dad leave early in the morning, a little tired, heading to his job at a restaurant in New York City. One morning, little me begged him to stay home instead, but he just smiled at me and said it was all for my future. My mother, in her own way, shaped me just as deeply. She never let me take the easy way out, always making sure I stayed disciplined and developed good habits in everything I did, from schoolwork to the smallest daily responsibilities. That steady guidance and the strong habits she instilled in me from a young age continue to shape how I work and are the foundation for everything I’ve been able to accomplish.

My journey hasn’t been easy, but the resilience and sacrifices of my parents have guided me every step of the way. They showed me what perseverance looks like, and it is their strength that fuels everything I do. The GM job offer belongs as much to them as it does to me; in fact, I consider it much more than just a job offer, it is the fulfillment of a promise I made early on to myself and them: to pursue what I love and to build a better future for us through engineering. I know I’ve already made them proud, but this is just the beginning.