The Website portfolio is currently in progress, more will be added soon (last updated: 05/20/2025).
About ME
Matthew Kubas is an extremely dedicated Electrical Engineer and Physicist, looking for a full time position in the research or industry sector. Will be graduating with a bachelor’s of science from both Washington University in St. Louis and Illinois Wesleyan University, part of the Dual-Degree Program.
My story
I grew up in the southern suburbs of Chicago with my extremely hard working parents, who migrated from Poland with the sole purpose of allowing me and my brother to have an extremely successful life. My parents have dreamed (and soon to be true) to have their children graduate from an American University to live a free and joyful life in the United States. I have worked to achieve that goal to the best of my ability by doing my absolute best in school. Due to my great upbringing, I am now naturally hardworking and always looking to learn something new.
Through high school I worked my ass off to achieve high marks in my classed, study Polish on saturdays, be apart of concert band, and be an extremely active theatre technician. While in High school I managed the technical aspect of dozen of performances, learning from the first day I joined, until the pandemic hit. With all these responsibilities I still managed to achieve a high cumulative GPA, 4.0 out of 4.0. If you would like to learn more about my theatre tech days in High School, feel free to check out my “Theatre Tech” page. Sadly, I realized while applying to college that the theatre tech industry was not
I started my college carrier at Illinois Wesleyan University, initially looking to study Mathematics and Secondary Education. I wanted to make a difference in the life of college students, looking to get more dedicated individuals to study the STEM fields. I was told growth up that I had an ability to explain material to others in an easier way, a way more people could understand beauty of STEM. In reality my passion did not lay in the mathematics field, but in the physics field, gaining an understanding of how the world really works. I had sadly switched out of the Secondary Education field, realizing that to fully understand the material I was learning in math and physics, I needed to apply it in the lab and/or in industrial fields. After just one semester I had made my decision to undeclared my initial majors in favor of physics. While at Illinois Wesleyan I had made the Dean’s list every semester and maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.78. My full academic background while studying at Illinois Wesleyan can be found on the “Academics” page.
I also became very active in the extracurricular space. After just one year, I had become the Vice-President of the student chapter of IEEE at Illinois Wesleyan and after two years became the president. I was in charge of the initial design phase of a magnetically propelled pumpkin launcher. I also co-hosted a social event titled “Physics Jeopardy Night.” I was also a the secretary of the Society of Physics Students and the co-president of the Rock Climbing club from May 2022 to May 2023. To find about more about my role in these extracurricular clubs, visit the “Groups and Leadership” page.
But one class stands out, Electronics. This class is what convinced me to pursue a degree in Electrical Engineering. Illinois Wesleyan did not have an engineering program, but thankfully was a part of a network of school participating in the Dual-Degree program. With this alternative, I looked to apply the skills that I had learned at Illinois Wesleyan in a different way, and possibly learning new skills. I choose to study at Washington University in St. Louis, due to the scholarships received and the relative proximity to home. Washington University is know to be a great school and loved the feeling and architecture of the Danforth Campus.
Before switching schools, I had the opportunity to work as a Research intern at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. This allowed me to experience the research sector of the workforce and got me involved with the new instrument, new software, and a new environment. To learn more about this work experience and other work experiences please visit the “Work Experience” page.
Once at Washington University I immediately started learning some really interesting concepts and gaining a fuller understanding of material I had previously learned at Illinois Wesleyan. I learned the basics of computer engineering, the landscape of signal and systems, and was a part of many projects, academic and extra curricular activities. To read more about my academic career visit the “Academics” page. I immediately became involved in student organizations, becoming the president of IEEE student chapter for the 2024 calendar year. I also joined the robotics club developing a rover for the University Rover Competition (URC). Since this was a brand new club I was able to learn how to electrically wire and control a robot from scratch. I then became the ‘Chief Electrical Engineer’ for the rover project, working to create a working robot that is able to compete at the end of May. To learn more about these extracurricular activities visit the “Activities” page.
Going to Washington University has motivated me to learn how to self host different services and experimenting with personal projects. Using old computer parts I created a server running ProxMox, allowing to have multiple virtual machines. I have also started trying to tinker with electronics to make my day to day life better. I have started the creation of a motion activated set of stair lights, so that at night you don’t trip and fall down the stairs. This system would use ESP32’s and Home Assistant to complete the tasks, to learn more visit the “Projects” page.
A highlight of my work at Washington University, was my capstone project. Me, Ethan Morton, and Keeler Tardiff worked to remake the hardware interface and chassis of the cars used in the Introduction to Engineering Design Course. After taking the course and using the provided cars, and later becoming a assistant instructor and fixing these cars, we hated using them, so we made it our mission to make a better open source version, that works best for education. This is an ongoing project with new versions being added as I complete them but to learn more please visit raspberry-pi-car.github.io.