Eric E. Schmidt ('92, Aerospace Engineering)

Eric E. Schmidt

 

Eric E. Schmidt

President, Exquadrum, Inc.

BS Aerospace Engineering, Cal Poly Pomona, 1992

 

As the first to earn a degree in his immigrant Argentine family, Eric E. Schmidt felt a great sense of responsibility. A young husband and father, he enrolled in Cal Poly Pomona to allow him to commute from his home in Hesperia and because of its excellent aerospace program. Despite his natural ease with math and science, earning an aerospace engineering degree from Cal Poly Pomona was tough.

“The biggest hurdle I had to overcome was the intensity and difficulty of the curriculum,” he says. “Many times I felt like I wanted to give up, transfer to a simpler major, and just graduate so I could support my growing family. It took adapting, growing, learning and having the support and belief from my loving wife to eventually find my stride in order to persevere and finish strong.”

Eric graduated at a time when it was not easy to find work in the aerospace/defense industry. Fortunately, he had spent his last two years at Cal Poly Pomona in an internship at the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (now the Air Force Research Laboratory) at Edwards Air Force Base, which led to his first job after graduation.

Later, Eric’s technical skills in information technology led him to deviate from aerospace and pursue software systems for artificial intelligence. He founded an artificial intelligence software company called agentAI, Inc. and later, founded Exquadrum, Inc., an aerospace company, where he currently serves as president.

Reflecting on his career, Eric recognizes the power of Cal Poly Pomona’s learn by doing paradigm.

“During my time at Cal Poly Pomona, I came to realize the value of the learn by doing mantra, which helped me to develop the ability to find practical and commonsense solutions to tough engineering problems,” he says. “The skill to arrive at elegant answers to complex problems has become the hallmark of my company, Exquadrum, which is known for thinking outside the box by our customers.”