Mechanical engineering graduate student ready for takeoff 

“I love getting to watch planes take off,” said Georgia Southern University graduate student Cole Hayne, a slight grin tugging at the corner of his lips. “To know the level of work that went into building them, to see everything coming together with precision, it’s just fascinating.” 

His interest in planes carried him across the commencement stage to receive his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering in Fall 2024. 

Now, one year later, he’ll cross the stage again to receive his master’s degree in fall 2025, having taken advantage of Georgia Southern’s Accelerated Bachelor’s to Master’s program.   

“It’s been a heck of a last 12 months,” Hayne said, laughing. “It took a lot of late nights. I had a little board in our grad office where I would write the day’s stress level. There were days when my simulations were working, and it was low. But then there were days when I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working, and it was very high.” 

The mechanical engineering student and Honors College graduate spent the last few summers working as an intern in the mechanical lab at a major aircraft manufacturer. But he says his love of research fueled his academic journey. 

“I got into the research side of things later than I should have, but I was lucky,” he admitted. “Other universities have full application processes to work with professors on research, and the barrier to entry is really high. But the great thing about Georgia Southern is that if you want to join a research team, you can just ask.” 

That’s how he started working with Sevki Cesmeci, Ph.D., associate professor in mechanical engineering, who was already leading a student team researching sealing technology for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide power cycles.

“The idea is to increase the efficiency of processes used to generate energy,” Hayne explained. “It’s dangerous if the seals used to contain these processes aren’t working properly. But more than that, you could be losing millions of dollars worth of electricity because of leakage.” 

This took him all the way to Washington, D.C., where he presented his findings at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers POWER 2024 Conference.

“I showed up at the conference super nervous,” said Hayne. “I don’t think I slept the night before my presentation. I was so stressed, and I was alone in Washington, D.C.”

He placed third in the best paper competition, but says it was the relationships he made at the conference that made him walk away feeling like a winner.  

“I made a lot of friends there that I still talk to,” he said. “It was like the friendships I’ve made with my classmates and lab partners, where we get to grow and learn from one another together.”

Relationships like these remind him of his father, his first lab partner. Some of his favorite memories were following his father around his engineering office as a child. 

“He’s always been there for me, especially when it comes to engineering,” said Hayne. “He would help me with school projects, and he was always involved with my science fairs and Science Olympiad. It was something we did together.” 

Hayne plans to channel all of the experiences he’s had and the lessons he’s learned as he eagerly prepares for his upcoming job search. 

“More than anything, I want to find a career where I can look back and see that I had an impact,” he explained. “I want to be able to look back and feel like I changed the way people view something, the way people use something or make something that can make it easier for people to use something.”