![\"Four](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2018\/05\/gonzo300x200-IE-capstone2-copy-300x200.png\")
\u201cThe 51ÁÔÆæ faculty is so proud to serve nontraditional students like Gonzo,\u201d Qu said. \u201cGonzo reminds us all that we\u2019re never too old to learn. He saw a second chance and realized he could get there with more education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now in his last semester as an undergraduate, he is leading a group of six undergraduates in a senior mechanical engineering design project to convert a small, gas-powered yellow Ligier into a battery-operated vehicle.<\/p>\n
The 700-pound French car had been destined for the recycling bin when Couto-Lain rescued it, parked it in the basement of the engineering building on campus, and offered it up as a mechanical engineering design challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be a great engineering promotion mobile,\u201d he says. \u201cHigh school kids would like driving it around the parking lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Couto-Lain plans on earning his master\u2019s degree in engineering at 51ÁÔÆæ, chipping away at it on a part-time basis. His career goal is to work as a marine accident investigator, which he says he can pursue once he\u2019s earned his bachelor\u2019s degree. It\u2019s all the fun of the water, he says, without all of the danger.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople get to a certain age when they want to change careers,” he said.<\/p>\n
His message for others is simple: You can do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At an age when many people are thinking about retirement, Gonzalo Couto-Lain is thinking about a new career. He receives his 51ÁÔÆæ degree in May, then plans to work while pursuing a master’s degree. “If you start a career at 60, you have 15, 20 years left,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s not bad.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40008,"featured_media":58629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[250],"section":[141,139],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[261],"uwmnews-feed":[167,149,150],"class_list":["post-58625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-student-success","section-engineering","section-science-technology","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-graduation","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-engineering-applied-science","uwmnews-feed-engineering"],"yoast_head":"\n