Emily Kinne '16 is Just Getting Started
Reprinted from Traditions, Winter 2021-22
February 23, 2022
How does your Roomba navigate around your furniture instead of getting stuck? How does a vending machine know which snack to give you? How does your car beep at you when you are drifting out of a lane?
These are all embedded systems, software written to achieve a specific function within a non-computer piece of hardware. Emily Kinne ’16 has been fascinated by these kinds of systems since she first encountered them as a Computer Engineering student at Iowa State University.
“It’s not just software,” she explained. “There are pieces of hardware you interface with, so it’s cool to be able to see the code that you’re working on actually perform physical tasks.”
Finding Her Path
As a student at CDH, Kinne competed on the Math team and enjoyed her science classes — she still takes pride in a tower she built for Physics to hold as much weight as possible. “We actually ran out of textbooks to stack on top. We were almost to the ceiling and it still didn’t break,” she said.
She knew she wanted to pursue engineering, but it wasn’t until college that she was introduced to coding. Computer engineering was the perfect combination of her interests.
While still a student, she interned with Collins Aerospace creating data visualizations programs. She learned a lot — including what she didn’t want to do.
“It was a software-only internship, so I mostly just wrote code. I discovered I didn't want to do that. It was helpful, to figure out what I didn’t like and narrow down my career interests,” she said. “I realized I wanted to do more hands-on work and focus on lower-level, more concrete components of a system such as the processor, memory, and hardware.”
Adjusting to Adulthood
Now, she is an Embedded Software Engineer at Motorola Solutions, working on radio technology. This is her first full-time professional role, and she has embraced the new kinds of challenges the work world brings.
“A lot of my work requires more creative and critical thinking,” Kinne said. “There’s not just one solution or one way to do something. I’ve had to learn to come up with new ideas and be willing to change them.”
Her current role is focused on software-defined radios, where hardware components like mixers, amplifiers, and detectors are replaced by software. These kinds of systems minimize interference and can detect fainter transmissions, making them valuable both commercially and for the military.
“I’ve worked on developing apps for the radios and then testing them out in the field. I have also worked on creating custom software to integrate our radios with off-the-shelf components, like a Raspberry Pi.”
As a recent college graduate and transplant to the Chicago area, Kinne is also working on building the life she wants to live in adulthood.
“I was surprised by the amount of free time I had since I wasn’t spending my evenings doing homework,” she said. “I had to find new ways to meet new people, like volunteering at an animal shelter and training for the Chicago Marathon. I also love music and still enjoy playing the flute and cello. I spend all day on the computer, so when I get home it’s nice to have a balance of things that aren’t on a screen.”
Kinne is still uncertain of the direction her career will go, but she knows she wants to use the power of technology to create things that improve people’s lives.