Innovation and Inspiration

Photo provided by Jason Ryska

Tinkering with the latest children’s electrical kit ignited a spark within Jason Ryska, SECS ’95 and ’97, at a young age — a spark that continued to burn into an engineering career.

As a child, Ryska was captivated by his father's electrical engineering career. He eagerly asked for the latest technology kit each holiday, and his growing skills and passion transferred to academics. “It was very much a natural fit,” Ryska says. “If you can find what you’re passionate about and continue to look for opportunities, you’re going to be successful.”

With a strong sense of direction, Ryska was ready for a new challenge. He set his sights on Oakland University to prime himself for a career in mechanical engineering. “After looking at the engineering curriculum, I realized Oakland was a phenomenal opportunity right in my backyard,” he says.

The gears continued to shift in place at OU. Ryska found his community with passionate peers in the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and supportive instructors.

Joining SAE gave Ryska the opportunity to not only build formula race cars but also to boost the student organization. At the time, Ryska became co-president with fellow engineering student Chris Van Dan Elzen, OU SAE was the underdog organization at competitions. The pair’s energy was contagious and contributed to nearly tripling the members of engineering organizations on campus.

“If you can get even a small group of people centered around the same goal, you can do things that didn’t seem achievable,” Ryska says. That year, they led OU SAE to win the Midwest competition. “Even 28 years later, I use that same mindset with my team to accomplish goals that are bigger than a single individual.”

Today, Ryska serves as the director of global manufacturing technology development for Ford Motor Company, specializing in combining cutting-edge technology with the automotive industry.

In a recent project, Ryska and his team served as intermediaries between Ford and Google to leverage data into patterns to predict mechanical behaviors, an idea Ryska conceived nearly 20 years ago. Stemming from a simple sketch and after years of innovation, he and his team are now able to see his vision through to the automotive production line.

In the background, Ryska still holds onto the community that ignited it all. In fact, a collection of memorabilia rests on a shelf behind his desk: a single spark plug, a no. 12 race car label, and a photo of himself with his father and Van Dan Elzen at an OU SAE competition.

Every chance he gets, Ryska reconnects with past professors, going back to OU and inspiring emerging engineers. “There were many people that turned the light on for me, offered inspiration, and those moments made me realize my own potential,” he says. “I want to share that with other people, too.”

Ryska now sits on an OU advisory board, attends engineering programs and hires OU interns within Ford as often as possible.

“To see that switch of inspiration go on — that’s probably the most rewarding part of my career,” Ryska says.