Meet Kayla Grosskopf

Elizabeth A. Thomson Correspondent

Kayla Grosskopf became involved with Quaise Energy through her senior design project at the University of Texas, Austin. Now, after receiving her undergraduate degree from the university in 2025, she is a full-time mechanical engineer at the company. 

And she’s already been actively involved in designing and building systems key to the company’s novel drilling technology. “I get to do a lot of hands-on work,” she says. “I really enjoy the process of going through design reviews and coming up with ideas, as well as the feedback I get from my Quaise colleagues.”

Grosskopf spent her first three months at Quaise in the field, where she saw the technology involved firsthand. She was there when the company used millimeter-wave energy, similar to the microwaves we cook with, to drill a record-setting 118 meters straight down into a granite quarry in Texas.

That experience, she says, allowed her to see how the engineering work she’d be involved with translated to the field. “It was also really helpful in understanding the direction of the company, and what we are trying to achieve with drilling.”

She’s gone on to develop a stand-alone system for testing diagnostic tools to estimate the depth of a hole. Previously, these tools were tested on the overall drilling and experimentation system at Quaise headquarters. “The diagnostics team wanted something more bare bones. They didn’t need all the bells and whistles associated with the full rig,” Grosskopf says.

She’s also designed and built a hanger clamp to facilitate the addition and removal of waveguide, lengths of 40-foot-long metal tubes that guide the millimeter-wave energy to rock far underground. It was exciting, she says, “to see one of my designs materialize for the first time.”

Grosskopf’s advice for other people beginning their careers? “Don’t be afraid to jump in and start working on things. You can only learn so much from sitting in a classroom; it’s really important to get experience, and also to allow yourself to learn from others who have more experience.”