Meet the Interns

Laila Dominguez was a junior in college and looking for a summer internship in accounting when she posted a personal ad to that end on a neighborhood social media platform. 

It worked. Dominguez was approached by the head of human resources at Quaise Energy and soon found herself organizing the company’s invoices and purchase orders. “I matched the invoices and purchase orders with the assets they corresponded to,” she says. For example, any big asset—like a trailer to haul Quaise’s novel drilling equipment to the field—might involve several invoices.

“Something I loved about interning at Quaise was that my day to day didn’t really involve remedial tasks. I was digging deep into the financial statements of the company,” Dominguez says.

In 2026, after graduating from the University of the Incarnate Word, she joined the company full time as an accounting associate. The overall goal of her work, she says, is to give the  company a clear idea of where it is putting its money.

Dominguez loves the collaborative company culture and the mentorship she receives from more experienced colleagues. Everyone from the CEO to her own boss “takes the time to slow down and explain things to me, which makes me more valuable in the accounting department.”

It is also exciting to work in a young company that is  developing its accounting department. “Established companies already have their standardized ways of doing things,” Dominguez says. “Here, we’re still building those processes, which is great for someone like me who is just starting out.”

In addition, she’s inspired by the company’s ultimate goal of giving the world access to the plentiful, clean geothermal energy deep beneath our feet. “I’m doing something that matters,” she says. “Quaise could make a difference for a lot of people and the planet, which needs some help right now.”

Dominguez’s advice for other people beginning their careers? “Go at your own pace” and don’t compare yourself to others. “Life is a journey for everybody, and things that are meant to happen for you are going to happen for you.” 

Ashton Flores spent the summer of 2026 using computer-aided design to develop parts for a major piece of equipment key to Quaise Energy’s novel approach to drilling. He then went on to help build them.

Flores is a senior at St. Thomas High School in Houston. 

He was already familiar with Quaise because his parents run the security detail for the company. “Before the internship, I met some of the other Quaise people at the Houston headquarters and visited their site in Central Texas [a granite quarry],”  he says. The site in Central Texas is where the company demonstrated its ability to drill the deepest hole ever using millimeter waves. That was just last year.

Flores has always been interested in engineering, a passion he’s developed by working on cars with his dad. “I like the way engines work; how one thing powers another.” But before his internship, he’d never worked with 3D computer modeling and design. “Within the first week [of the internship],” he says, “I realized that I wouldn’t be just watching and observing, but actually creating designs.” 

He and his test team then went on to make some of the parts Flores designed. “Making those 3D designs come to life, building them and putting them together, is one of my favorite experiences at Quaise. I love being hands-on.”

He’s also inspired by the company’s overall goal of unlocking clean, renewable geothermal energy for the world. “I think what Quaise is doing [with millimeter-wave drilling] is really cool, especially since they’re the only company doing what they do.”

Flores just finished applying to several colleges. He’s already been accepted by Texas Tech University and the University of Alabama. In the meantime, he says, “my test group manager at Quaise actually came to me and gave me the opportunity to come any time during the school year to work with them.”