On Track: How Owais Alam ’24 ’25MSEE Turned Determination into a Career Powering the Grid
From navigating a new language to balancing seven-day workweeks, the UCF alumnus built a path defined by persistence — and is now helping power communities across the country.
When Owais Alam ’24 ’25MSEE arrived in the United States from Pakistan on in 2019, he faced a challenge that would intimidate many students: he barely spoke English.
In his earliest classes at Valencia College, he sometimes brought a cousin along to help translate lectures he struggled to understand. Navigating college, learning a new language and adjusting to a new country all at once could have been overwhelming.
Instead, Owais treated it as a challenge — one he was determined to meet head-on.
“I had to stay on track,” he says. “I knew if I didn’t do well, I could lose my financial aid and I wouldn’t be able to continue.”
That mindset — steady, focused and quietly daring — would shape everything that followed.
Today, Owais is a nuclear engineer with Duke Energy, contributing to the systems that keep electricity flowing to homes, hospitals and businesses. His path there was anything but easy.
Finding His Path to UCF
Owais had heard about UCF long before he arrived in Orlando. His sister, who has lived in Central Florida since 2008, encouraged him to begin at Valencia College to build confidence in his English and adjust to the American education system before transferring.
The plan worked.
After earning his associate degree, Owais transferred to UCF in spring 2022 to pursue a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. At Florida’s technological university, he found an environment built for students willing to push forward — one that blends hands-on learning, industry connections and real-world problem-solving.
He quickly stood out, earning a 4.0 GPA across multiple semesters and being named to the Dean’s List seven times.
But academic success came alongside a demanding schedule.
While completing his degree, Owais worked seven days a week at a gas station. Classes, work and studying filled nearly every hour of his day.
“Working full time and excelling in engineering classes was not easy,” he says. “But I took it as an opportunity.”
A Foundation Built on Hard Work
Owais credits his drive to his family.
His father worked in Pakistan’s steel industry with an electrical background, and his sister — who helped him navigate the college system when he first arrived — later earned her own degree at UCF while raising three children and working full time.
“That’s how we are,” Owais says. “We saw our parents work hard, and we followed the same path.”
Accelerating Forward
After graduating from UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science in 2024, Owais immediately began his master’s degree in electrical engineering.
At the same time, he started working full time at Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. in Lake Mary as an instrumentation and control engineer.
Balancing graduate school with a full-time engineering role meant long days and even longer nights.
“I would work from eight to five, leave work and go straight to class,” he says. “Then I would go home, eat and study.”
Owais completed his master’s degree in just three semesters, graduating with a 3.8 GPA in December 2025.
Soon after, he accepted a position with Duke Energy as a nuclear engineer based in South Carolina — a role that places him at the center of the systems powering communities at scale.
Engineering the Power Grid
At Duke Energy, Owais works in corporate design engineering, supporting nuclear power plants through system improvements and engineering changes that help ensure safe and efficient operations.
While much of his work happens behind the scenes — reviewing designs, solving technical challenges and collaborating across teams — its impact is far-reaching. The systems he helps improve support the electrical grid that powers entire communities.
For Owais, electrical engineering has always offered a clear path forward.
“Electricity is everywhere,” he says. “Every company needs electrical engineers. You can work anywhere in the world.”
Lifting Others Along the Way
At UCF, he helped classmates plan course schedules, prepare for exams and navigate the rigor of engineering coursework. He also mentored fellow students from his home country, sometimes driving them to campus so they wouldn’t miss class.
Now, he continues to connect friends and former classmates with internship and job opportunities in the energy industry.
“I just want to make sure that students from UCF succeed,” he says.
His philosophy is simple: help others and encourage them to do the same.
“I tell them, help three people,” he says. “Then tell those three people to help three more people.”
What begins as a small act, he believes, can grow into something much larger — a network of support that moves people forward together.
Owais has also supported Duke Energy team development by helping colleagues earn Lean Six Sigma certifications, creating instrumentation training materials for new hire engineers, and assisting teammates with professional headshots to enhance their company profiles.
A Journey Still Unfolding
For Owais, success isn’t defined by a single milestone. It’s built through grit, discipline and a willingness to keep moving forward — even when the path isn’t fully clear.
That mindset carried him from Pakistan to Central Florida and into an industry that powers communities across the country.
And for the engineer who once struggled to follow along in class, the future is no longer uncertain.
Now, it’s clear. He’s helping build it.
Owais’s commitment to helping others reflects the broader vision of UCF’s Future Frontiers — advancing student success, research and innovation to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world. By supporting initiatives like the Go For Launch Campaign, alumni and supporters help ensure that future Knights have access to the same transformative opportunities that shaped Owais’s journey, strengthening UCF’s impact and maximizing excellence for generations to come.
