Travis Thul, University of Wisconsin-Madison electrical and computer engineering alumnus (MS ’08), was recently appointed a White House Fellow for 2020-2021. Thul will work at the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
Thul earned his Doctor of Engineering (D. Eng.) from George Washington University. He is a Coast Guard veteran and currently serves as a lieutenant commander in the reserves. In recent years, he was deployed to Puerto Rico to help in the recovery from hurricanes Maria and Irma and also served as maritime Deputy Incident Commander for the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Thul worked as an electronics engineer for the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C. where he researched wireless power transfer. Most recently, he served as the Dean of Trades and Technology at Minnesota State College Southeast where he worked on projects including a rural advanced manufacturing infrastructure initiative, development of a bicycle design and fabrication degree, and spearheaded the funding and development of an automation lab, a new welding lab and the renovation of the Maker Space at the college.
At the Export-Import Bank, Thul is working on the Program on China and Transformational Exports.
The highly competitive White House Fellows program is a non-partisan fellowship created in 1964 to provide first-hand, high-level experience working in the Federal Government. Not only do fellows work in government agencies, they also participate in an educational program to increase their knowledge of policy-making and contemporary issues and engage in volunteer service projects.