Tamerate Tadesse tests a circuit during his senior design lab. A native of Ethiopia, Tadesse has been interested in fixing electronics since he was a child. Sam O’Keefe/Missouri S&T

One of the biggest moments of Tamerate Tadesse’s life came in a cab.

A ride from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport to Wildwood, Missouri. An inquisitive passenger. An even more inquisitive driver.

Tadesse, a native of Ethiopia, took a job as an airport taxi cab driver after settling in the St. Louis area. His English was not very good, so he practiced by talking to his passengers.

“I like to talk to people, I like to ask questions,” he says. “I’d ask them, ‘How was your flight?’”

So began Tadesse’s conversation with Peter Desloge, chairman and CEO of Watlow Electric Manufacturing Co., whom Tadesse was driving to his Wildwood, Missouri, home. [Read more…]