Editor’s note: This story is part of a series of profiles of notable fall 2025 graduates.
From watching shuttle launches with her dad at Jetty Park Beach in Florida as a little girl, dreaming about becoming an engineer, to now working as a test engineer for USfalcon, supporting missile warning and space operations, Theresa Maheux’s dream has come full circle.
But that path was anything but easy.
When the Great Recession of 2008 hit, the stock market crashed, and her world turned upside down. The Connecticut native was 15, living with her mother, who had just lost her job.
“I have a vivid memory of opening up our pantry to find it empty but for a can of beans,” Maheux said. “My education became about survival. I stocked shelves at a food pantry to bring home groceries and tutored math to pay for gas until we were evicted.”
That first night, she slept in the backseat of her car. She washed her hair in a McDonald’s bathroom until help finally came.
After graduating from high school, Maheux earned a one-year scholarship to a college out of state. But when that scholarship ended, she found herself homeless again.
Despite all the hurdles, she never let go of her dream.
After graduating from Glendale Community College in 2017, Maheux drove to Colorado Springs, a place she heard was “a city for engineers, a city for space,” and enrolled at a university.
Yet again, life tested her resolve. The cost of living forced her to drop out.
In 2019, she landed an interview for an engineering technician position, and the company offered a tuition coverage benefit. Now, more than ever, a college degree was in reach.
With her husband’s support, Maheux found her way to ASU Online, enrolling in the bachelor of science in electrical engineering at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
Over the next few years, she climbed steadily from technician to engineer, and this fall, she graduates from ASU not only with a degree but with the title she dreamed of since childhood.
Now, with stability in her life, she recalls the little girl on Jetty Beach, the teenager in the McDonald’s bathroom and the young woman sleeping in her car.
“They are all here with me,” she said. “And I feel, with a certainty that shakes me to my core, that they are finally, impossibly, at peace. We did it. We not only reached for the stars; we now help guard them.”
Note: Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Question: What was your “aha” moment when you realized you wanted to study the field you majored in?
Answer: There are several "aha" moments along the way. I remember being probably no older than 7 years old when I accidentally got my Game Boy wet. We took off the backing and put the parts in rice overnight, but the first time I saw a circuit board was like a synapse connecting in my brain.
The second big “aha” moment that comes to me is my freshman year of high school. It was a technical school, so we had many programs, including electronics, where you can get hands-on experience to know what you want to do. One of the electronics teachers saw me in that classroom and said, “I’m not getting rid of you, am I?” and that moment has stuck with me ever since.
Q: What’s something you learned while at ASU Online — in the classroom or otherwise — that surprised you or changed your perspective?
A: Turns out I’m better at RF (radio frequency) and signals than I am circuits. Going through high school, I thought I was a whiz at circuits and that’s what I’d be doing. Turns out, when you involve calculus, it’s not always my jam.
While at ASU Online, I've also dabbled in systems engineering for both work and in coursework. I've found that I thrive in courses that take a systemic view rather than focusing solely on the component level. This realization has significantly changed the direction I thought my career would take.
Q: If someone gave you $40 million to solve one problem on our planet, what would you tackle?
A: A lot of our larger problems on our planet, such as housing, hunger, water and basic needs, I think they would require a lot more than $40 million could provide because these are rooted in systemic issues. Obviously, if I could wave a magic wand and remove these issues and make housing available and affordable and no person ever goes hungry or thirsty again, I would. I know what those pains are like, and so I would like nothing more than to eradicate them.
I would pour that money into finding a cure for a disease. When I was 14, I lost one of my closest friends to epilepsy. Three years ago, my family lost one of my cousins to Alzheimer’s. Both of these people spent their time on this earth helping other people as much as they could, and I would like to work on solving at least one of those problems.
This article was written by Yoshita Yajjapurapu for ASU Online.
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