Engineering graduate thrives at UTSA years after life-changing tragedy

Matt Davis, pictured here with his dogs Willie and Maggie, will earn his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering on Sunday.

CLASS OF 2021

MAY 14, 2021 — It may have taken him longer than he’d originally anticipated, but Matt Davis will finally be earning his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering on Sunday morning. And the first person to shake his hand after he receives his diploma will be UTSA President Taylor Eighmy—keeping a promise he made three years ago after a tragic shooting changed Matt’s life forever.

On March 24, 2018, Matt was working a shift at Topgolf San Antonio when he and his co-workers were asked to step outside as a plumbing issue in the building was being evaluated. While waiting in the parking lot, an angered gunman opened fire on the employees. When Matt slowed down to help a friend who had been shot, another bullet pierced his back.

“(Dr. Eighmy's support) really affirmed the choice I made—not only starting an academic career at UTSA, but also staying there as well.”

The gunshot pulverized Matt’s L2 vertebrae and caused significant nerve damage. He suffered through 10 days in critical condition in a San Antonio hospital before eventually pulling through. He learned shortly thereafter that he would be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In those days that followed, Matt recalls how he languished through all five stages of grief.

“First, there was denial. Then anger. And somewhere in there was bargaining,” Matt said. “But eventually you get to acceptance.”

Although Matt has no feeling in his right leg, he does have some motion and muscle control in his left leg. That’s in no small part due to the year-and-a-half of his life he spent in Houston committed to physical therapy and rehabilitation. During that time, support poured in for Matt—from his family, his friends, and his bandmates in the Funeral Crashers.

It also came from Eighmy and his wife Peggy. Eighmy was only in his seventh month on the job as UTSA’s president when the grievous shooting took place, but he knew how important it was to be there for Matt and his family during such a trying time.

“(Taylor and Peggy) showed up in Houston two days after Matt got out of the hospital with a delicious box of donuts and had breakfast with us,” said Lisa Davis, Matt’s mother. “He and his wife are just amazing people. They went above and beyond in all aspects.”

Beyond that breakfast, Eighmy made a vow to Matt: That he would be the first person to shake his hand after he returned to UTSA and earned his degree. This was no small thing for Matt, a San Diego native, who was suddenly faced with an enormous amount of uncertainty about his future.

“When President Eighmy expressed his support, we all felt like we had made the right choice,” Matt said. “That really affirmed the choice I made—not only starting an academic career at UTSA, but also staying there as well.”

Matt has since flourished as a mechanical engineering student at the university, following in the footsteps of several great engineers in the Davis family. Both of his parents boast educational backgrounds in mechanical engineering. His mom, Lisa, entered the biomedical field, working for companies such as BD Medical, Cardinal Health and Alaris Medical Systems. His dad, Jerry Davis, chose the aerospace route, working for Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics.

Matt warmly remembers the days when his parents brought him along to their workplaces, especially when his dad was a test engineer at Lockheed Martin.

“I would love seeing all of the science behind everything,” Matt recalled. “It was really cool to see the test equipment for rockets and the prototype engines that they’d have lying around.” When Matt started pursuing his degree at UTSA, his dad suggested that he too should enter the field of test engineering. “He told me that test engineering is fun because you get to work with something different all the time.”

It should come as no surprise that Matt jumped at the role as test engineer for his senior design team’s project. Matt and fellow students Chad Quartaro and Kyle Welk were the members of UTSA Problem Solvers, a group that sought to lengthen the lives of piping welds in gas and oil pumps. Small-bore cantilevered welds often fall apart because of the vibrations in pumps and other machinery, so the team set out to create a vibration dampener that could serve as a universal fix. The trio worked with local client Engineering Dynamics, Inc., and utilized the Maker Space in the new Science and Engineering Building to fabricate their device.

The result was a resounding success. The UTSA Problem Solvers and their small-bore vibration dampener took home the top prize in the mechanical engineering category at the Spring 2021 College of Engineering Tech Symposium in April. It would be hard to argue that anyone was more thrilled than Matt.

“I pushed pretty hard for that project because I knew there would be a lot of testing involved,” he said. “I think there were some doubts in the beginning, but everybody was pretty happy with how it turned out in the end.”

Although Matt has his sights set on a career in test engineering, he’s not quite done with his studies just yet. He has applied to graduate school at UTSA for the spring 2022 semester with hopes that he’ll get to work in the Sustainable Manufacturing Systems Lab—part of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Lean Systems—under associate professor of mechanical engineering Hung-da Wan. No matter how everything shakes out, Matt is grateful for his undergraduate experience at UTSA.

“The UTSA senior design courses have given me the opportunity to get some experience that normally you wouldn’t get outside a job or internship,” he said. “I hear people from other universities talk about graduating and feeling unprepared to enter the field they studied. I don’t feel that way.”

While Matt looks back at his journey at UTSA with fondness, UTSA’s president looks back with pride at all that Matt has accomplished since that fateful night in March 2018.

“The journey that Matt and his family have been on is so remarkable—from tragedy to one filled with purpose and resilience,” Eighmy said. “Peggy and I marvel and are so humbled at Matt’s determination. It will be such an honor to be with them at graduation, shake his hand, and celebrate this long-awaited achievement. We are so proud of him.”

— Shea Conner