Montana Tech senior electrifies her future through internships, involvement, and innovation

When Montana Tech senior Natalka Rolfson arrived in Butte four years ago, she wasn’t planning on becoming an electrical engineer. In fact, she wasn’t planning on being an engineer at all.

“I was supposed to go to school for hockey,” she said with a laugh. “But then COVID happened, and that changed a lot of things.”

Instead of heading to a women’s hockey program on the East Coast, Rolfson found herself touring Montana Tech with her mother—who, as she tells it, “kind of chose the school and the major” for her.

“We’d been to Butte a few times and my mom liked Montana Tech. She put me in electrical engineering and we just hoped for the best,” Rolfson said. “It ended up being pretty perfect.”

Today, the Billings native is a standout electrical engineering student, a campus leader, and an aspiring power systems engineer who has already built an impressive resume of internships and hands-on experience.

Rolfson was familiar with STEM careers. Her dad works at a refinery, her older brother studies computer science, and her younger brother is a mechanical engineering student. That didn’t mean Rolfson was sold on the idea early on.

“I kind of failed a lot of my math classes in high school,” she admitted. “I think I was just being stubborn.”

College changed everything. She discovered she not only liked math—she thrived in it. She’s now completing a math minor and takes extra math classes “just for fun.”

A big part of that shift, she said, came from Montana Tech’s faculty.

“The electrical engineering professors are so passionate,” she said. “You ask one question and suddenly you're having a two-hour conversation. It made me realize how much I want to be like that.”

By her junior year, as she took courses like Circuits II and Electrical Machines, she knew she’d found her field. She was also in the process of finding her people. Outside the classroom, Rolfson has become deeply involved in the Montana Tech community.

She serves as chair of the Student Affairs Committee in ASMT, takes part in IEEE, helps with the Society of Women Engineers, and volunteers wherever needed. She’s also an orientation leader, a role she describes with genuine pride.

“Orientation is a student’s first impression of Montana Tech,” Rolfson said. “You get to show freshmen how many opportunities there are and how exciting STEM can be. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve done here.”

Looking back, she wishes she had joined clubs earlier.

“Younger me thought it was lame to get involved—but being part of the community changed my whole experience. I’d tell myself to jump in sooner.”

Rolfson has completed multiple internships, but her work with NorthWestern Energy stands out.

“I work with the relay department doing transmission protection,” she said. “We study faults, overcurrent—basically how to protect the power system. This summer, they gave me real engineering work. Not busywork—actual projects.”

She continues to work some for the company during the school year, even with a full load of classes and labs.

Her long-term goal? To return to NorthWestern full-time and eventually pursue a master’s degree.

“I really love power systems,” she said. “It’s always changing, and people rely on it. One little fault can cause big issues. It feels important.”

This year, Rolfson is one of eight students working with Mechanical Engineering Department Head Dr. Richard LaDouceur on a unique multidisciplinary senior design project.

“It’s a system that will thermally decompose biomass, separate the gases, and use hydrogen to run an engine,” she explained. “The engine will produce mechanical torque to power a generator. After that point—the electrical part—that’s where I come in.”

The project is ambitious and largely original, and the team is designing as they go.

“It’s challenging,” she said.

When asked what sets Montana Tech’s electrical engineering program apart, Rolfson doesn’t hesitate.

“I know all the professors,” she said. “I can just walk into their offices and talk about anything. It’s a tight-knit community. They want you to pass. If you’re struggling, you go get help.”

She also credits the Career Fair with opening doors.

“Besides my freshman year job, all my internships came from the Career Fair,” she said. “Everyone I know has gotten great opportunities from it.”

Rolfson plans to stay in Montana after graduation and hopes to work in power engineering while continuing her education. She also imagines teaching someday.

“I like helping people learn,” she said. “Maybe one day I’ll be an adjunct professor.”

Whether she ends up in a relay lab, a power plant, a classroom, or a research group, Rolfson is certain of one thing: engineering is where she belongs.

“I used to think school was dumb,” she said. “Now I love learning. I’ll leave Montana Tech with a love for engineering and a lot of really good memories.”