Flint, Michigan, May 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kettering University will award alumnus Qasar Younis ’04, co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree (Dr.Eng. h.c.), when he addresses the Class of 2026 at Commencement on June 20, 2026.
Younis leads one of the most closely watched companies in AI. Applied Intuition takes intelligence and puts it in physical machines and has become one of the world leaders in the category of “physical AI.”
The company’s work now spans automotive, defense, trucking, mining, construction and agriculture. A recent Forbes feature highlighted both its technical depth and ambitious scope, describing Younis as an “execution machine” who’s helping shape the future of intelligent systems.
“Qasar’s career is the Kettering model in compressed form,” said Robert K. McMahan, President of Kettering University. “He started in engineering and manufacturing production while a student and now leads a company building the digital infrastructure for intelligent machines across many industries around the globe. The arc is not coincidence. It is what happens when rigorous engineering education is built around real professional responsibility from the first year forward.”
Younis began his career in the same environment that has shaped generations of Kettering graduates. As a student, he split his time between the classroom and industry, taking on engineering responsibilities while working across General Motors tech centers and factories through Kettering’s cooperative education model, which places students in paid, professional industry rotations every twelve weeks from their first year through graduation.
Before founding Applied Intuition in 2017, Younis founded TalkBin, a messaging platform acquired by Google Maps, where he became one of the product and engineering leads. He subsequently served as a Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Y Combinator—the preeminent accelerator in Silicon Valley, which spawned OpenAI, Cruise, DoorDash, Twitch, Reddit, Coinbase and others—where he guided high-growth startups through critical stages of development.
He co-founded Applied Intuition to address a core challenge of intelligent machines: how to safely design, test and validate complex autonomous systems through simulation before they are deployed in the real world. The company’s platform is now used by dozens of top manufacturers around the globe and the United States Department of Defense.
His return resonates beyond any single industry. Kettering’s graduates are entering an economy in which the boundaries between mechanical, electrical and software engineering are dissolving, and in which physical systems across nearly every sector are being rebuilt around intelligence and autonomy.
“Kettering University played a significant role in building the foundation that guides my professional life to this day,” said Younis. “It taught me how to solve hard, real-world problems and approach complex challenges with confidence and curiosity. I’m honored to return to Flint to speak to its next class of leaders and engineers, who are entering one of the most transformative and exciting moments in industrial and technological history.”
As artificial intelligence reshapes industries and redefines the nature of engineering work, Younis has emerged as a leading voice on how intelligent systems can be deployed safely and at scale in the real world.
“The graduates Qasar will address are entering an economy that is being rebuilt around physical AI and autonomous systems: in vehicles, in defense, in industrial operations, in agriculture,” McMahan said. “That is the field he helped define. There is no one better positioned to speak to what this class is walking into.”
The 2026 Commencement will honor graduates with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering, computer science and management.
About Kettering University
Kettering University is a nationally ranked STEM university in Flint, Michigan, recognized by The Wall Street Journal as #1 in the United States for career preparation. Founded in 1919 and home to one of the longest-operating cooperative education models in American higher education, Kettering integrates rigorous academic instruction with paid, professional industry experience from a student’s first year through graduation. More than 1,500 Kettering alumni currently hold C-suite positions, including CEOs and presidents of Fortune 500 companies.
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- Kettering University Names Alumnus Qasar Younis, Co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, as 2026 Commencement Speaker
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Lee Madaus Kettering University 810-762-7330 lmadaus@kettering.edu