It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment for Iowa State graduate student Anthony Persaud, who spent the summer working at Qualcomm Incorporated in San Diego. Persaud was walking around Qualcomm Stadium at the company’s 20th-anniversary event when he ran into founder and CEO Irwin Jacobs.

At first, Persaud wasn’t sure it really was Jacobs. Once he decided the man beside him was, in fact, Qualcomm’s head honcho, Persaud had a decision to make—should he say something or just let the moment pass by? Thinking it might be his only chance to meet a person of Jacobs’ stature, Persaud chose to talk.

“I took the risk and it paid off,” Persaud says. “You think of a CEO as a very powerful figure who doesn’t really talk to employees, but Dr. Jacobs was like a regular person and amicable. He’s one of the most charismatic, inspirational people I’ve ever met.”

For Persaud, meeting Jacobs was a life-changing event. Before running into him that fateful day, Persaud was considering an MBA to go along with the master’s degree he’s working on in computer network forensics through the electrical and computer engineering department. That plan, however, has likely changed.

“I mentioned to him that I was thinking about holding off on my PhD work,” explains Persaud. “I told him I was thinking about going for an MBA because I wanted to learn the business side of things and maybe become CEO of a company someday.”

Jacobs advised Persaud to stop worrying about an MBA and focus instead on completing his engineering degrees.

Persaud also did a little talking himself, telling Jacobs about Iowa State. “I told him about all the things Iowa State does and how talented our students are,” Persaud says. “I thought it was important to get Iowa State’s name out there.”

While on the job at Qualcomm, where Persaud helped protect the company’s intellectual property, he learned from Jacobs what it takes to be a good leader, and he plans to put those lessons into practice. After a summer of hard work, he knows how to build better relationships with coworkers and what it takes to motivate employees and boost company morale.

Persaud, originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, got his internship at Qualcomm as part of the The National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science, Inc. (GEM). The nonprofit organization was formed in 1976 to increase the number of American Indian, African American, Latino, Puerto Rican, and other Hispanic Americans pursuing graduate degrees in engineering, physical science, and natural science disciplines. As part of the program, GEM Fellows obtain practical work experience through summer internships at GEM employer worksites.

This was Persaud’s second, and final, summer working for Qualcomm as a GEM Fellow.