Korey Kiepert

Korey  Kiepert
  • BS Mechanical Engineering 1997
  • MS Mechanical Engineering 1999

Korey Kiepert embodies the career advice to "do what you love." Korey earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Tech in 1997, and then continued on to earn his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Tech in 1999. Despite unlikely odds and sage advice from engineering associates, he chose to pursue his childhood love of building roller coasters.

What started as a hobby in his closet when he was a boy became Korey's dream career. After leaving Michigan Tech, he worked for Custom Coasters, Inc., then became one of the co-founders of The Gravity Group, LLC, which has become world-renowned for their custom wooden roller coaster designs.

The Gravity Group, LLC has designed roller coasters that have been consistently ranked as some of the best in the world. Among their most famous are the first wooden roller coaster ever built in China, and their latest achievement, the Cu Chulainn, which is the largest inverted wooden roller coaster in Europe, located in Tayto Park, CO Meath, Ireland. The Cu Chulainn hits speeds up to 55 mph, gives riders "airtime" 19 times over its thousand-meter length, and, a first for Europe, has a curve with a 115° inversion.

In a recent interview in the Irish Mirror, Korey said, “And I think no matter how difficult, it is worth following your dreams to get a job you’re happy to go to every day.”

Profile by Alumni Relations staff, June 2015. Credit for segments to The Irish Mirror Online, April 26, 2015, and Michigan Tech Department of Engineering News 2015.