Staff member David Poppke. Photo by Nicholas Nelson/ The Dakota Student.

When it comes to electronics, David Poppke can fix almost anything.

He has fixed things in minutes that trained specialists haven’t been able to fix; you could call him UND’s own Nikola Tesla of the electrical engineering department.

Despite his skill in electronics and technology, Poppke has never received formal training of any kind.

“All my training came from the garage, experiences and trying different things,” Poppke said. “I’ve had no school training in electronics — figure that one out. I can fix anything that a lot of people can’t fix, and I’m talking about experts in many fields.”

Growing up in Bismarck, N.D., Poppke always had an interest in electronics.

“That was the hobby I picked up at the time … and (I) just kept playing with (it) in the car,” he said.

In high school, he showed his gift with technology, which resulted in him not having to write any term papers; his teachers let him do science projects instead.

“I was heavily weighted on one end of the brain and not the other, so I continued with electronics,” Poppke said. “That’s the difference between a person that is good overall or specialized in one area.”

In college, he took all of the basics for engineering, but had difficulty when it came to writing lab reports.

“I skipped my writing, and then when it came to writing lab reports I didn’t know how to write anything,” he said. “So basically what happened is that I would get an F because I didn’t know how to write anything.”

After dropping out of college, he found work easy to come by without a degree.

“Back in the 70s, I could get a job with no degree. I’d just walk up and say ‘I could fix anything you want,’” he said.

He later got his current job at UND as the technician for the electrical engineering department, a position that he has held for 34 years, and this has allowed him to branch out in other areas in his passion for electronics.

“This job gave me good benefits and a lot of vacation time that made me able to take off and do other stuff,” Poppke said.

In his time off from work, Poppke likes to continue to work on electronics. However, he also flies an Ultra lighter glider, rides motorcycles and snowmobiles and goes parachuting.

“A lot of people told me I’m going to die,” Poppke said. “But I said I know that already, I’m going to enjoy it before I die.”

Poppke started his own two way radio business that turned out to be very lucrative, known as Dave’s Communications Incorporated.

“I’m one of the few people when I get home from work I play with work again,” he said.

After many years of managing the business, he retired two years ago due to the rise of cell phones, incrementally replacing radios.

“But I made out very well and bought up six million dollars worth of equipment from a surplus,” Poppke said. “It was time to bail out and give everybody a hard time at UND.”

At UND, David enjoys himself by helping students with their projects, giving them advice on how to think and approach things, while also being able to play with his toys all day in his own version of a playground.

“I grew up playing with it and basically have a big toy box here,” Poppke said.

When it comes down to it, there is one piece of advice that David likes to preach to students: “Do what you like doing and you’ll find a way to make money because you’ll find a way to support it. Whatever you really love doing you’ll find a way.”

Ashley Carlson is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].