Joey Freeland reflects on their experience at Iowa State University as they near graduation. Over the past four years, they have learned valuable engineering skills through challenging courses like EE330 and EE333X, as well as life skills from extracurriculars and group work. Their education has prepared them well for a career as an engineer, both technically and by teaching them to consider social factors. While the time passed quickly, Joey is glad they chose to focus on electromagnetics and feels their experience at Iowa State has made them a well-rounded, knowledgeable engineer ready for the professional world.
Joey Freeland reflects on their experience at Iowa State University as they near graduation. Over the past four years, they have learned valuable engineering skills through challenging courses like EE330 and EE333X, as well as life skills from extracurriculars and group work. Their education has prepared them well for a career as an engineer, both technically and by teaching them to consider social factors. While the time passed quickly, Joey is glad they chose to focus on electromagnetics and feels their experience at Iowa State has made them a well-rounded, knowledgeable engineer ready for the professional world.
Joey Freeland reflects on their experience at Iowa State University as they near graduation. Over the past four years, they have learned valuable engineering skills through challenging courses like EE330 and EE333X, as well as life skills from extracurriculars and group work. Their education has prepared them well for a career as an engineer, both technically and by teaching them to consider social factors. While the time passed quickly, Joey is glad they chose to focus on electromagnetics and feels their experience at Iowa State has made them a well-rounded, knowledgeable engineer ready for the professional world.
Joey Freeland reflects on their experience at Iowa State University as they near graduation. Over the past four years, they have learned valuable engineering skills through challenging courses like EE330 and EE333X, as well as life skills from extracurriculars and group work. Their education has prepared them well for a career as an engineer, both technically and by teaching them to consider social factors. While the time passed quickly, Joey is glad they chose to focus on electromagnetics and feels their experience at Iowa State has made them a well-rounded, knowledgeable engineer ready for the professional world.
Cumulative Reflection As my four years at Iowa State University come to a close, I can reflect on my experience thus far. The time certainly went fast, and I have learned more than I thought I would. I have learned so many new engineering skills in addition to new life skills. College is supposed to prepare you for a career, and I think my time at Iowa State has done that. I grew through both in-class and extracurricular activities, and I believe that my experience as a whole has made me a well-rounded student, ready for entry into the professional world. In a technical sense, I have grown immensely since high school. I started my college career taking introductory circuits classes and other math courses. These were not always the most exciting or interesting, but they were preparing me for the second half of my degree. During my freshman year I got the chance to research in the physics department, simulating data from a particle accelerator. This was my first experience doing research, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I worked by myself on small projects assigned to me by a professor. At the same time I learned that I did not want to do research for a career. During my junior year, I took my hardest but most rewarding course, EE330. The class covers VLSI and microelectronics. It was my first in-depth introduction to transistors and amplifier design, and while the class took most of my time, it was extremely beneficial as an engineer. At the end of EE330 we designed an electronic theremin that could fit onto a tiny integrated circuit - only about 4 square millimeters. Looking back, the class taught me how to truly learn something new and never forget it. Another class I enjoyed taking was EE333X. This was an open-ended design class in which we defined our own project, to be completed over the course of a semester. My partner and I decided to design and build a Class-D amplifier. Over the course of the semester, I learned many new things: PCB design, testing circuit boards, ordering parts, and working well with a partner. In the end, our project was a success and the amplifier worked very well. It helped develop both my technical and soft skills. My education has also taught me about working with groups. In the workplace, you rarely work alone, so group work principles are very important. Working with other people is sometimes slower than working by yourself - but with a group you get more ideas, more total
work, and a more accurate representation of a professional engineering company. Throughout
almost all of my labs, we worked in pairs or groups of three. Senior design expanded the group size to 5-10, which is a new dynamic, but more similar to the workplace. In addition to technical skills, the courses at Iowa State have prepared me to be a contemporary engineer. The work we do will undoubtedly have socioeconomic impacts, and taking general education courses has helped me broaden my non-technical horizons. I think that social considerations are some of the most important things to think about in an engineering problem, especially in todays modern world. Im grateful to Iowa State for having such a broad view of our jobs as engineers. Luckily, I do not have any regrets about my undergraduate experience so far. I came into my degree wanting to focus on electromagnetics, and thats the specialization I will graduate with. In addition, I was able to finish my years with a high GPA, which was the result of having classmates to collaborate with. If I had another chance to go through my four years at Iowa State, I wouldnt change anything. I have greatly enjoyed my learning experience at ISU thus far. I have gained a huge amount of technical knowledge, learning things that I never thought I would understand. I feel I am well-prepared for a job in that regard. In addition, I have more experience in considering the ethical and social implications of solving engineering problems. Overall, I believe it will make me a well-rounded engineer in the professional workplace.
