Major and graduation year: BS Electrical Engineering ’98
Current job: Senior Engineering Manager at Rockwell Collins
Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Most fun work project: I was responsible for modeling the modem waveform processing and integrating the hardware, software, and firmware on our Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), a part of our National Missile Defense program. We had a great team that had a lot of fun together despite having to work some long days and nights. Pulling all the pieces together for a successful customer demo made it all worthwhile.
How Iowa State impacted my career: Iowa State provided me the skills and opportunity to work at Rockwell Collins. I was challenged by my professors to be creative in my thinking and had access to the latest tools that industry uses. As a co-op at Rockwell Collins, I took the knowledge gained from the classroom and applied it at work and I was able to better understand the theories and principles I learned in class by seeing it applied.
Why I became an electrical engineer: I had always been interested in math and science. During my sophomore year in high school, I job-shadowed an electrical engineer at Rockwell Collins. After seeing what he did, I knew I wanted to go to Iowa State and major in electrical engineering.
Memorable moments as a student: I really enjoyed going to football games then playing Euchre while watching college football on Saturday afternoons. I also was involved with Eta Kappa Nu, The Salt Company, UDA Student Government, and the Freshman Honors program.