Cody Cusic - Professional Statement - Purdue University School of Electrical Engineering - Degree Objective: BSEE
Growing up as a child, I was always infatuated with electronics and mathematics. Starting in middle school I was involved in the Project Lead the Way program, which is at the Southern Indiana Career & Technical Center in Evansville, IN. This introduced me to the several engineering components and programs for the first time, such as breadboarding, soldering, programmable logic chips, and photo-diodes. I also got the opportunity to work for an engineering consulting firm, Professional Consultants Inc. in Evansville, IN, after I graduated high school. Here I was able to get experience in AutoCAD, Google SketchUp, and field experience testing I/O panels. They also allowed me to come back the following summer and work for their parent company, Industrial Contractors Inc. in Evansville, IN. Here I made a 400 page comprehensive portfolio. I was able to present my findings to the vice-president and marketing manager throughout the summer, enhancing my presentation and communication skills. After these experiences, I knew that I wanted to go into Electrical Engineering.
When I first started college at Purdue University, I loved it. My freshman year I decided to join a fraternity in order to network and gain lifetime friendships. Looking back, this was a great decision, allowing me to accomplish my initial goals plus more. I was able to meet many prominent alumni related to my field, who became invaluable mentors, especially since I was head of the Alumni Relations committee. They helped introduce me to others and help point me in the correct direction to make sure that I was staying on track. The fraternity also allowed me to lead and work on team projects, in which I gained leadership skills that have helped me obtain the best education possible. One example was creating and leading an Innovations committee, which allowed me to build a personal computer for the house and lead other important projects.
By taking courses in various fields of engineering, I was sure that I made the right choice in choosing Electrical Engineering. I found the classes in this field very intriguing and wanted to constantly learn more to help build my skills, even outside of the classroom. I decided to get a minor in mathematics, as I believed it would help make me a better engineer, as math is so vital, especially in electrical engineering. My extra courses helped me solve difficult differential equations and summations using various techniques such as using matrices and/or coding.
In my junior year, one of my mentors urged me to join a research project. After looking at several interesting projects going on at Purdue, I decided to join the FS Optics group. They allowed me to attend their weekly meetings, which were overwhelming at first, especially since I was the only undergraduate and everyone else had a Ph.D. or was working toward it. That summer I was able to gain hands-on experience in the lab. My two main projects were optimizing the fiber fusion splice program for SMF to DCF and to design, code, and help build a positioning system to research a secure RF channel based off of location. The knowledge and skills that I learned here were extraordinary.
What I learned in my research and my love for electronics propelled me to specialize in optics. Since then I have taken any course that I believed would help me learn more about the field including Electric & Magnetic Fields and Introduction to Engineering Optics. I also loved hands-on labs related to this topic such as my Fields & Waves Lab and my Circuits and Systems Lab. I earned no less than an A in all of the previously mentioned classes and I am currently taking other classes in these areas to expand my knowledge further. Upon graduation, I would like to start my career in an optics related job. Since the optics field is very broad, I want to see where my career path takes me. Once I figure that out, I would like to go back to school to obtain either a MSEE or MBA.
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