Alec Turner, Junior, BSEE
As a Purdue graduate, I have gained many valuable assets that will help me enter the industry as an entry level engineer. Now that I am approaching the end of my undergraduate studies here at Purdue University, I am able to look back at the courses I have taken and see the progression of my improvements as a student and an engineer. Not only have I come to gain an acute understanding of the curriculum, but I have learned many other invaluable skills that have prepared me for life after academia. Through my classes, I have matured as a student and now can appreciate the importance of teamwork, a strong work ethic, diligence, good communication, and many other attributes that I did not possess just a few years ago.
The curriculum has proven to be one of the most engaging endeavors I have ever taken. I have found the coursework for many of my classes to be fascinating. I have been attracted to the field of Electrical Engineering since I got my first taste of it years ago, and have since come to see the remarkable opportunities that it offers. The future of the field boasts possibilities that seem nothing short of extraordinary. My experience, however, is not limited to course specific work. I am currently working with a professor and two graduate students on a wireless video project. It is a labor intensive class, where much of the work is done on our own without faculty supervision. Through research, I have gained knowledge in the areas of network programming using internet sockets, multimedia streaming technologies, and signal processing. I am interested in synthesizing an adaptive streaming process to increase frame resolution and remove unwanted buffering from streaming content.
This most recent summer, I took part in an internship at Knorr Brake Corporation as an electrical engineer. It is a multimillion dollar, international company and the leading supplier of train car breaks in North America. I was immersed in a project to improve the HVAC systems on the cars and was in personal correspondence with members of the company in Spain. I reviewed and revised system descriptions and requirements for the HVAC system and designed a digital interface for an HVAC portable test unit using LabVIEW. I proceeded to configure the test unit hardware layout and specifications, research and order parts through consideration of design constraints, and map wiring diagrams and pin layouts. Lastly, my boss and I worked together to create, and eventually propose, a revision of the temperature PID system in a meeting with the members of Spain in charge of the project. I was able to fully immerse myself in the project and gain a total knowledge of the working of the systems with which I worked.
I do possess skills that make me an invaluable asset. I am in competent in both C and LabVIEW programming, with experience in MATAB and VPython. International experience is something that I value. I have visited Germany and am currently pursuing a minor in German, currently involved in a class that addresses technological advances form a German perspective. As a member of a fraternity, I have, for the second semester in a row, been elected by my peers to an appointed position in the fraternity. The house has opened me up to many new ideas. This most recent semester, I have attended the Indiana Greek Leadership Conference as well as the American Leadership Academy which fosters and perpetuates the ideals that one needs to embrace a leadership position. I believe that my experiences have prepared me to solve real-world problems. I am excited and optimistic about the future of my professional career.
