Jeff King - Professional Statement - Purdue University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering - BSEE 2012
Approaching my final semester as an Electrical Engineer, I look back at all the skills I acquired through academia, research and internships. My passion for mathematics and science first started in high school when I took multiple upper level courses in these fields. In my spare time, I enjoyed learning about computers and electronics through disassembly and reconstruction of any device available. It was my passion for these pastimes that helped me realize I wanted to pursue a degree in Electrical Engineering.
Throughout my academic career at Purdue as an electrical engineering student, I have had few opportunities for elective courses. To take full advantage of free class slots, I meticulously chose my courses so that I could complete a minor in Computer Science. My choice of obtaining this minor was fueled by my interest in learning more upper level programming languages as well as an understanding for the practicality of having such a skill set. From observing the professional field of electrical engineering, I became acutely aware of the importance of knowing several programming languages. This minor has been beneficial to me throughout my time at Purdue as an undergraduate research assistant and as an intern. I know that my academic choices have enabled me to become a diverse asset for your company.
In the summer of 2010, I became an undergraduate research assistant for the Purdue Neurotrauma Group (PNG), a team searching to better understand the effects of sports related mild traumatic brain injuries. Applying and developing my skills of project management and hardware design, I am currently working within a smaller team to design and develop a new safety-critical head impact system. Being a member of PNG has provided me with the opportunity to work on projects outside of regular course work and has improved my skills regarding product development and testing. This past year, our undergraduate team from PNG entered the Burton D. Morgan Business Plan Competition in order to gain experience related to planning a business around the newly developed devices. I used this opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills related to starting up a business. My teammates looked to me to be the team leader in order to complete tasks by the deadline. I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked on the business plan because I developed new skills outside of the realm of engineering. Creating this business plan has exposed me to the business aspect of engineering.
The following spring, I began my internship with the [undisclosed company] where I was given the opportunity to utilize knowledge from my course work and apply it to real-world scenarios. I worked on several multidisciplinary teams with time critical projects. As a team lead on a specific project, I made sure all tasks were being completed in a timely fashion and I assisted with extensive tasks in order to meet deadlines.
Immediately following my spring internship with the [undisclosed company], I began my summer internship at BP America working with a broad multidisciplinary team of engineers. My experience from this internship was beneficial because the project assigned to me was more of the general type of engineering. My duties included consulting several senior engineers and utilizing what I had learned thus far at Purdue and my previous internship in order to troubleshoot the problem. This internship provided me with the skills to think outside the box in terms of problem solving as an engineer.
All in all, my academic accomplishments, research at Purdue and internships have given me a plentitude of skills that will make me an excellent professional engineer. I hope to pursue further professional channels in order to gain more well-rounded skill sets.
