Nathan Harder

Cumulative Reflection

While getting my undergraduate degree, I was grateful for Iowa State’s curriculum and the

breadth and depth it provided for me. At my university I took several chains of classes that were at least

4 semesters long and took about six different types of courses as well. Some examples of by breadth

classes were retirement planning, war in the middle east, and intro to Islam. Another way Iowa State

helps its students is by offering the opportunity to attend job fairs at least three times a year. I have

attended this event five different times and each time coming away with a new connection or interview.

I have even gotten a couple of engineering internships from it. Another service that Iowa State offers is

tutoring and supplemental instruction. This semester I have participated in tutoring my peers in calculus

further deepening my understanding of it while furthering my ability to teach and lead. Finally, my

senior design project has given me a lot of real-world experience with starting and finishing a project

that can be used in the real world.

Iowa State university offers a variety of classes that help build students environmental and

ethical awareness. Some examples of classes that I have taken are environmental sustainability and war

in the middle east. During my environmental class I learned about different processes that are being

implemented in farming and industry to help reduce our carbon footprint and soil erosion. For my war

class we learned about the war in Lebanon and the catastrophes that occurred there. Though these

classes taught me the specifics of environmental sustainability and ethics, most of my classes at Iowa

State have taught me something pertaining to this. Many of the professors in the electrical engineering

department show a lot of care about sustainable engineering practices and creating sustainable

products. They also make sure to drive home that we should live and work ethically according to our

own and IEEE’s moral code.

 For me to work better with my peers I constantly work on my communication skills during my

volleyball club. For four hours each semester I have worked with my club by planning tournaments,

communicating during the game, and even giving speeches to be a cabinet member. I also work on my

communication skills during tutoring by teaching and discussing with my tutees about the content.

During my freshman year I was curious about doing research in my future, so I joined Honors

Society and did some first-year research. I did my research with professor Zhe Fei on ultra-thin metals in

the physics department. During this research I learned how to run a physics software effectively so that I

could get as many simulations done during my time as I could. I also learned how to present my data to

my superior. This was important to my major because currently we have micro thin metals but to make

better semiconductors, we need to make the thinner metal aka the nano scale. The problem with this

however is that at that thinness the structural integrity starts to fail so our goal was to see what

properties this gold has at that thinness.

To try to develop my professional behavior and to understand my responsibilities I might have in

the workplace. During my internship with AB Mauri, I took on several projects and responsibilities like

finding a way to dispose of our old drums and redeveloping our lights for our factory. I learned that the

schedule and responsibilities of an engineer can vary greatly and that one should be ready for any

situation.

The only outside information I use to solve problems that I run into are YouTube videos. They

may seem like an unverifiable source, but they often helped me understand content I struggled with

when lectures and textbooks were not enough. I also made sure to utilize verified sources when I

needed to write a paper with sources.