Danny Cao

EE494 Program Exploration

General Education Reflection

During my time at Iowa State University, there were many moments whereas an engineering

student, I can take other non-engineering related courses to further gain an insight to other

perspectives outside of my focus area. Known as general electives, they also served as a nice buffer

between heavy engineering courseload and allowed for a much more flexible and manageable schedule

for me personally. Theses general education electives allowed me to approach class with a different

mindset compared to an analytical course common in electrical engineering courses.

One of the general education electives I took was a class called RUS375, a Russian culture class

that discussed the evolution of Russian soviet and culture in the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods.

While the course spanned over the Soviet era, it also touched briefly into the modern Russian era. I

finished the course just as the Russian invasion of Ukraine occurred, so it was a pretty coincidental

incident. Either way, taking the course allowed me to understand the importance of a global connection

and ethical/moral dilemmas engineers may encounter. The course had previously discussed older

sanctions which have affected Russia to which the sanctions as of recently have been greatly increased

after the invasion. It showed the global ripple effect impacting industries throughout the globe. Ceasing

operations and discontinuing service has impacted both the Russian economy and US based companies

and it reflects the ethics of some US manufacturing companies who have decided to part ways with the

nation. It goes to show that these ethical dilemmas are constantly present and it’s crucial to

understanding the moral obligation an engineer has in dealing with ethical dilemmas while pursing

engineering solutions.
 Another general elective I enrolled in was Pols 381: International Political Economy. During my

enrollment in this course, I was able to learn about the correlation and relationship between politics and

the economy in the global and international scene. The content in this class piqued my interest in

international economy and it was also during this class, where we had discussions over topics where we

had to critically analyze and think of the factors impacting the economy as a result of politics and

political actions. This critical and analytical thinking allowed me to expand and look at external factors

for problems I may have encountered in some engineering courses and professional work. I was a fan of

the discussions during the course, and it was especially insightful hearing from other majors aside from

engineering majors.

I had also taken an Anthro 201: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, relatively early in my

college career. The course had gone over and provided us insights and perspectives of varied cultures

and the struggles people face when apart of these different cultures. We discussed the importance of

understanding historical and differing cultural values. The engineering field as we know, is an immensely

diverse field with many differing cultural values and perspectives. The course has allowed me as an

engineer to understand the importance of the story behind culturally different workspaces and the

inclusion of the aforementioned cultures present in the workforce.

General education classes are crucial for students of all majors at Iowa State. It provides

students a different perspective and prevents tunnel vision towards their focus area. Especially as an

engineer, the general education courses has taught me the importance of ethical dilemma decisions,

critical and analytical thinking, and the importance of understanding cultural values for a diverse

workspace. I do believe that there still continues to be engineers who lack the necessary outside

perspective that comes from taking a step back from engineering topics. Either way, engineers are

responsible for solving modern technical problems and it’s important to develop skills outside of
traditional math and engineering fundamentals. And as a student, I can begin and continue to develop

these skills with my involvement in general education courses.