‭A Reflective Journey: Navigating Your Cumulative Experience at Iowa State University‬

‭My path was predetermined before I even arrived at Iowa State University by my love of‬

‭numbers and anything math related. I strongly desired to study engineering and was motivated‬

‭by a deep-seated love of math and solving problems. But realizing how complex physics was for‬

‭me, I purposefully chose to go into the field of programming. Choosing computer engineering as‬

‭my major was more than just a choice; it was a dedication to stick to my academic goals and‬

‭faith in my abilities. I was excited to spend time in an area that nicely matched my hobbies and‬

‭skills when I got on the university grounds.‬

‭When I came to the university in 2020, it was a very different experience for everyone‬

‭due to the pandemic and being forced to have all classes online. I chose to still come to campus‬

‭and complete courses, which was the right decision for me in the long run. I exceeded my‬

‭expectations in my first-year engineering classes and did better than expected. The only thing‬

‭missing from my freshman year was not getting that hands-on experience with some of the‬

‭classes that people got to do years prior. Once we were almost done with freshmen year, I‬

‭decided to add a minor to my experience. I chose data science because it has significant‬

‭applications in computer engineering and gauges my interest in statistics. After the end of my‬

‭freshman year, I was allowed to do research for Professor Berk Gulmezoglu and help out with a‬

‭research project that he wanted completed. We could return to campus once the pandemic wore‬

‭down and experience in-person classes again. There were pros and cons to this, it was terrific we‬

‭finally got to have entirely in-person labs, but the difficulty with in-person classes also became‬

‭prevalent. For us students, it would have been the first college classes we would have to take‬

‭with a live lecture and other challenges, but for the professors, they could just go back to what‬
‭they were doing before the pandemic. I struggled a bit but could maintain a decent GPA while‬

‭working for the professor. After my sophomore year, I got an Internship at John Deere in‬

‭Waterloo, Iowa. I was doing work as a software testing intern. During my internship, I‬

‭significantly enhanced a data pipeline, facilitating seamless transfer from data loggers to the‬

‭cloud. Developing a custom script for efficient data upload to an AWS S3 bucket and automating‬

‭data transformation to Databricks tables were crucial achievements. These initiatives expedited‬

‭data processing, demonstrating my commitment to innovation and organizational efficiency.‬

‭In the fall of 2022, I took what I thought was the hardest class, CPRE 381 or Computer‬

‭Organization and Assembly Level Programming. This was the class I ended up doing the worst‬

‭in Iowa state. After that semester, I could bounce back by changing how I studied because I‬

‭realized that my methods had to adapt to more complex classes. During the spring semester, I‬

‭took the step to take a class abroad in May before my next internship. I decided to do‬

‭Engineering in Italy where I took a project management course. It was one of the best‬

‭experiences I have ever had at Iowa State. I was able to learn so much from Professor‬

‭MikeHelwig and work with so many other excellent engineers. As a computer engineering‬

‭student at Iowa State University, I'm enrolled in the year-long Senior Design course, split into‬

‭two semesters. The initial semester focuses on understanding project requirements and designing‬

‭a comprehensive plan. My team, consisting of five students, aims to develop a lidar object‬

‭classification tool using machine learning (ML). We aim to create an ML model capable of‬

‭accurately identifying objects within lidar data. We capture recordings using a high-performance‬

‭lidar sensor synced with a camera, process the data to eliminate irrelevant information, and label‬

‭it using the You Only Look Once (YOLO) model and manual overlay. I'm responsible for‬

‭capturing lidar and camera data, updating project documents, and ensuring team collaboration.‬
‭We're also researching automated lidar data labeling methods for efficiency. In the second‬

‭semester, we're focusing on applying these techniques to train the ML model and ensuring its‬

‭accuracy meets our standards.‬