My name is Juan Carlos Toral. I am an Electrical Engineering. I am very interested in Power Systems and Control Systems.
My education at Iowa State University started in August 2006 with fascinating surprises, high expectations and great uncertainty. The transition from high school to university required me to dedicate more time to my classes. I call my first semester “adaptation semester”.
As time went by I would learn something new. I even learned that I was in the wrong major. I started as Computer Engineering major, but I felt better identified with Electrical Engineering. I saw a great future ahead of me in this field. Iowa State University taught me to be consistent, professional, a good team member, a critical thinker and a good problem solver.
Looking back to my freshman year I realized that all my classes were very difficult but somehow I managed to adapt and perform well. Suddenly my junior and senior classes started to make sense. My foundations were strong and they played a big role in my upper level courses. Each class involved a certain level of complexity and helped me increase my performance. I experienced many great challenges, but each one of them was accompanied by a feeling of satisfaction.
My passion for my career grew when I focused on my senior design and my multidisciplinary design projects. Briefly, my senior design project is teaching me about system engineering while participating on demanding projects leading to engineering solutions. Overall, having those responsibilities as a team player inspired me to go further and become a leader. As the president and creator of Electrical and Computer Engineering Student Group (ECSG) I lead members of the group to apply their knowledge outside the classroom with fun projects and challenging activities.
The integration of years of study during my undergraduate experience led me to my multidisciplinary design project. As an Iowa State student I have been given the opportunity to work on a submersible aircraft project from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA focuses on new technologies and of course keeping tactical superiority on coastal intrusions.
For the project, I teamed up with engineers of different disciplines. Overwhelmed with the project requirements, my team and I worked every week, breaking down large problems into smaller manageable ones. This taught me ethics and teamwork and how to find advice on existing issues that were far from my reach. The multistep process in order to manufacture a functional product has had a large impact on my life as an engineer.
Engineering is not only about just being a good problem solver; it’s about communicating your ideas and solutions to other engineers and non-engineering disciplines. My general education courses have played a great roll in reinforcing my knowledge. I am able to communicate my findings and research effectively to my professors and classmates with vivid examples.
I consider the experience acquired since my freshmen year as a set of tools. Every aspect of my education even though it was a challenging experience has made me into a well rounded Engineer.
If I had to work on my undergraduate studies again I would focus on Electrical Engineering as opposed to starting in Computer Engineering. Computer Engineering was great learning experience but I discovered my passion for Electrical Engineering. I would also switch around some courses, but as we all learn at different paces we have to do our best. Engineering is about how much knowledge you have absorbed, since that is what makes us who we are.
My education at Iowa State University started in August 2006 with fascinating surprises, high expectations and great uncertainty. The transition from high school to university required me to dedicate more time to my classes. I call my first semester “adaptation semester”.
As time went by I would learn something new. I even learned that I was in the wrong major. I started as Computer Engineering major, but I felt better identified with Electrical Engineering. I saw a great future ahead of me in this field. Iowa State University taught me to be consistent, professional, a good team member, a critical thinker and a good problem solver.
Looking back to my freshman year I realized that all my classes were very difficult but somehow I managed to adapt and perform well. Suddenly my junior and senior classes started to make sense. My foundations were strong and they played a big role in my upper level courses. Each class involved a certain level of complexity and helped me increase my performance. I experienced many great challenges, but each one of them was accompanied by a feeling of satisfaction.
My passion for my career grew when I focused on my senior design and my multidisciplinary design projects. Briefly, my senior design project is teaching me about system engineering while participating on demanding projects leading to engineering solutions. Overall, having those responsibilities as a team player inspired me to go further and become a leader. As the president and creator of Electrical and Computer Engineering Student Group (ECSG) I lead members of the group to apply their knowledge outside the classroom with fun projects and challenging activities.
The integration of years of study during my undergraduate experience led me to my multidisciplinary design project. As an Iowa State student I have been given the opportunity to work on a submersible aircraft project from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA focuses on new technologies and of course keeping tactical superiority on coastal intrusions.
For the project, I teamed up with engineers of different disciplines. Overwhelmed with the project requirements, my team and I worked every week, breaking down large problems into smaller manageable ones. This taught me ethics and teamwork and how to find advice on existing issues that were far from my reach. The multistep process in order to manufacture a functional product has had a large impact on my life as an engineer.
Engineering is not only about just being a good problem solver; it’s about communicating your ideas and solutions to other engineers and non-engineering disciplines. My general education courses have played a great roll in reinforcing my knowledge. I am able to communicate my findings and research effectively to my professors and classmates with vivid examples.
I consider the experience acquired since my freshmen year as a set of tools. Every aspect of my education even though it was a challenging experience has made me into a well rounded Engineer.
If I had to work on my undergraduate studies again I would focus on Electrical Engineering as opposed to starting in Computer Engineering. Computer Engineering was great learning experience but I discovered my passion for Electrical Engineering. I would also switch around some courses, but as we all learn at different paces we have to do our best. Engineering is about how much knowledge you have absorbed, since that is what makes us who we are.