Daniel Frantik

Iowa State University

Fall 19

EE 494: Cumulative Reflection

I came to Iowa State fall 2016 as a freshman in Electrical Engineer. Everything was new to me,
Ames, living a dorm and the kinds of classes I would be taking. My first Electrical Engineering course was
EE 185 with Professor Mani Mina. This was first class that encouraged me to think differently and helped
me understand the importance of design. It may have been introductory course, but I learned so much
and set me on the path of life-long learning. This class truly made me excited about engineering and got
me prepared for the next 4 years at Iowa State.

The past 4 years I had some many great opportunities here at Iowa State. Now in my senior year
I get even more opportunities working with my colleagues, professors and company as my client for
senior design. This giving me an opportunity to see what my professional career as an electrical engineer
working with both teammates and companies to create solutions for modern problems.

The biggest choose of my college career was to join Triangle Fraternity my freshman fall
semester. Triangle is a STEM fraternity and has given me great opportunities to grow as an engineer and
leader. I was able to start of a freshman in lower leadership positions such as brotherhood chair and
recruitment chair. I then went on to be Vice President of Recruitment where I oversaw bringing in new
men to help grow the fraternity. In this position I help create scholarships for new members joining the
organization and improve recruitment. After a year as the VP of recruitment I was elected to VP of
Facility Management where I oversaw maintaining and improving the chapter house. I was able to lead
two projects to improve the house, the first being building better study areas in the house for members
to study in. The other project was re landscaping the front lawn and back patio areas. I believe this was
one of the best things I did in my college career as it helped become a better leader and work better
with in groups.

Not all my decisions while at Iowa State have turned out so great. My sophomore year, in took
on too much of a workload with taking 18 credits including physics 222, a notorious hard class here at
Iowa State, as well as doing VP of Recruitment for my Fraternity and Solar car all in the same semester.
My grades suffered as well as my free time and mental health. I quickly saw this and was able to take on
less responsibility in solar car and asking my friends in classes and the fraternity for help in my classes
and getting some tutors for my courses. This taught me to manage my time more and made me focus
more on my classes.

I got to apply some of these lessons during my summer internship after my junior year. I got to
work at Blattner Energy constructing a wind farm in North Dakota. I had never done anything like it
before and was out of my comfort zone, but I knew I had the basics to understand on how to find the
solutions. In the field, many problems arise everyday none of which ever where asked in lab or a class.
But the lab course taught me how find the correct resources when I did not have any solutions. This
allowed me to find and come up with quick solutions while at work and have helped me out in my 400
level classes where the material is harder, and the solutions are harder to come by. This also helped me
become more comfortable as engineer and voicing my ideas.

Now as a Senior I see my core classes coming together in my 400-level course helping me not
only understand the material but making me ask more questions and making me more passionate about
what I am learning. How I am still applying concepts from EE 201, EE 224, and EE 285 to solve not just
problems in my senior level classes but in my senior design project. But it all started with EE 185 wear I
was put on the path of life long learning.