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Malvin Lim

EE494

10/7/2022

Cumulative Reflection

My name is Malvin Lim, and I am a senior in Electrical Engineering focused on power

and system at Iowa State University. I chose electrical engineering as my major because I was

interested in understanding how electric power is generated. But at the same time, I want to learn

how to improve the current electric generators and create efficient power transmissions.

Throughout my years at ISU, I took classes learning electrical and electronics subjects. I was

also actively involved in the sports club at my University. This sports club has helped me a lot in

enhancing my leadership skills.

When I transferred to Iowa State University in the Spring of 2019, I was excited as I

could future my knowledge about electrical engineering in one of the most well-known

Universities in the United States. At this University, I get to work with people from around the

globe as the racial diversity in this University is very diverse. This allows me to improve my

communication skills as everyone I work with has an almost different educational background.

Listening to their thoughts and understanding what decision they want to make in a project is

essential to good communication. With excellent communication skills, I could contribute better

to a team and meet the expectation of each member.

Also, I was elected to be the team leader in one of the projects in the course called

semiconductors and devices. I learned a lot about problem-solving with a team in this project.

This project is mainly a research project that requires a lot of research, reading, and

understanding of solar cells. At the beginning of the project, I delegated the project parts to each
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of the members. However, when the due date was close, I realized that one of the parts was too

hard for the member, and I decided to come out with a solution so that we could submit the

project in time while ensuring the quality of the project. I had a meeting with all of the team

members, and we agreed to work together on the part. After some midnight oil burns, we

managed to get the project done, and everyone was happy with how I managed the project.

Then, I can gain leadership skills from Iowa State University's sports club. Iowa State

University has various clubs for students to join while excelling academically. The sports club

that I have joined is the badminton club which is one of the sports that I enjoy the most. The club

actively joined competitions held in the midwest states, and I participated in most competitions.

In one of the team tournaments, I manage to be the team leader, and my job is to create a training

program for players on the team. At the beginning of the program, I struggled a lot as I had no

experience in coaching. However, after getting some feedback and advice from the badminton

club president, I developed a good program for players from different levels. In the end, our team

got second place in the tournament, and it surprised me as I did not expect we manage to win in

this tournament.

Overall, I learned many skills at this University that would benefit my future career. With

skills like communication, problem-solving, and leadership, I believe I am ready to start working

as an electrical engineer.