彩民宝典

Gabe Rodriguez is a mechanical engineering student being awarded an Outstanding Graduate for Service Award from听both听the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. Learn more about him and his accomplishments in the Q&A below.听

Share about your background and what led you to study engineering.

My name is Gabe Rodriguez. I am a first-generation, LGBT, Mexican American student. I鈥檝e lived in Highlands Ranch, Colorado for the past 14 years, but I鈥檓 originally from San Jose, California. This May, I will be graduating with both a BS听and MS听in mechanical engineering and a minor in computer science.

To be honest, I wasn鈥檛 sure where I wanted to go to college or what I wanted to do by the time I had graduated high school. I spent all four years in high school working in our school鈥檚 journalism program, but I knew I wanted to embark on a new path in college. I decided to go to 彩民宝典 after my first tour through campus, because I thought the campus was beautiful. And I decided to try out engineering, because I felt like it was the challenge I was looking for.

What does the award you are receiving mean to you?

I鈥檓 honored to have received the Outstanding Graduate for Service Award. Helping others has always given me so much gratitude in life, and I鈥檝e especially enjoyed helping other students overcome the many challenges听within听engineering school. Going into freshman year, I was blind to the world of engineering. But I was fortunate enough to have so many supportive peers and mentors around me who helped me find my place in the college. It鈥檚 since been my mission to help build upon 彩民宝典's engineering community, and I鈥檝e had the privilege to do so in so many ways. Receiving this award reminds me of all the times I鈥檝e been able to help someone in need to overcome difficult circumstances I too once struggled with.

Have you received any other awards/honors?

Last year, I was a finalist for the Silver Medal award and received the Certificate of Merit from the Colorado Engineering Council (CEC) for it. This year, I was听awarded with the Active Learning Award.听I鈥檝e also been featured as an Undergraduate Student of the Month and a representative in the #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign.

Share an accomplishment from your time at 彩民宝典 that you are proud of.

I think my greatest accomplishment was how I finished my senior design project. My team faced many听obstacles and hindrances, and it was difficult for us to find our footing by the end of the fall semester. Though I felt defeated as my team鈥檚 project manager, I was able to pick myself back up and help my team move forward in our spring semester. We ended up developing a working prototype that our clients at听BHGE submitted a patent for. Through听my college career, senior design was the experience I grew from most; I learned how to fail forward, I learned how to deal with difficult conversations and situations, and I learned how to navigate the needs and wants of multiple stakeholders. Though this wasn鈥檛 the experience I had expected from senior design, it was the one I need to help me grow as a person and an engineer.

How have you gotten involved throughout your college career?听

I鈥檝e had the privilege of leading the Colorado Engineer Magazine as editor-in-chief for the past four years听where I get to work with our staff to write stories about engineering, networking听and 彩民宝典. I didn鈥檛 want to leave journalism behind in high school, so I was incredibly excited to learn there was a student-led magazine within CU鈥檚 College of Engineering and听Applied Science. Each semester, I get to help engineering students improve their writing and communication skills while also getting to promote ideas, clubs听and individuals within the engineering community. Our Spring 2020 issue听features over 20 CU engineering alumni and what they鈥檝e done since graduating school; my hope is that it helps current students realize all the opportunities an engineering degree can offer. During my first four years of college, I was also a BOLD scholar听where I got to participate in networking and group activities. Each year, I would volunteer about 10 hours to help with freshman engineering events, because I think it鈥檚 important for incoming freshmen to find their place at CU in order to听be successful. I鈥檓 also a member of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society. During my junior year, I was the Chair of the Banner Committee where I designed a logo and banner for the 2018 TBP National Convention, which took place in Denver.

I鈥檝e worked two internships over the course of my college career. For the summer of 2017, I was a research intern at CSU鈥檚 Department of Atmospheric Science under the National Science Foundation鈥檚 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). There, I worked under Assistant Professor Shantanu Jathar to research the intensive properties of aerosols resulting from biomass burning听which required a lot of data analytics and cross-referencing of data across four different data acquisition machines. For the past two years, I鈥檝e worked as a solar engineer intern at Ulteig where I help design utility-scale solar power plants. The largest project I got to help with was a 520 MWdc solar project in Texas.听I also develop automation programs for AutoCAD to reduce the amount of repetitive drafting tasks and simulation software to find optimal solar power plant parameters.

I have worked as a lead tutor for the BOLD Center鈥檚 SSC program for three听and a half听years. Our tutoring program offered free walk-in tutoring, where I got to help hundreds of students to study and better understand their class subjects ranging from pre-calculus to classes I was taking at the time. My favorite part of tutoring was when I helped students reach that 鈥渁ha鈥� moment where they finally understood something they hadn鈥檛 before walking into the tutoring center. I also helped to interview new tutors and offer tips and feedback on ways they could improve their teaching style. Currently, I鈥檓 also working as a program assistant for the yearlong mechanical engineering senior design course with Senior Instructor Julie Steinbrenner and Teaching Professor Daria Kotys-Schwartz. In this position, I get to help with class organization and communication,听work with teams on the technical portions of their projects like engineering drawings, test plans, programming听and technical documentation,听and help teams with soft skills and communication.听

In 2018, I did a Maymester abroad to Rome for a class called 鈥淐ulture Wars in Rome.鈥� This course covered how the three main cultural eras of Rome can be seen throughout the city, and we toured dozens of monuments, museums听and parks to better contextualize the glimpses of different points in history. This was the first time I鈥檝e been to Europe, and it was absolutely amazing. As an avid fan of photography and magazine design, I decided to make a 50-page magazine to capture and recount all the memories I had from this experience.听听

If you could relive any moment from your college career, what would it be?

If there was any day I could relive, it would be the day of the 2019 Engineering Projects Expo. Even though my team didn鈥檛 present due to IP reasons, I felt this huge wave of accomplishment and happiness as I walked around and took pictures of all my friends and peers showing off the projects they鈥檇 worked so hard on throughout the year. My family also came up to Boulder to attend Expo and an awards ceremony for when I received the Certificate of Merit. It was awesome to show my parents what my undergraduate engineering experience amounted to all in one day.听

What do you plan to pursue post-graduation?听

As of now, I haven鈥檛 committed to any plans after graduation, but I鈥檓 hoping to find an opportunity in Controls, Systems, or Software Engineering. This semester, I鈥檝e been working on an independent study that involves the stabilization of reverse driving for a car-trailer system, and I took a hands-on controls class that really ignited a passion for controls engineering. After school is over, I鈥檓 planning to jump into the job search!

What is the impact you hope to have on the world?

Though it may sound clich茅, I鈥檓 hoping I can leave the world in a better place. I鈥檓 not particularly sure how I will do that in the future, but I know that if I continue to keep an open mind to all the opportunities around, I鈥檒l find ways that I can fulfill this goal. Throughout my college career, I never foresaw any of these opportunities arising, but after taking them on, I found new ways I could leave an impact in the communities I鈥檝e been involved with. I certainly plan to continue staying involved with the engineering community at 彩民宝典, because it left such an impact on me.

Any closing remarks?

I鈥檇 like to thank my friends, family and mentors throughout my college career. These past five years were unforgettable, and I don鈥檛 think I would have听been successful without the support of so many people. To Drs. Julie Steinbrenner and Daria Kotys-Schwartz, thank you for helping me grow as both a student and program assistant in senior design. To Dr. Beverly Louie and Vanessa Dunn, thank you for helping me find my place in CU and the BOLD community. To Drs. Paul Diduch and Andrea Kowalchuk, thank you for the continuous support and encouragement you鈥檝e offered as both advisors for the Colorado Engineer and professors for the courses I鈥檝e taken. To Dr. Shalom Ruben, thank you for helping me find a passion in controls and optimal design;听it鈥檚 crazy to think I took five classes under you!听

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