Major: Computer Engineering
Hometown: Moon Township, Pennsylvania
Scholarships: Frank S. Palkovic Trustee Scholarship
Why he chose Behrend: I like the smaller size of the campus and classes. It also had a reputable engineering program.
Why he chose his major: I built my first computer when I was 12 years old and kept tinkering all the way through high school. I was always very curious to learn how each hardware component functions alongside the software.
Challenges overcome: My classes, mainly in my junior year, were each a challenge in and of themselves. The raw amount of material to learn was incredible, but what also made it difficult is that much of that material is built off foundational math and science from your first and second year. You have to really understand the foundations.
Involvement and activities: Computer Engineering Club (president, vice president); Behrend Engineering Ambassadors; Resident Assistant; Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineering Club.
Side quest master: I constantly get sidetracked during homework assignments and projects related to my major because I’ll see some random term I’ve never heard of that sounds interesting and I end up spending a half hour researching it.
What you’d be surprised to know about him: I have dual citizenship in the United States and Spain and my parents are immigrants from Venezuela. That said, my Spanish is not very good!
What he’s passionate about: Lifting weights and anything related to computers, electronics, or communications.
Learning happens outside class, too: You will get as much out of college and your degree as you put into it. Spend as much time as you can going beyond what’s being taught in the classroom. Join clubs, do internships, take on extra projects, or seek out research opportunities with professors. Like Dr. Abdallah Abdallah, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, says: “Use the knowledge taught to you in your courses to build things outside of them.”
Curiosity and enthusiasm matter: Make sure you enjoy what your major has to offer. The best engineers I know are the ones who think about it 24/7. They are the type of people who wake up in the middle of the night with a solution to a problem they’ve been ruminating on for weeks. This doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice a social life or adequate sleep to be a good engineer, but the more curious and enthusiastic you are about your work, the further you will go.
Advice for first-year students: Make an effort to leave your comfort zone. Also, if you didn’t like the person you were becoming before college or wish that you were different in some way, you can reinvent yourself. It’s a whole new start.
Daniel plans to work in the computer engineering field for three to five years and then pursue a master’s degree in computer engineering.
You will get as much out of college and your degree as you put into it.
—Daniel Gayoso