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ABOUT ME

Earl R. Watkins II

Electrical Engineering B.S. Student.

 

Electronics is more than just a career to me. It is a passion I involve myself in both in and out of class. I relish the opportunities that allow me to apply my problem solving skillset. It is also a pleasure to advance my personal ability by creating projects such as those found under my engineering artifacts. The idea of applying my abilities in the real world is the drive that pushes me to succeed day after day in my current academic atmosphere.

I spent the first part of my life out of school working in the residential construction trades. This experience has given me an end user's point of view on the products that I work on. The last part of the trades I worked in was as a residential electrician in western Kansas. By working for myself directly for the customer I found a method f serving the customer that has allowed me to leave happy customers in my path.

During my time since returning to school I have been active in various university organizations. I started off doing research in the High Altitude Balloon Research,HAB, group at Fort Hays State University,FHSU.The research was headed by Dr. Paul Adams. In this critical first semester at FHSU I showed Dr. Adams my ability to pick up the slack. This led to me becoming the Project Manager of the research as Dr. Adams duties at the university took up more and more of his time. Starting the third semester He asked me and my fellow HAB researcher to be the inaugural employees of the FHSU MakerSpace. To view the associated projects: CLICK HERE.

After a single semester at this Dr. Adams was promoted to Dean of the college of Education at FHSU giving him even less time to oversee departments like the MakerSpace. Again I was put in a position of management, as Student Director of the MakerSpace. My duties were to make sure the MakerSpace operated effectively, preparing for hosted events, and keeping the employees busy. To view the projects I worked on in the MakerSpace: CLICK HERE.

When I came to Kansas State University I was invited to check out the Robotics Competition Team,RCT. Within the first 5 minutes I was the lead electrical engineering student in the club. My duties were to relay with the other lead students to interface with the software as well as the components already selected. Beyond this It was my duty to prototype the hardware so that it worked and then trade over to a custom PCB. To view this project: CLICK HERE.

In my personal time I am working on a few projects. Though these projects are in varied levels of completion they do a good job of showing that my drive to create isn't created by the promise of a grade or a club membership but rather my own desire to tinker and create. These projects can be viewed if you: CLICK HERE.

Above I can be seen in orange sitting at the Kansas State University Amatuer Radio Club, W0QQQ, booth at the Mini Maker Faire in Aggieville on 9/12/15.

 

My hobbies include:

  • Unmanned Aerial Systems

  • Amatuer Radio

  • Disc Golf

  • Tinkering

  • Tearing apart broken electronics.

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