John Schnoebelen

General Education Reflection – More than Scientific Problems

When I decided I wanted to become a computer engineer at Iowa State University, I

knew I wanted to be more than the classic stereotype programmer who sits at a desk all day

coding by myself. I wanted to continue to develop my personal skills and ideas, which is

sometimes harder to do with an engineering curriculum.

One of my biggest passions in high-school was music, so during my first semester here at Iowa

State, I signed up for Music 102 – Intro to Music Listening. This class taught me the importance

of “active listening”, whether it be a song or a conversation, “active listening” is where we are

actively engaged in our surroundings, which improves our retention of a song or conversation,

and notice elements that were unknown beforehand. This has directly benefited me in my

career, where communication will always be crucial, especially in my future job when meeting

with business analysts to translate client problems into programming requirements.

I enjoyed Music 102 so much I took the next class by the same professor which was Music 304 –

History of Rock and Roll. This continued to expand on the idea of “active listening” but went

more in depth of the cultural impact of leaving the Great Depression, with the combination of

different cultures’ music in America that eventually led to the birth of Rock and Roll. Different

cultures and ideologies led to the birth of one of the greatest music genres, this same principle

of different ideas from people of various backgrounds helps lead to success in any project or
company. People’s strengths and weaknesses will always be different, which is what makes

teams so powerful at solving problems when managed correctly.

Two classes that I found very useful were Econ 101 – Microeconomics and Econ 102 –

Macroeconomics, I believe these two classes should be essential to an education, as having an

understanding on how supply and demand affects markets is vital to anyone who creates a

good or service in a company.

One big engineering problem facing the world today is making solar energy more economical.

Currently less than 1% of the world is powered by solar energy, by making it cheaper than

conventional power, the demand of solar will greatly increase, thus powering major cities.

Which is a modern issue I learned about in Arch 321 – History of the American City, as our

major cities continue to grow in population.

In Arch – 321, we studied the development of the built environment and urban condition in the

United States from the colonial period to today. Attention was focused on urban spatial

organization, built form, technological change, regulatory and funding patterns, and social

problems. Another major problem facing America is restoring and improving the existing

infrastructure, modernizing our cities for centuries ahead. This will have both a cultural and

economic impact as technology continues to advance and the population increases. Any

changes will need to consider the social impact, such as historical buildings, or environmental

as cities become larger and buildings get taller. Planning is essential to cities, as many variables

can be unpredictable when changes are made, proper communication and analysis on any

project will be crucial to a cities’ citizens wellbeing.

Engineering to me is so much more than the solving of scientific problems, but the process of

solving problems for people. What impact will our decisions have on society as technology

changes, what ethical choices will need to be made in our field? Engineering involves complex

problems, and general education courses have helped me to see those complex problems from

a different angle that I may not have considered before.