From podcast student host to engineering student representative, Drew DeHaven is focused on making an impact on other students – and letting their voices be heard.
DeHaven, a senior in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, joined the Student Engineers’ Council (SEC) in 2019 and is now a part of the legislation committee, which bridges the gap between students and faculty in the college by relaying the perspective of the engineering student body to the college administration. Each year, the committee drafts an Engineering Student Survey for all engineering students and presents the results to the dean, associate deans, department heads and program directors of the college.
“I think getting to present these results to faculty and leadership is a very important job, and I'm really glad I've gotten a chance to be on the committee that gets to do that.”
Continuing his desire to hear from his peers, DeHaven is the first student host of the Texas A&M Engineering: SoundBytes podcast segment “Just a SEC” which, in partnership with the SEC, focuses on conversations about lessons in leadership, best practices for growing a professional network and highlighting the transition between education and industry. He and fellow student Ritika Bhattacharjee co-host “The Study Break,” which explores the Texas A&M engineering community through conversations about students’ lives and experiences in the College of Engineering.
“Everyone really does have an interesting story to tell and a unique experience, and our job is to get that story out of them,” DeHaven said. “That's something we've had to grow in as our roles as hosts, as well as getting authentic conversations and getting people to share those really interesting stories.”
At the end of the day, what I have enjoyed the most about my time at A&M is all of the many opportunities for friendship and personal development. I hope that anyone who reads this remembers to seize the day and live boldly and purposefully. Life happens fast; don’t forget to make it interesting.
As a senior in electrical engineering, DeHaven gets to explore his interest in electricity and magnetism and his passion to build and design.
“With electrical, I can design anything from entire power grids that help support states or nations, or I could work on the smallest of devices that get made trillions and trillions of times, such as transistors,” he explained. “I like the scale that it offers.”
This summer, DeHaven took his interest in design and completed a virtual internship with Texas Instruments, where he served in an application engineering role. He worked on the radar team that built and designed radars for use in industries such as health care, automotive and industrial.
Looking ahead, DeHaven is still deciding whether to pursue a master’s degree with a focus on signal processing or to pursue employment within industry.
“At the end of the day, what I have enjoyed the most about my time at A&M is all of the many opportunities for friendship and personal development,” he said. “I hope that anyone who reads this remembers to seize the day and live boldly and purposefully. Life happens fast; don’t forget to make it interesting.”