“I wasn’t even considering a Master’s Degree in the first place. Then, I heard of this professor that had some very interesting work related to the automotive industry.”
When Alex Wang graduated from Hudson College in 2014, he went on to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering at McMaster University. After finishing his undergraduate degree in 2019, Alex pursued and finished a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Power Engineering.
By the end of high school, Alex knew that he wanted to apply to the engineering programs, but had to make the tough decision between applying to Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering.
Then, he found an interesting program at McMaster. “It basically melded two programs together with electrical engineering students and computer engineering students. They were under the same department,” Alex explained. “For the first three years, they shared very similar courses.”
Alex was also particularly interested in this program at McMaster because it included a co-op program. During Alex’s 16-month co-op term in his third year of university, he worked for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. “I was working as an Engineering Intern under a group within Highway Management. Mostly, the group was working on lighting on highways, but that particular year, we had an interesting project. It was the first year that the ministry started [installing] electrical vehicle charging stations in parking lots.”
However, Alex admitted that these projects weren’t necessarily about engineering. “It was more project management based. The consulting firm did most of the design work, while we did the management work, but it was still pretty fun.”
After Alex’s co-op placement, he realized that the job he was doing during his internship wasn’t what he wanted to do in his career. It was during his Master’s Degree when he really focused on developing a career in the EV automotive industry, through his industry project. “For my Master’s, I basically had two projects. There was an industry project, and there was also my own thesis project; for the industry projects, we were working closely with Fiat Chrysler,” Alex explained.
Alex feels that his Master’s Degree has opened up a variety of opportunities for him. “With my Bachelor’s Degree and the skills I developed through the program, I didn’t think I was going to get a job,” Alex said. “I wanted to be more prepared, and I feel like doing the Master’s Degree has paid off so far.”
While Alex is now extremely glad he pursued his Master’s since it led him to his ideal career path, completing a post-graduate degree wasn’t always in his plans. When Alex reflected on where he thought he would be while he was in high school, he said, “I didn’t really think about what I was going to do. I wasn’t even considering a Master’s Degree in the first place. Then, I heard of this professor that had some very interesting works related to the automotive industry.” The same professor was hiring students to help with a competition. Alex worked with him for a summer, which then provided the motivation to apply to graduate school and pursue a career in the automotive industry.
Now working for a tier-one Electrified Powertrain Company as a Research Engineer, Alex looks back at his time at Hudson with appreciation for the university preparation. “The teaching resources were excellent. All of my teachers made a huge impact both in my personal and academic life.”
Alex even went on to adopt a husky puppy, adding, “Hudson is definitely the biggest reason that I fell in love with the breed.”
