Michael Peterson
- Major: Industrial engine
ering - GPA: 3.87
- Hometown: Des Moines, Iowa
- Career goal: To assume an executive position with Procter & Gamble and become an expert in multiple areas of the business.
- Clubs/activities: Engineering Career Fair executive team, Engineer’s Week committee member, FarmHouse Fraternity, ISU Sports Analytics Club
- Awards/honors: 2019 Most Innovative Project Award (Boeing’sIndustrial Engr. Intern class), top 2% of engineering class, Presidential Award for Competitive Excellence Scholarship, Cardinal Leadership Scholar Award
- Favorite place on campus: The walk between Curtiss & Beardshear Halls
- Most influential ISU mentor: Frank Peters, director of the Study Abroad Center and C.G. “Turk” and Joyce A. Therkildsen Professor in Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering
- Why Iowa State: Quality engineering program and proximity to home
ering
Michael Peterson has a long list of involvements and honors, but knows none of it would be possible without his strong interpersonal skills.
“The soft, conversational skills learned outside of the classroom are as important, if not more important, than the technical skills,” said Peterson.
Peterson’s strong interpersonal skills led to him holding leadership positions in many organizations and clubs. He served on the logistics committee for the Engineering Career Fair executive team, where he organized hundreds of employers to meet with students at Hilton Coliseum. In this role, he also helped freshmen through their first career fairs, giving presentations to Engineering 101 classes, and giving them advice on how to interact with potential employers.
Peterson also served as a committee member for Engineer’s Week, where he organized events and student outreach in an effort to expand the organization.
Peterson has had four different internships and co-ops since his freshman year. He worked in multiple industries during these positions, including construction estimating, technology and aerospace industries.
One of Peterson’s most notable accomplishments is the time he spent working abroad on a co-op for Airbus Defence and Space. As a production planning and control intern on the A400M program, Peterson was in Germany for six months in spring 2018, learning and assisting in the production of airplanes in a different culture.
Summer of 2019, Peterson worked for The Boeing Company in Seattle. He was tasked as an industrial engineer on the NMA (New Midsize Aircraft) program designing the production system of future airplane manufacturing. He had the opportunity to get heavily involved simulation techniques and practices.
He has also worked at Businessolver in West Des Moines, IA, as a continuous quality improvement intern from November 2016-August 2017.
With help from his extensive internship and co-op experience, Peterson accepted a position with Procter & Gamble as a process engineer in Iowa City, Iowa.