Kaden Davison: Outstanding senior in agricultural engineering

Clubs and activities

American Society of Ag and Biological Engineers (ASABE), Power Pullers Club, peer mentoring

Valuable hands-on learning in class

Final course projects were the most valuable. The Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering department is very hands-on and by doing these final course projects like our ABE 4100 CAN project or ABE 4040 instrumentation project, we are able to work on real-life scenarios that are very prominent in the ag engineering industry.

Valuable out-of-the-classroom experience

Internships were most valuable because throughout my internships I was able to gain real-world experience and learn where I want to focus my career in the future.

Most influential mentor

Cole Schafer was my peer mentor my first semester and helped guide me through my first couple years of college.

Best memory/greatest accomplishment

My best memory at Iowa State was Midwest Regional Rally, which was a club trip for ASABE. We got to connect with other ASABE chapters in the Midwest and ASABE members from Iowa State in a more relaxed environment where we all got to know each other better while networking professionally.

Plans after graduation

Upon graduation I will be working as a current product engineer for combines at John Deere.

A memorable moment of kindness

During my freshman year, I attended a freshman welcome event for ASABE. Multiple upperclassmen came up and introduced themselves and talked with us to get us introduced to the club and department. By them coming up and welcoming me, it got me very involved in the department which lead me to be a peer mentor and also welcome new freshmen each fall.

Making my mark on the world

As an engineer, I would like to make farmers’ lives easier and make their operations more profitable by providing agriculture machinery that will maximize their throughput and minimize their losses.

Engineering like a Cyclone Engineer

What’s unique about Iowa State is all of the hands-on labs and experiences in engineering you get while you are here. Most classes have some sort of hands-on portion to them that applies to what you’re learning.

What I’d tell my younger self about Iowa State

I would tell the younger me to make sure to study hard, but get out and make meaningful connections as well. While Iowa State has a great engineering program, the connections made here with classmates and alumni are what set Iowa State apart from other schools.

Most inspiring location on campus

The Sukup Atrium mostly due to all the people that come together there to collaborate and work on projects in a setting that is surrounded by agriculture.