My name is Pedro Lopez and I graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in May 2003. I am currently working for Alliant Energy in Madison, WI. Alliant Energy is an investor owned utility company that provides electric and natural gas service. Alliant has customers in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. I started at Alliant as a Rotational Engineer which meant that I spent 6-9 months in four different departments for the first two years. I have worked in Delivery System Planning, System Protection, Distribution Engineering, and Substation Engineering. Currently, I am a Delivery System Planner in the Delivery System Planning department.

As a System Planner, I perform system analysis studies for Alliant’s northeast service territory. The studies include short and long term plans for the area. The plans developed from the studies enhance or maintain the safety, operation, and reliability of the system.

While I was at Rose-Hulman, I did not appreciate the education that I was receiving. I was more concerned with the quarter ending and inching closer to graduation. My freshman year started with enthusiasm and an interest to open the next chapter in my life. By my senior year, I was ready to get out of Terre Haute, IN. and leave the long hours of homework, the labs, and the four hour finals.

Now that I have been away from Rose for a few years, I realize the value in the education that I obtained in my four years there. I was able to have a summer internship in the engineering field every summer. I was able to take courses in my field of interest, power engineering, during my senior year. Now that I have been in industry for a few years, I have realized that not many of my co-workers have had the same opportunities that I had in taking courses related to the power industry. There are not many schools that offer electives in the power sector. By Rose-Hulman offering such courses, I was able to obtain internships with utility companies after my sophomore and junior years, which then open the door for a full time position with a utility company.

The education I received at Rose has been very beneficial for my career. I left Rose with confidence and an ability to perform in the professional world.