Sam McDowell

Tempe, AZ 85281 • (520) 429-9184 • sam@sammcdowell.org

I'm currently a junior at Arizona State University studying electrical engineering, specializing in signal processing, with an additional focus on computer science. I am also a student member of the Barrett Honors College.

I find myself naturally drawn to fields that demand a rigorous, logical approach, such as mathematics, science, and engineering. I enjoy working with data and algorithms, seeing how things come together in a way which could not easily be foreseen.

Feel free to look around the site to see all that I have to offer, and if you have any questions, please contact me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Experience

Subject Area Tutor

ASU Academic Support Network

I was a tutor at ASU's tutoring center, helping students with a variety of subjects. I specialized in physics, computer science, and mathematics courses, especially high-level calculus.

Spring 2024

Early Childhood Program Assistant

Via Montessori Preschool

I worked as a teachers' assistant for a montessori summer program. I worked with children aged three to ten, organizing activities and assisting the lead teacher however I could.

Summer 2023

Line Cook

Dias Management Inc.

I was a line cook at a local McDonald's restaurant, working as a part of a team in a fast-paced environment to fill orders as quickly as possible.

April 2021 - May 2022

Education

Arizona State University

Bachelor of Science
Electrical Engineering - Signal Processing Specialization

GPA: 4.22 (4.0 unweighted)

Fall 2022 - Present

Tanque Verde High School

High School Diploma
Accelerated 3-year graduate

GPA: 4.0

Fall 2019 - Spring 2022

Projects

Solar Car Team

ASU Club

I am a member of the Solar Devils club at ASU where I am a member of the electrical team. The purpose of the club is to design and build a solar powered vehicle in order to participate in the "American Solar Challenge" collegiate solar car competition. Within the electrical team, I am a part of the solar subteam, working in a small team to research, configure, and implement the components of the vehicle relating to photovoltaic generation.

Fall 2023 - Present

Binary Logic Calculator

Honors Contract

I independently designed and implemented a Java-based UI application capable of processing binary data in diverse formats, including boolean algebraic expressions. This software then generates a corresponding truth table, Karnaugh map, and simplified equation, providing valuable insights for digital design applications.

Spring 2023

From Scratch Microprocessor

Course Project

Over the course of a semester, I designed all of the necessary components to create a simple 4-bit Von Neumann microprocessor.

Spring 2023

Tamper-Resistant Bike Lock

Course Project

In this project, my group and I set out to develop and build a design for a bike lock that would deter theft. It included an RFID sensor to unlock the lock and an alarm that would sound when the device was tampered with. This project involved working through the engineering-design process while working as a team.

Fall 2022

Stoichiometric Calculator

Honors Contract

Stoichiometric equations are used to calculate the inputs and outputs of a chemical reaction. I designed software which takes information about the inputs or outputs of a reaction and uses stoichiometry to solve for unknown quantities.

Fall 2022

Markov Chain String Generator

Honors Contract

I created a piece of software in C++ which would calculate the probability that a specific character would follow another character in a dataset of strings and create a probability matrix. From this, the software would then generate a list of new strings based on this matrix.

Fall 2022

Newton's Method Calculator

Personal Project

Newton's method is a strategy of finding the zeros of an equation using derivatives. I designed this software which employs MATLAB's symbolic math toolbox to use Newton's method to find zeros.

Fall 2022

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