Student profile: An inside look at balancing work and school

• Name: Martin Myszynski
• Professional master's subplan: Power electronics 

Tell us a little about your professional and/or educational background.

I did my undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York. After graduating in 2015, I worked for a consulting company in power engineering in southern California where they mainly focused on medium voltage distribution systems in school campuses and specifying the cables, the transformers, creating the drawings, and so forth. After a year of that, I wasn’t really stimulated so I went to a company that I still work for remotely called Extron Electronics. They deal with audio/video products for commercial space, and CU Boulder actually has quite a few of their products. In general, I deal with the audio side — anything power and electronics related. That’s my background prior to coming to CU in 2021. 

What made you decide to pursue a professional master’s in power electronics at CU Boulder?

It has a lot to do with the subject matter of power and electronics, which is something that I had a passion for since I was in high school. My parents had a gas-guzzler of a car, and I had to pay for the gas to get to school. Instead, I bought an electric bike, and I got really excited and wondered how this thing works? It can be powered by the sun? What?! So that sparked my interest, and then I realized I really wanted to get into electrical engineering. During my undergraduate studies, I asked a professor if they could steer me in the right direction for further studying (what schools are good at this; what programs) and he gave me a textbook by Professors Dragan Maksimovic and Robert Erickson, who lead the program here at CU. I looked at the textbook and I thought wow … this is very complicated and detailed, but I was also intrigued. After receiving my bachelor's degree, I wanted to go into the industry and that’s what I did, but a few years ago when I was thinking of applying for a master's program the first school I looked at was CU Boulder. I read more about Professor Erickson and Professor Maksimovic and their background and experience in the industry. They were just spewing out knowledge from that area and I thought if you can learn from the best, why not? Based on all that and knowing I wanted to do power electronics, CU and the professional master's program they offer was the top choice. 

What is the most interesting thing you learned or explored during your time in the program?

Everything’s been interesting, but one thing that stood out is a course that Professor Maksimovic teaches — an electric vehicle course. For just one day, he spoke about a concept called space vector modulation, which is an interesting way of driving electric motors to get the most out of them. When he was explaining the concept, it was a super interesting, out-of-the-box way of thinking, which is what made me want to become an engineer in the first place. This is also what’s happening now in the industry and is used as a standard, so I just found that even though it was a short discussion, it was a specific topic that I found fascinating.

I think I would consider that class (ECEN 5607: Power Electronics for Electrified Transportation) my favorite, because a lot of the classes go very deep into the theory, which is important, but that class added a whole layer of practicality to it. Professor Maksimovic taught about so many different things — the batteries systems, the motor itself, different perspectives, and although some of the concepts were only one class or a class and a half, I feel like I got the most out of it. Electric vehicles is the industry I really want to get into too, so I valued it the most. 

My experience in the program has been great. All of these professors have a lot of knowledge and they’re very experienced, which is very valuable and I take to heart as an engineer. There’s little tidbits that they’ll mention in class like “after 40 years, I learned that this never works”, or “that this is the way it’s done,” and those are very valuable as they are important beyond the theoretical experience. I’d say most of the professors here, if not all, have had this type of experience.

What do you hope to do after you finish your degree?

I graduate in May, and I think the goal is to continue in the audio industry at least for the short term, and now I have a much better understanding, so hopefully I can lead a team and move up. As I mentioned, the true career goal is definitely to work in the electric vehicle industry and electric transportation in general, which includes the sustainability side, the wind and solar power, and all the power electronics related to those. It’s definitely a growing field but it’s also very competitive — there’s not that many people in the program and there’s not many people who do power electronics, but current EV companies are looking for the best of the best. That is motivating but also it can be kind of tough, and you’re kind of dedicating your life, and that’s something to chew on for sure.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering pursuing a professional master’s in power electronics?

I would say if you haven’t applied, definitely apply. I think one of the most interesting things about power electronics is that there are a lot of different encompassing areas of electrical engineering within it, and you can learn a lot about every area. You might choose a different path later, but the program offers you a decent amount of detail about a lot of different areas of electrical engineering. I would say if you’re excited about it all, it’d be a good program. You get to learn a lot about control systems, which is fascinating, and the power electronics curriculum spends a lot of time in that area. You get quite proficient with circuit foundations and understanding circuits from a general standpoint. It is a very up-and-coming industry, and you’ll learn from some of the best professors — Erickson, Maksimovic, Corradini. In general, the program at CU is very established and well regarded.

It’s not the easiest program in the world, but it’s also not the most difficult, and I think if you’re willing to put in some time, the classes are so established and well understood that they really provide you with the tools to succeed and be rewarded, especially when you get back into the industry. So I would just say if you’re willing to put in the time, do it!

Have you found doing the master's and working at the same time to be manageable?

Yes, though it depends on the semester. This spring semester and last spring I only took two courses, and that’s kind of the mid-level standard in this program that you are told to take, and it’s manageable. If you’re working full time, I would say that it would be very difficult to take two courses at once. Two classes and then part-time work for about 16 hours is what I’ve been doing and it’s somewhat manageable to still have a life and have at least one day off like a Saturday to do whatever I want. However, if you want to graduate in two years it usually requires a semester or two with three courses. Luckily the company I work for is very understanding, but I ended up with four to eight hours a week of work those semesters

When you’re not working or studying, what do you like to do? 

Another reason to come to CU is not just for engineering, but the fact that it’s an awesome area in Colorado with so many things to do; there’s never a dull moment around here. I considered that in my decision to come here. I do a lot of hiking, some cycling, not as much camping anymore but I do enjoy it. It’s cliche to say, but the outdoors is the thing to do around here. I’ve gotten into mountain biking but am more of a road cycler. I am really fascinated with cycling, especially fixing bikes too. It’s always been a passion of mine. In general I enjoy most of the outdoor activities in Boulder and the surrounding areas. I have another hobby that’s more of an engineering hobby where I spend a lot of time researching electrical engineering products that interest me as I move into the consumer space, not commercial space as much. So I kind of keep up with that, especially in aerospace.