Eduardo Trujillo

Engineering Futures Scholar

Many engineering students say they have known they wanted to pursue this career field from an early age, mainly from having that natural curiosity as a child to take things apart and put them back together.

Eduardo Trujillo, a first-generation mechanical engineering student who grew up in Chino Valley, Arizona, said he wasn’t any different than that growing up. Since the fifth grade, he said he wanted to know how things functioned and fit together and was successful at times.

“I’ve always been interested in how things move and how they work,” Trujillo said.

During high school, Trujillo took half dual enrollment classes and took engineering classes off campus prior to attending ASU. 

He chose ASU because it’s close to home, and he has a tailored interest in the automotive industry.

Trujillo said because he is the first of his family to experience something like this, his family struggles to answer college-related questions on how to do certain things throughout this process. 

During the transition from high school to college, he said that he didn’t realize the magnitude of the campus at Arizona State University and underestimated how much there was to offer here. 

One of the challenges Trujillo said he’s overcome since attending ASU is time management. He said he overcame it by organizing all of his homework, studying, reading and researching job possibilities in the automotive engineering field. 

He said he uses a calendar to help organize his schedule and to keep track of mental notes to help manage stress. 

Some of the advice Trujillo said he has regarding stress-management for incoming freshmen is to not overthink things because college is not as scary as it might seem. 

“Do the best you can really,” Trujillo said. “Staying mentally and physically healthy is really important so don’t stress about it too much.”

Trujillo said he’s looking forward to understanding more in the automotive engineering field. He said his favorite part about this semester is the people because the campus allows students to meet people from diverse backgrounds from all around the world. 

“There’s a lot of diverse areas, whether it’s in your class or your floor, it’s a very diverse place that has a lot of unique people,” Trujillo said.” 

By Laura Stack, Science and Technology Writer, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
February 20, 2020