In 2020, Kelvin Quacoe-Dameshie, a former Watkins Mill HS and Montgomery College alumni, began his UMD journey becoming one of the university’s first-ever CPSE graduates. Upon graduation in 2022, Kelvin remarked how “the program enabled me to gain knowledge in multiple different aspects of technology, and after graduating with my degree, I believed it made me more marketable to employers”.
One of the newest and most exciting undergraduate engineering programs today is Cyber-Physical Systems Engineering (CPSE). This cutting-edge program is offered by the University of Maryland, College Park, A. James Clark School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) Rockville campus. Its focus on the intersection of computing/communications with the physical world and its specializations in programming, networks, cybersecurity, and machine learning, make it an excellent choice for students interested in pursuing a career in a rapidly growing engineering field.
After graduating, Kelvin began working at Alarm.com as a Product Manager within their commercial team. His area of focus is currently “Access Control”. Kelvin works in a collaborative role where he interacts with different kinds of people ranging from software engineers to quality engineers and even other product managers in order to develop products and features that would be great for consumers. Kelvin expressed how “the [CPSE] program means a lot to me because it gave me the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding and professional level [of] experience in something that I am very passionate about, which is technology”.
Originally, Kelvin’s college journey began at Montgomery College, where he worked towards his associate’s degree in General Studies with a STEM concentration. Soon after, Kelvin chose the Cyber-Physical Systems Engineering Program offered by the University of Maryland, College Park’s prestigious Clark School of Engineering. The field was increasingly of interest to him and gave him the opportunity to be a pioneer in a new and emerging market. Training in directly marketable technical skills paired with the fact that the USG Rockville campus was much closer to his home, were major factors in his decision to apply for the program.
There had been a multitude of projects that Kelvin enjoyed working on while in the program. This included using sensors to send data to the Microsoft Azure Cloud, processing data remotely, and programming devices at the logic gate level. Kelvin also benefited from internship experiences he had while enrolled in CPSE, specifically while working as a Product Manager Intern at Motorola Solutions. Here, he had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of product managers and help drive product strategy.
The UMD CPSE program at USG provides students like Kelvin with a comprehensive and interdisciplinary education that includes integrating physical systems with advanced computing, networking, and communication technologies. The program has a two-year degree plan designed to provide students with rigorous training in hardware and software which also includes hands-on experience in areas such as advanced FPGA system design, embedded systems, computer vision, microelectronics, and sensors. Students are exposed to techniques and tools of the practice and become proficient in Java, C/C++, Python, Verilog coding, and other hardware descriptive languages. Kelvin’s training across broad technical areas had made him highly desirable in the professional workplace.
This program is a great option for Montgomery College graduates looking to transfer but if you or someone you know is interested, whether they’re looking for a job in industry or to further their education, the CPSE program provides the knowledge and skills they’ll need to succeed.
Interested in learning more? Visit: https://shadygrove.ece.umd.edu/ and find them on social media @umdcpse
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