It's Their Job May 9

Name: Hamid Allamehzadeh

Job: Associate professor in electronic engineering technology at Eastern New Mexico University

Background: Allamehzadeh attended Rose State College and then transferred and received a bachelor’s, master’s and a doctorate in electrical engineering at the University of Oklahoma while teaching courses in electromagnetic, circuit and control as a teacher’s assistant. He then was given a job offer at the University of Wisconsin and taught there and from 1998 to the present has taught electronics engineering at ENMU.

Time on job: 12 years

Q. Describe what your job entails?

A. Every course offered in electronic engineering at ENMU has a laboratory. The theory is explained in the classroom, then the students practice the theory in the laboratory.

For example, the circuit course is to design the circuit in the classroom. Then in the laboratory, we build the circuit, test it and verify the result. As a professor in this course, I teach analog electronic engineering, participate on the university committee, and the admissions and standards committee, and the aviation science search committee. 

Q. What is a typical day on the job like for you?

A. I get here at 7:30 a.m. and start by teaching a class in the morning and afternoon. In between there is time to talk to students about homework problems and projects, and if there is a committee meeting, I will attend it.

Q. Why did you choose this job?

A. I would rather teach than work for an engineering company. When I was 12, I liked to work on radios and I built my first AM radio and it worked.

Q. What type of training, if any, do you need for your job?

A. A PhD is the license to teach, while having publications (a written paper in the field of study) is necessary. Also experience supervising various engineering projects plus experience in electrical engineering area. These things are the basis of hiring.

Q. What do you enjoy most about your job?

A. To see all of the students succeed in their career, and the environment at ENMU while interacting with the faculty. My colleagues are enjoyable; they’re good people. One of the main reasons I stay here is because of the professional and personal support.