Outstanding Senior Fall 2019 – Nathaniel Hall

Most influential ISU mentor: My freshman learning community peer mentor was the most influential during my time at ISU. He convinced me stick with engineering even though my first semester was a little rough.

Why Iowa State: I chose to attend Iowa State due to its proximity to home and its prestigious engineering program.

Nathaniel Hall has not only been an agricultural engineering student, but also an employee of the ABE Department in his time at ISU.

Hall worked as an ABE Department student innovation center laboratory employee, where he operated a FLOW waterjet and assisted students and faculty with other projects as needed.

Rob Hartmann was Hall’s supervisor at the ABE student innovation center laboratory.

“In his role, Nathaniel was always proactive and forward-thinking in his approach to his tasks and I could entrust him to work independently on small to medium-sized projects with minimal supervision,” Hartmann said. “Nathaniel worked hard to learn the various aspects and functions of the lab, and when lab activity was quiet, he was always working to learn new fabrication processes.”

Hall was also an ABE learning community peer mentor, where he led weekly meetings to assist freshmen and transfer students during their transition to Iowa State.

“He, very successfully, led his group of transfer students through their first semester,” said Lindsay Frueh, academic adviser. “He took personal ownership of his group, in making sure they understood and learned the material of the labs his group participated in. Nathaniel was a true role model for our first year ABE students.”

Hall is a member of Theta Chi Fraternity and held multiple leadership positions during his time in the fraternity. He served as the community service coordinator from 2015-17, where he organized volunteer opportunities for the men in the chapter and encouraged them to get involved in the community. He also served as property manager, which prioritized the upkeep of the chapter house and ensured member safety.

Hall also served as the fabrication team leader for the ISU ITEC Robotics Club from March-December of 2018. In this role he delegated tasks for members to complete to assist in designing robot components according to competition constraints and criterion.

Along with his on-campus employment experience, Hall worked as a design engineer intern at Vermeer Corporation in the summer of 2019. At this position he designed machines and machine components. After graduation, Hall will continue at Vermeer in a full-time engineering position.