Spring 2021 Outstanding Graduate: Daniel Elerding

Daniel Elerding is a fourth year Mechanical Engineering student graduating this May 2021. Daniel’s aspirations of becoming an engineer were reinforced when taking a project-based physics class in high school that ignited his interest in the iterative process of designing, constructing, and testing.

Upon arrival at San Diego State University, Daniel joined ASME and remained dedicated to his studies. In his junior year, Daniel joined Tau Beta Pi. This year, he has been working on his senior design capstone project which is to design a horizontal turbine tower that is capable of simultaneously accommodating a smaller vertical axis wind turbine.

Daniel spent the last winter interning at Ascent Inc, an HVAC firm where he functioned as an Associate Sales Engineer. Daniel appreciated seeing the applications of the thermodynamics, heat transfer, mechanical and thermal systems, etc. that he has learned here at SDSU. This gave Daniel an excellent glimpse into the HVAC industry, which he may further pursue upon graduation.

Daniel is excited to apply what he has learned at SDSU in one of the many engineering fields that interests him. He is proud of his hard work and is grateful for the support of his friends, family, and mentors. Outside of school, Daniel enjoys hiking, mountain biking, soccer, frisbee, learning to surf, and going to the gym.