The College of Engineering - 2010 Celebration

Peter Renner

Electrical & Computer Engineering, Class of 2007

“If you get it to work, you get an ‘A.’ If not, you fail.” If only all of Peter Renner’s story were so simple.

Rowan mechanical engineering Professor Dr. Hong Zhang set those terms for Renner and his team before they entered the Indoor Aerial Robotics Competition in Spring 2006. Through this competition, his engineering education at Rowan and experiences upon graduation – it is safe to say that Renner deserves an ‘A.’  

While at Rowan, Renner was vice chair of Rowan’s student chapter of IEEE for a year, was vice president of Rowan Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society for another year; and was awarded the C. Ernest O’Neal Medallion Award for Electrical and Computer Engineering, presented to one Rowan Electrical and Computer Engineering student annually.

In 2006, Renner used his Rowan knowledge to study laser spectroscopy at the Centre de Physique Mol’eculaire Optique et Hertzienne in Bordeaux, France. For every student admitted to the program, nine others were rejected.

Upon graduating from Rowan in May 2007, Renner brought his abilities to the Naval Research Lab (NRL) in Washington, D.C.

“At the NRL, I had to design and build a power supply and oscillator for a project,” said Renner. “It went pretty smoothly because I had already done both at Rowan.”

Three months later, Renner set his sights on Metz, France, to earn a Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, with a Telecommunications Concentration, from the Georgia Institute of Technology Lorraine and a Master’s in Microwaves and Electromagnetism from another academic institution in Toulouse, France. While the transition to a more theoretical master’s program was initially a challenge, Renner succeeded in the new role.       

“Rowan definitely gave me the background knowledge, such as digital signal processing and electromagnetics, to be able to succeed in graduate school. I’m thankful to many of the professors for being so challenging in subjects that I really needed later,” said Renner, of Atlanta, Ga.

Currently working for Satimo, a microwave vision company, Renner contributes to antenna research projects in Paris and Kennesaw, Ga.

“I'm also really thankful for all the advice and personal attention I got from my professors at Rowan,” said Renner. “I think I was one of the rare students who took full advantage of being able to talk to your professors.  Some of them talked to me for an hour or more at a time about my professional career, and I know that their time is worth a lot.”