About

I came to mechanical engineering because I was good at math and science and wanted a career where I could make things and work on new technology rather than push paper. That's still what I look for.

The shape of work I like is: understand what a system needs, turn that into requirements for one part of it, then design that part so it actually works within the whole. The piezoelectric amplifier at AME gave me that experience. I wasn't designing a standalone mechanism; I was working within a fixed constraint set, using FEA to shape the amplifier around those constraints, and ultimately making a physical part that had to integrate into the larger system. The amplifier is has its own page under products where you can find more details.

The HVAC work at Power Design gave me another side of that process — load calculations, equipment selection, and coordination within a building model. What I want more of is the responsibility for taking a component from a system-level need through a physical design that has to fit, function, and interact with everything around it.

The most useful thing anyone has told me came from the machine shop. I'd designed a mount to connect the amplifier to the vortex generators, planned it fully, and met every requirement I'd written down. The machinists told me it wasn't manufacturable and that trying would probably break the part. My analysis wasn't wrong — I'd solved the problem I'd defined, and left manufacturability out of the definition. They'd seen the constraint I hadn't thought to write down. I try now to find those people before the part gets cut.

I coordinate our college Makerspace, which is where most of my hands-on time comes from. I run the 3D printers, maintain and repair them, and help students work out how to print what they've designed. I've trained people on the drill press and band saw too, though I'd call myself competent rather than good on those. I helped open the facility, drafting its operating policy and safety procedures.