Professional Statement

 

I am an second year engineering science student at University of Toronto. Throughout these years, I've experienced numerous design projects in class and out. The most memorable of which, in part due to perpetual stress and strain, is the CIV 102 card board bridge project. Had someone told me a few months earlier that I will build a bridge that supports loads orders of magnitude its own weight; I would think it impossible, at least with what I know so far. But I doubted I could not. In high school, I had minimal machining experience, yet I managed to jury-rig some facsimile of a go-kart I had seen in a book. Long and arduous work does not daunt me. In fact, I enjoyed the hours I spent fashioning a model rocket, though I had neither idea nor help save a handy NASA rocket modeller. The finished product may not be what one considers pretty or elegant, but it still works. For every problem I approach, if I can't solve it cleverly, I'll solve it eventually.
 
Both a strength and liability, determination compels me to solve the problem, wisely or otherwise. Upon reflection of lecture praxis lectures, and exposure to concepts regarding the way a person thinks (heuristics) I see the common fallacies more poignantly in my mode of operation. At times, I find myself substituting difficult and ambiguous Praxis problems with more concrete questions. All these learning modes, as pointed out by Daniel Kahneman in "Thinking, Fast and Slow", may be helpful in common and mundane contexts; however, in engineering design, a more structured and logical approach is required. 

 

In Praxis, I was exposed to numerous engineering design processes. Though the minutiae vary from model to model, the general outline is constant, concisely summarized by Mr.Pugh as "generation and evaluation". Though the multiple iterations of this sequence introduce an element of concurrent design, it is not quite as lateral as idealized in "Out of Control" by Kevin Kelly. Kelly introduced me to systems that operate on the actions of numerous 'dumb' actors that result in a 'smart' result. I try to find ways to fit such theories from the literature I read into my own actions. This is also compatible with the iterative process required in engineering. 

 

Please find links to my personal design process, and past works and other artifacts below or the menu above.