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EDUCATION

Royal College of Art and Imperial College London (2019-2021)

MA & MSc Innovation Design Engineering: Pass with Merit

I've just graduated from the IDE double masters program, run jointly by the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. IDE is a world-leading, interdisciplinary course that focuses on the exploration and development of impactful innovation. I used this opportunity to fully develop my design skills to complement my engineering background allowing me to become a successful innovator. My place was generously funded by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.

Cambridge University, Robinson College (2015-2019)

MEng & BA Mechanical Engineering: First Class with Distinction

During my time at Cambridge, I focused on materials and design, with final year modules including: Designing with Composites, Design Methods, Management of Technology, Climate Change Mitigation, Design Case Studies, and Strategic Management. My final year project involved designing, building and analysing a reconstruction of an automatic file-cutting machine, based on a 500-year-old sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. I excelled throughout my course, receiving many awards (as detailed below) and being awarded a first in my final year project and exams. 

Tonbridge School, Kent (2010 – 2015)

A-Levels: 5 at A* grade

GCSEs: 10 at A* grade

WORK EXPERIENCE

KwickScreen, London, UK - 2020

Worked in the R&D department where I lead the design of two brand new products as part of their latest range of retractable infection control and privacy screens for hospitals and medical environments.  My designs dramatically rethought the way the products worked, leading to concepts which the team had previously thought were impossible.  One of the products I designed was preparing to be moved into production at the end of my internship, and will eventually act as a more multi-functional and compact alternative to their flagship product. The other product revealed how the cost of one of their main product lines could be significantly reduced whilst also simplifying the installation process. This work demonstrates my ability to combine my engineering and design skills to create effective and innovative new products which are developed through rapid prototyping.

 

UseLess Group, University of Cambridge, UK - 2018

Short summer internship working in a research group which focuses on developing more sustainable manufacturing processes. For the group I produced engineering drawings of components for a new machine using an existing Solidworks model. I also made modifications to the model to include previously omitted light gate sensors and produced revised drawings for the relevant parts. I also produced a complete Solidworks model of the group’s laboratory space and developed a new layout to make space for the new machine. This work demonstrates my comfort with using Solidworks and the speed at which I am able to accomplish tasks for which I received much praise.

WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff, Bristol, UK - 2016

Worked as an Undergraduate Engineer in the bridge design and assessment team. Despite my relative lack of experience in the area, I was able to carry out load-carrying assessments of a pair of railway bridges and produce reports which were submitted to the client (Network Rail). This involved using past reports and spending time questioning other engineers to learn how to correctly carry out the assessment. I also produced a report which was submitted to the Environment Agency explaining the necessity for a new bridge project and the measures that would be put in place during its construction to mitigate the damage to a local bat population. This work demonstrates my ability to step outside my comfort zone and use the available resources to complete tasks beyond my area of expertise.

 

University of Johannesburg, South Africa - 2015

Four weeks working as an assistant at the University of Johannesburg’s Technolab, a program aiming to introduce underprivileged teenagers to robotics focusing on electronics and programming. This involved running classes and giving one-on-one support to students. During my time there I re-designed the chassis of the robots to reduce costs and produced targeted instructional videos based on my observations of where students were consistently struggling. The videos explained how to program the robots focusing on the aspects which were often misunderstood. This work demonstrates my ability to communicate technical ideas to people without a technical background and to use my observations of behaviour to create something to improve a situation.

AWARDS

Scholarships and Studentships

  • 1851 Industrial Design Studentship, supported by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, identifying me as an outstanding engineering graduate with the potential to become a leading designer in British industry

  • Robinson College Senior Scholar (2019), for gaining a first in three of my years at Cambridge

  • IET Diamond Jubilee Scholarship (2015), supported by the Belling Charitable Settlement, identifying me as one of the top three applicants for the engineering scholarship

  • Arkwright Engineering Scholarship (2013) identifying me as a promising student with the potential to be a future leader in engineering and design

  • Academic and Design Technology Scholarships on admission to Tonbridge School (2010) identifying me as a young student with considerable potential

University of Cambridge Engineering Awards

  • Prizes every year for being the highest achieving engineering student in my college

  • BP Prize for outstanding performance in first-year exams, being placed in the top 1% of students in my year

  • Second Year Integrated Design Project Prize, for a robot my team designed and built to complete a given task, I was responsible for the mechanical design which was particularly highly praised for its sophistication

  • First Year Conceptual Design Project Prize, sponsored by Costain, for my solution to improving the sustainability of household waste disposal, my design was praised for its manufacturability and for being very well thought through

  • First Year Structural Design Project Prize, sponsored by Mott Macdonald, for the design and build of a cantilever which had to fail at a precise load, using out of the box thinking and care during manufacture our design carried the highest load, failing at the correct point, whilst being one of the lightest designs

EXTRA-CURRICULAR

Leading role in the 88-Pianist Project 2019

I was part of a multi-university team that created a machine that allows 88 people to play a single piano simultaneously. The machine uses a different mechanism for each piano key, with each based on a selected design by a primary school child. This project involved running workshops in schools across the UK, designing individual mechanisms, and then building and assembling the machine. I was a leading member of the Cambridge team, giving input on the overall strategy for tackling the challenge and running design clinics to help other students with their designs, as well as being responsible for two of the individual mechanisms.

 

Semi-finals in the Telegraph UK STEM Awards 2017

Working in a team of two our idea was to reduce infant mortality in the developing world by supplying low cost cardboard cribs with integrated mosquito nets to protect infants from malaria whilst they sleep. We reached the semi-finals where we presented our idea to a team of judges from GlaxoSmithKline, who highly praised us for our extremely strong presentation skills. As well as working jointly on the presentation I was individually responsible for developing the design, producing a 3D CAD model and a prototype scale model.  

 

Design Adviser on the committee of the Cambridge University Robotics Society

Using my past experience with combat robotics I led the designing of a kit of parts and an instructional guide for students to produce their own mini Robotwars style robots which they could enter into an internal competition. This required leadership skills to convince other members of the committee to back my proposals despite being the youngest member.

 

Open Technology for Development Makeathon 2016

We were challenged to create a more reliable method for measuring the breathing rate in infants to aid in the diagnosis of pneumonia in the developing world. Working in a team of two we produced a solution using an elastic conductive polymer band which would be placed around the infant’s chest and measure as it expands and contracts. This project involved prototyping skills to produce a proof of concept model, teamwork skills to make use of different skill sets and spread the work to finish the prototype within the time, and programming skills using both Matlab and the Arduino microcontroller.

 

Combat Robotics

In my free time, I have designed and constructed Robot-Wars style combat robots, ranging in size from 150g to 100kg. I’ve entered these into national and international events, including the 2019 European championships in Belgium. These projects taught me an immense amount including fabrication skills, time management skills (working to the deadline of a competition), and the ability to learn from my mistakes to produce a robot that is reliable and robust.

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