An Introduction

I have always been interested in design, whether it was in the form of art projects, imaginary games, or gymnastics routines. Throughout my life I’ve taken a design approach to all the projects I undertake, and other than my interest in science, I think this is what ultimately made me end up in engineering. This year, in Engineering Science, I became more aware of the steps I use in my design process, as well as adding many critical new ones. This portfolio will address some of the skills I’ve picked up through my first year at the University of Toronto, such as creative techniques, the use of reference designs, the reframing process, and designing for a specific objective.

This year has certainly been a challenging one, but has led to many significant learning curves for me, centred around projects in many different areas. Some of the main ones included in this portfolio are a beam bridge that held over a kilonewton of weight, a bridge analysis and proposal for improvement, computer science assignments, and a solution for deaf cyclist safety in downtown Toronto. 

I think one of my strengths as a designer is being able to break things down into manageable pieces, and then recombine the solutions for these pieces in an effective way. I show this in the deaf cyclist project, where we clearly separated the input and output sides of the design, but combined them into a final solution seamlessly. I also demonstrate this in my computer science projects. An area of future development for me is in using creative techniques. I believe that I come up with good solutions with the techniques I’m comfortable with, but in order to be truly innovative I need to develop new ways of thinking. I plan to try new creative techniques in my future projects, as well as keep a wide range of projects going through the summer. 

Another area I'd like to further develop is my skills in Solidworks. I have access to a 3D printer this summer, and I'd like to take advantage of that by expanding my knowledge and experience with Solidworks. This will allow me to make prototypes and sketches more rapidly on future projects, as well as just being a good engineering skill to have.

I think working on many different types of projects will be the best thing for me at this point in my engineering career. I really appreciate the inter-disciplinary approach of Engineering Science, and I think it has started me off on a long journey of future engineering design.

Please click along the top tabs to see my most recent design work.