Benjamin Valenta Email & Phone Number

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

As a Mechanical Engineer and Deputy Project Manager at Hatch Ltd., I led significant projects for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. Key achievements include managing the procurement and installation of heavy railcar movers and wheel truing machines, developing maintenance plans for the City of Atlanta Streetcar, and drafting technical specifications for light rail vehicles. I also inspected and identified structural weld issues, designed safety tools, and oversaw numerous capital improvement projects. Additionally, I validated mechanical infrastructure, reviewed design modifications, coordinated with standards organizations, and developed management tools for contractor deliverables in the CQ400 Rail Car Procurement project.

Moscow, Russian Federation

I worked with a group of a few other other American engineering interns to build connections with our counterparts at Russian institutions of higher education. While there, I worked to design a number of interactive electro-mechanical systems to be displayed in the 2019 Moscow Maker Fair to demonstrate the capabilities of the fab lab and intrigue a new generation to get involved in STEM. Among others, these projects included designing and creating a mobile pinewood derby track and electronic finish gates, and self regulating plant growing system, and some art displays in conjunction with the Precious Plastics Project to encourage recycling.

Greenbelt, Md

Worked with a team of electrical and mechanical engineers on commissioning, testing, and data collection for the 7000 series Kawasaki rail care being put into use by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). During my time with the company it was routinely necessary to work with technicians to tests the various safety and performance systems on the trains in order to ensure that all systems are meeting specifications before being officially accepted by WMATA. I also worked to create a database for documentation to ensure that parts were being tested regularly and that results were being stored in order to create statistical models for future use. This helped facilitate a better understanding of life expectancy of certain rail components, how often they should realistically be reevaluated, and the degree with which damage occurs under real world conditions. In conjunction with this task, it was necessary to review technical inspection manuals to ensure that they were clear and precise for use by the technicians who would then be preforming the routine inspections and repairs (when required).

College Park, Maryland

I worked with a local professor to develop a new, cost effective LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system that could be employed by the students in their classes and projects. My primary functions were to design tests to ensure that the setup being used at the time could function in a plethora of conditions. It was therefore necessary to also test the platform to determine the limitations with respect to lighting, range, and weather. This was all accomplished through post processing with Matlab and Python.

Master'S Degree, Mechanical Engineering

Completed a professional engineering degree with a concentrated focus on thermodynamics and vibrations as they relate to the rail industry.

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Mechanical Engineering

Bachelor'S Degree, Mechanical Engineering, Alum

Activities and Societies: Treasurer for Donors United Treasurer for First Encounters Studied abroad at Universidad Carlos II de Madrid.

Mathematics