In the 2024 wildfire season I had the opportunity to join a 4-person helicopter initial attack crew stationed in Pemberton, BC. We were part of a broader team dedicated for rapid response to wildfires in the coastal mountains within ~100 km radius of Whistler, BC. Our crew was made up of 4 individuals, who worked tirelessly all summer long in some of the toughest conditions and successfully put out fires in very remote and technical mountainous terrain.The 2024 wildfire season proved to be another incredible learning environment for continuing to develop my teamwork and communications skills in a high risk and dynamic environment.I am always impressed with how complex things get out in the forest and how incredible the teams are which manage such difficult environments. The list of challenges to overcome in wildland firefighting is never ending, from extreme terrain to aviation management, logistics, risk management, situational awareness, effectively communicating objectives, not to mention fire itself!In such small teams, with such high stakes, it is essential to develop trust in each other. Teamwork becomes the foundation of everything you do. From pulling 40 kilo water pumps to the top of cliffs, to looking out for burning logs rolling downhill while your teammate falls a tree with a chainsaw next to a huge fire, and even mundane things like checking that everyone has enough food and water for the day, there is nothing that doesn’t require teamwork.The job is full of highs and lows. One day you are bored to tears, gear loaded in the helicopter with nowhere to go, and the next, you come home after a 17-hour day of the hardest work of your life but feeling more accomplished than ever.I had a truly fantastic summer and shared some lifetime memories with my crew including working with the elite helicopter rappel crews to access some very steep terrain and the smokejumping crews in Northern BC. A summer full of experiences to learn from and carry forever!

As a launch operations and test engineer at Rocket Lab I was responsible for the testing and operation of the launch vehicle mechanical systems including propulsion and propellant systems, structural elements of the vehicle, and development and testing of future technologies. The role required an extremely in depth understanding of the sub-systems for which we were responsible for operating, as well very strong engineering intuition and timely execution of judgment calls in high stakes environments. From staff and environmental safety, to mission success and nominal launches, it is essential that an operations engineer have the strongest possible understanding of the systems they work with. In my time at Rocket Lab I was involved in 11 orbital launch campaigns, 3 of which I was the primary mechanical systems operator with final go/no-go authority. In addition to conducting operations and tests, I was responsible for the analysis of the results and personally reviewed data from 500+ engine hot fires to assess the flight worthiness of their performance. This technical knowledge was the pre-requisite to be eligible for operations, but even more essential is the ability to work seamlessly in a team. Every operation involved technicians, operators of different systems, and other operational elements which need to communicate with each other effectively to achieve success.

As a structural analyst for satellites at Canada's foremost aerospace engineering firm, I was responsible for the creation of finite element models and running simulations with these models to predict the loading conditions and failure mechanisms which could be expected from a given design. The most intense loading environment for a satellite is the launch environment, during which a satellite will experience intense vibration and acceleration from the rocket which is taking it into orbit. Accurately simulating these conditions is an absolutely essential element of satellite design. This work required close collaboration with the design team and giving direct feedback on how to improve the structural efficiency and strength of a given component or system.In addition to running FEA simulations, another component of the role was to inform real-life testing using shaker tables and other mechanical testing apparatuses to simulate the launch environment.

Assisting in the design and development of sensor packages for integration with autopilot to enable fundamental research to increase flight safety and technological advancements of flight capabilities.

As a wildland firefighter for Alberta Wildfire I have had some amazing learning opportunities and experiences working with a team in high stress and rapidly evolving environments.

As the Vice President I aided in all aspects of the team, from engineering design to operations and manufacturing. Some of the most important responsibilities of my role included overseeing all the sub-teams such as the structures, aerodynamic, payload, and propulsion sub-teams. Ensuring coordination and collaboration between teams working on different, though related engineering design problems, was vital to achieving a successful design. Another large contribution I made in this role was to the development of our SRAD (student researched and developed) hybrid rocket motor. The focus of my fourth year thesis was to create a simulation and design tool for team use which could predict performance of various motor configurations. As part of this project we also developed Cesaroni Motors as a team sponsor and benefited from their expertise.

The role of team lead for the Queen's Rocket Engineering Team (QRET) is responsible for the research and development of a scientific experiment or technical challenge to showcase QRET's engineering skill and scientific knowledge in this area.This is accomplished by leading a team of approximately 10 other students and passing down much knowledge that has been gained over the past years working on various projects within the rocket team and attending the International Rocket Engineering Competition at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Equally important to this position is the collaboration with the rest of the executive team, working closely to make decisions regarding the overall direction and goals of the team. The payload lead is responsible for recruiting the members of their team as well as leading weekly design meetings to give members their own specific projects to work on, whether these be research, design, programming, or construction projects. In addition to this the payload team must work closely with other teams including the avionics and mechanical teams to ensure proper integration of the different systems. This year the payload team strives to eject two magnetometers from the rocket at apogee and have them come down under their own parachutes. This goal represents a significant technical challenge in the form of the deployment of the packages as well as a scientific experiment to investigate the gradient of the earth's magnetic field throughout the troposphere. There are several challenges the team has faced including the design of ejection systems, power systems, GPS signal transmission to the ground station, and accurate measurement taking.

In this role I assisted with research into the benefit of nanostructured metal coatings on metal substrates for use in proprietary Pratt and Whitney projects. I was responsible for many parts of the research including designing elements of experiments to evaluate the properties of such species, conducting said experiments, analyzing the data, and communicating the results to the rest of the research team as well as the client. In addition I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to collaborate on a research paper explaining the technique which I helped pioneer to determine the residual stresses present in the testing specimens. Working under Professor Steeves at UTIAS was an amazing learning opportunity which allowed me to apply my engineering skills and know-how gained over the past three years. In addition it gave me another summer of valuable insight into the world of research and academia.

The Queen's University Reactor Materials Testing Laboratory is a facility run by internationally recognized and respected nuclear materials and industry researcher Dr. Mark Daymond. Dr. Daymond holds the NSERC-UNENE Industrial Research Chair in Nuclear Materials as well as the Canada Research Chair in Mechanics of Materials. The research conducted at this extremely sophisticated lab aims to extend the life of nuclear reactors thereby saving many millions of dollars. At this research facility my role was to design and implement research tools to enable experiments related to helium implantation into nuclear reactor materials using the 12 MeV alpha particle accelerator. The main project I co-led was the design of an energy degrader for the beamline, requiring a knowledge of particle physics, radiation safety, ultra-high vacuum design, and controls systems.This project provided an excellent platform to implement my technical skills and learn about project management and budgeting. To accomplish this required learning a whole new programming language, reading high level particle physics research papers, and working closely with laboratory managers, coworkers, post-doctorate researchers, and experienced machinists. The budget given for the project was $10,000, and we came in at just $4000. Overall this experience has helped me significantly grow my professional and technical skills and given me an increased confidence in my abilities.

In this position at EngLinks, I taught and reviewed material from first-year engineering courses for first-years. EngLinks is a student run academic service, overseen by the Engineering Society of Queen's University.

The Vice President role is responsible for aiding the President, leading a team of 18 individuals in supporting roles, and attending the Queens Engineering Society Council. This includes weekly meetings with the Sci' 20 Year Executive Team and bimonthly council assemblies. Additionally as Vice President, I was the acting President in an official capacity at meetings when the President was otherwise occupied.

The 2015 Nobel Prize winning Queen's University Physics Department offers many opportunities for student involvement at the undergraduate level. In this capacity I worked with the Engineering Physics Undergraduate Chair, Dr, Robert Knobel. Specifically I aided in the relocation and reconstruction of one of his graduate students' graphene production apparatus. This involved taking special care of sensitive ultra-high vacuum and thermal shielding equipment, as well as gaining an understanding of the procedure used in the graphene production process.

In this position I worked with a team of mechanics to both repair bicycles and help customers make informed purchases.

Worked closely with the Humberside Chemistry Department to plan and hold events at lunch to inspire and educate students interested in chemistry.

Lifeguarded Humberside CI Swim Team practices and TDSB wide swim competitions.