Summer work term at a high tech agriculture company that produces fully automated milking systems for the dairy industry. Joined the R&D division to design new product concepts to help the company target large commercial dairies, especially in the North American Market.

• Responsible for opportunity identification, problem framing, and preliminary systems design of product concept.
• Selected key strategic technologies and laid out a product development roadmap.
• Championed market oriented design, and collaboration between marketing and R&D divisions as part of design processes.

Part of a 7 person team that won first place at a Dutch national competition at Twente University (approx 110 teams total). The challenge was to develop a new design concept that solves a problem provided by corporate sponsor LogicaCMG in a 6 hour period.

• Responsible for coordinating and editing the 2 page concept presentation.
• Won best of class for Information Communication Technology concept that connects elderly and youth.
• Won grand prize for most creative, best designed, and most realizable design concept.

Led a 6 person team developing a Trend analysis and branding tool for Mexx as part of the Strategic Product Design (SPD) Masters Course at TU Delft.

• Directed the team and coordinated the efforts of team members.
• Developed a novel process for analyzing trends, matching them to market segments, and creating design concepts appropriate to the Mexx brand and target market.
• Tied for first place in class-wide competition judged by a panel of faculty representativce and client staff. [Final Report (PDF)]

Worked for a small software engineering firm as a lead software developer responsible for finding clients, winning contracts, and managing the full lifecycle of various projects.

• Developed and Deployed a content management system for the Doctors Without Borders / MSF Canada website.
• Rapidly developed and deployed in house tools and client solutions by effectively combining own work and open source tools.
• Learned and applied industry best practices including agile (iterative) software development, user centered design principles, unit testing, and code versioning.

• Authored a business plan for expanding Dunlea Farms, a hay exporting business in Ontario Canada. The plan, to make use of a new hay re-baling system, received bank loan towards this expansion in 2005, and the business is currently operating and successful.
• Built and implemented an advanced inventory management system and supporting business process to help the growing farm track and manage hay purchasing, processing, and shipping. Trained staff, and set up the necessary computer hardware and software infrastructure.

Member of a 5 person team that designed a robot capable of performing the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission proposed by NASA in early 2004. Final year design project was taught in conjunction with researchers and engineers from MDA Robotics which was preparing a proposal for the actual NASA contract.

• Responsible for operations planning and mission architecture.
• Delivered formal presentation on design to a formal engineering review panel at MDA Robotics. [Final Report (PDF)]

Four month work term at Canada's leading space robotics company.

• Worked on the Orbital Boom Sensor System (OBSS) which will be used to inspect the Space Shuttle while on orbit.
• Developed microscopic photography techniques for inspection, assessment and documentation of damage to small hardware.
• Inspected and Qualified hardware for space use as part of NASA's return to flight activities.
• Designed and implemented a parts qualification tracking database.

Worked for seven months on Canada's first manned space program, competing to win the X-Prize for the first privately funded team to put a man into space.

• Contributed to the Conceptual and Detailed Design of the Spacecraft.
• Produced a fully parametric CAD Model of the spacecraft design, for use in analysis and production.
• Contributed to Structural Analysis, and R&D Activities and to the mission's launch clearance application for the Canadian Launch and Safety Office.
• Co-Authored a paper published in the 3rd International Symposium on Atmospheric Re-Entry Vehicles. (Arcachon, France, 24-27 March 2003) [Link (PDF)]
• Co-Authored articles about the integration of FEA software from Ansys Solutions into the spacecraft design process. [Part 1 (PDF)] [Part 2 (PDF)]

Member of a 3 person team which designed and built a robot capable of locating several eggs, picking them up, navigating past an obstacle, and dropping the eggs off at a target.[Course Description]

• Responsible for the electro-mechanical subsystems. Involved in actuator, circuit, sensor, and micro-controller design and integration.
• Robot won second place in class-wide competition. [Video 28mb]

2001 Neil McNeil / Notre Dame Canada FIRST Robotics Team

• Mentored a group of high school students participating in a national robotics competition.

2000 Hillfield Strathallan College's Canada FIRST Robotics Team

• Led the design, construction, and operation of a remote controlled robot capable of playing hockey, in a national competition.
• Team was featured on CityTV Toronto and on Discovery Channel Canada.

Volunteered time towards the engineering, design and assembly work for a prototype 2-passenger amphibious composite airplane, which is designed for long range, and light weight.

• Designed various control systems, and constructed part of the final version.
• Designed and built parts of nose and rear landing gear.
• Received Training in fiberglass and carbon composite lay-up techniques.
• Designed and built a Remote Controlled 1/5 scale model of the aircraft, for testing of aerodynamic stability and flight characteristics.

Working with a small group of clients to earn income for education.

• Clients include Anthony Hughes Productions, Gise Trauttmansdorff Sculpture, Rotsaert Dental Labs, Second Nature Bath & Body, and Dunlea Farms Ltd.

Working as a farm hand and machine operator on my father's farm.

• Machine repair, maintenance, and modification.
• Decision Making and Responsibility
• Operation of machinery