Mehari Tekeste is currently with John Deere ADV & Soils Lab.
Read MoreMember Profiles
We invite ISTVS members to discuss their work and their origins as engineers. You never know what might come up!
Patrik Prikner
Hello — tell us a bit about who are you and what do you do.
I am a ground vehicle agricultural engineer working in the area of soil-tire interraction under heavy agricultural machinery. I am a research assistant at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague (CULS), Faculty of Engineering; teaching and doing research.
What are you working on now?
Currently, I am working on two research projects related to establishment of tire load limits for minimizing of harmfull soil compaction, and I would like to develop a new procedure for evaluation of soil density under engineering-pedologic way.
Do you have a first childhood memory of “engineering” something?
My first childhood memory of “engineering” something was when I was three years old. In the morning, when my parents slept, I played quietly with food processor and beater. When they woke, it was thrashing. :-)
Did you have a specific “aha” moment when you knew that you wanted to focus on engineering?
I think when I met with Prof. Alexadr Grečenko. This moment was ten years ago. This man is my teacher until now and I am grateful to him.
Describe your path to becoming a engineer. Have you had any mentors along the way?
As I said, my mentor Prof. Alexandr Grečenko, is an outstanding automotive engineer, researcher and mainly person. He inspires me to devote my career to terrain vehicle engineering. His constant support and teachings greatly impacted my career.
What does a typical day look like for you?
My a typical day, I am still busy working on my research and teaching my students.
Do you feel a responsibility to contribute to something bigger than yourself? What do you hope to contribute through your work?
My work is my hobby and as a agricultural engineer I would like to contribute to a considerate stance to arable soil and to the better use of powerful machinery.
If you could give one piece of advice to another engineer starting out, what would you say?
In everything what you do, think ahead.
Are there things that you want to tackle 5 to 10 years down the road?
In the next 5-10 years, I would like to tackle specifics in the interactions of soil-tire and terramechanics generally.
What are your current best sources of news and information for staying up on your field?
I regularly receive information from scientific journals and books that are applicable to my research and future plans. I attend at least 2-3 professional (quality) conferences per year. Working with industry also allows me to stay current on the latest outputs and advancements.
If you weren't doing what you're doing now, what might you have gone into?
Farmer or agricultural machinery dealer.
What’s your favorite food? ッ
Hunger is the best sauce. :-)
Greg Scott
Hello — tell us a bit about who are you and what do you do.
Hello! My name is Gregory P. Scott, but I prefer to go by Greg. I was born and raised just outside of Washington, D.C., until I was 18 and then bounced around the country and the world, before settling back down in D.C. I finished my B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering at Penn State before getting my “dream job” in Houston – launching the Space Shuttle!
After a few years there, and picking up my MSc in Space Architecture at the University of Houston, I was given the opportunity to do my Ph.D. overseas. So, I packed my bags and headed to England, eventually landing at the University of Surrey in Guildford (which highlights the setting for The Omen movie, and the alleged home town of Ford Prefect from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).
After a few fun years and a few difficult years, I (finally) finished up my PhD and took a job at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, bringing my worldly travels full circle. I now work to develop space robotic systems to support naval assets in space, as well as branching out to terrestrial and maritime robotic systems.
Do you have a first childhood memory of “engineering” something?
Definitely! My first really successful “engineering” moment was when I took apart my old Atari 2600 because it wasn’t working right and put it back together successfully. It worked perfectly from then on! Hmm . . . I might have to rummage through my parents’ attic to see if I can dig it out again!
Did you have a specific “aha” moment when you knew that you wanted to focus on engineering?
I have always had an interest in tinkering with things, building “stuff” and taking math/science classes, so engineering was the logical next step. But for me, my passion for aerospace engineering stems from my cousins. When I was growing up, they were studying aerospace engineering and I looked up to them, which likely played a strong role in focusing me down that road. Well, that and Star Wars, obviously.
Describe your path to becoming a engineer. Have you had any mentors along the way?
My path to becoming an engineer was probably not much different from other engineers. I focused on STEM-related classes throughout high school and college. My passion for space was so strong that I even petitioned the head of the Aerospace Engineering department to allow me to replace some of the “airplane” classes with spacecraft classes because I knew that was my passion.
I was also actively involved in clubs at school that focused on engineering and technology development, including one that was focused towards launching a payload on a sounding rocket. I even focused with a minor in Engineering Leadership Development, which gave me more of a business sense to engineering and helped broaden my perspective. Along the way, I have had a few mentors, though rarely with the formal title of Mentor. Although I am quite happy with the engineering path I have chosen, I think being more proactive about selecting a few formal mentors would have helped strengthen my path a bit.
Do you feel a responsibility to contribute to something bigger than yourself? What do you hope to contribute through your work?
Definitely! Even the smallest cog in any program has an impact on the whole. However, I strive to make significant impacts to projects that have a worthwhile impact on society in some way. Whether that is contributing the Space Shuttle program, supporting outreach activities to promote STEM education to students, or providing systems to support our military men and women in the field, I feel that it is essential for my contributions to really make a difference in some way.
If you could give one piece of advice to another engineer starting out, what would you say?
If you love what you do, then work is a far easier place to go day in and day out. Not every day will be roses, no matter the job . . . but on the whole, you should love what you do and appreciate the results that you create. And if you don’t, then it may be time to re-evaluate . . .
Are there things that you want to tackle 5 to 10 years down the road?
Certainly! There are many things that I want to tackle in the years to come. In the short term, I want to continue to support and lead medium-sized research projects within the NRL. Through these and other research initiatives, I aim to position myself to lead a major project within the NRL to help showcase not only my engineering strengths, but my ability to lead a program. And, like many, I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. In my case, it is still that I haven’t quite grown up yet.
What are your current best sources of news and information for staying up on your field?
The best way to stay up to date with what’s going on within my field is through the professional organizations that I am a part of and extensions to the professional network that I have built. The AIAA has a daily news email that keeps me informed of major updates in the aerospace industry. The CRUSER and AUVSI newsletters keep me informed of advances in the various areas of unmanned vehicles. And even feeds from Facebook and LinkedIn activities that I follow help keep me informed of what’s going on across areas that I am generally interested in.
Links:
Jim Lever
Hello — tell us a bit about who are you and what do you do.
I'm a mechanical engineer at the US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL). I specialize in over-snow mobility of lightweight robots and heavy cargo sleds to support science and re-supply operations in Antarctica and Greenland.
What are you working on now?
I recently deployed to South Pole to use Polar rover Yeti to conduct autonomous ground-penetrating radar surveys. We were trying to locate subsurface hazards to vehicle and personnel travel over the original 1950s era station, now buried under drifted snow. I help to design Yeti in collaboration with ISTVS member Professor Laura Ray of Dartmouth College and her many capable students. This was the first operational deployment of an autonomous rover at South Pole and coincided with the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Amundsen and Scott — quite a unique opportunity.
Do you have a first childhood memory of “engineering” something?
I had no idea what engineers did until going to university. But I sure liked machines, especially taking them apart. Some even worked when I put them together again.
Did you have a specific “aha” moment when you knew that you wanted to focus on engineering?
I thought I'd be a doctor. But I took an aptitude test in junior high and realized that I was far more interested in how machines work than in how people do. Engineering was apparently how you learned.
Describe your path to becoming a engineer. Have you had any mentors along the way?
I was lucky to have many good math teachers at my high school and great profs in physics and math at university. My grad advisors were terrific mentors. I grew up in Canada, so all these folks worked at public institutions and were highly motivated professionals.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Well, office work is typically at a computer. But I’m old enough that I still need a pencil and notepad to think. Field work is anything but typical, but much more fun. It ranges from crevasse-safety training with mountaineers to driving a 30-ton tractor towing fuel and cargo sleds to South Pole. I go to the field to understand how my sleds and rovers perform. It’s hard to beat first-hand knowledge.
Do you have a memorable moment or fun story you want to share about your work?
ISTVS member Russ Alger and I worked in a crevasse zone in Antarctica in 2003. Our job was determine whether heavy tractors could safely cross buried crevasses and if so under what conditions. Naturally, this involve lowering me on a rope into said crevasses to study their internal structure and the snow bridges that form over them. Russ took my picture — I was smiling from ear to ear dangling from a rope over a 50-m deep crevasse. Now that was fun.
Do you feel a responsibility to contribute to something bigger than yourself? What do you hope to contribute through your work?
I mentor students myself now, and started a high school robotics team with an engineer friend. It was really hard work but very rewarding too. We tried to show that you can bring your ideas to reality and have great fun doing it.
If you could give one piece of advice to another engineer starting out, what would you say?
Focus on technical excellence. There are lots of pressures to work faster or manage rather than execute work. It’s way more fun to execute.
Are there things that you want to tackle 5 to 10 years down the road?
Sailing the world, cycling with my granddaughters, that sort of thing.
What are your current best sources of news and information for staying up on your field?
ISTVS is key if you're involved with over-snow vehicle design.
If you weren't doing what you’re doing now, what might you have gone into?
Ocean engineering, nuclear engineering, aerospace engineering. Careers take odd turns and I ended up at polar engineering. It’s been great.
What’s your favorite food? ッ
Soft-serve ice cream at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
Cor-jacques Kat
Editor's note: At the 17th International Conference of the ISTVS in Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S., at which we were celebrating 50 years of ISTVS, there was also a great representation in what we might call the new guard, active younger members doing exciting terramechanics research. We connected a couple of pairs up to interview each other. Daisy Huang of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Cor-jacques Kat of the University of Pretoria interviewed each other!
Cor-jacques Kat, as interviewed by Daisy Huang
How did you get into your field (that's a boring one, but I can't avoid it!)?
Well, after my first year at university I was pretty frustrated and had serious doubts that I made the right career choice. I did not understand how all the math fit into what an engineer was suppose to do. Luckily in the first semester of my second year I got involved in Baja and saw how all the math and theory is applied to real world engineering problems. I learnt a lot from the Baja faculty advisor, Prof Schalk Els, and realized that there was still a lot I could learn from him so I continued with my postgraduates studies with him as my supervisor. That is the short version of how I ended up in the vehicle dynamics field.
Was there any other career you almost went into?
O yes! There were two careers that I considered strongly and engineering was surprisingly not one of them. I never saw myself as an engineer, but that was mainly due to the stereotype image I had of an engineer:) I saw myself as either a reconstructive surgeon or a marine biologist. I taught that being a reconstructive surgeon I would be able to improve people’s lives, and being a marine biologist I would have the best office in the world. However, one day I heard of bio-mechanical engineering and that sparked huge interest in me and effectively started by career in engineering.
What are your hobbies outside of work?
I love to travel. I like learning of different cultures. Learning new languages. I love outdoor activities and to stay fit.
Are most of your friends doing similar work, or do you engage with lots of people in different types of careers?
I have a lot of friends in- and outside of the engineering field. I like to diversify as I believe that you can get exceptional ideas from unexpected places.
What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?
Professionally I see myself actively promoting engineering to young people as an exciting career with endless opportunities. I would also like to, which ever branch of engineering I might be in, make a positive contribution to society and hopefully improve the quality of life.
If you could ignore the laws of physics for one day, what would you do?
Wow, this is a difficult question. First of all I would consider myself fortunate that I understand some of the important implications of the laws of physics. I would however love to be able to manipulate (not ignore) gravity. Flying around like peter pan as always been a fantasy. If however all laws of physics are ignored for this one day, and it applies to everyone, I would probably just stay home. I would not like to be in the chaos outside with cars, planes etc. floating uncontrollably in every direction.
If you knew you had only a year left to live (but would be hale and hearty for that whole year), what would you do with it?
Okay, an even harder question. My answer is going to be boring and well-taught through. If I say that I will quite my job and do the things that I always wanted I would be in big trouble and would definitely have to reconsider what I’m currently doing. I have always tried to have a balance between work and recreation and to use every day to the fullest. I aim to do everything I do as best I can and to make sure I stop to enjoy the amazing things the world has to offer that we so often take for granted. So, I think I won’t change much just try and use every second I have and make sure that I don’t waste one opportunity. I would however love to take a month, charter a sail boat and just chill some where tranquil and beautiful with some of the special people in my life.
If you could meet yourself at 14 years of age, what advice would you have for him? And do you think he would be happy with what you are doing now?
The questions aren’t getting any easier, are they? I would probably tell myself: Don’t worry about the things you cannot control, live life, do things that scare you, take changes, meet new people, be rational but with a hint of emotion, and always make time for the important things in life which you will get to know as you go through life. Then I would tell myself that I will be come an engineer and pursue a PhD at which point I would probably burst out laughing.
Daisy Huang
Editor's note: At the 17th International Conference of the ISTVS in Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S., at which we were celebrating 50 years of ISTVS, there was also a great representation in what we might call the new guard, active younger members doing exciting #terramechanics research. We connected a couple of pairs up to interview each other. Daisy Huang of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Cor-jacques Kat of the University of Pretoria interviewed each other!
Daisy Huang, as interviewed by Cor-jacques Kat
Let’s start at the beginning. When did you decide that you would like to become an engineer? Was there anything that inspired you?
From a very young age, I wanted to be either a writer or a biologist. I still write, but I gave up biology when I arrived at university as a freshman and saw how very many chemistry courses were in a biology curriculum. I am dreadful with chemistry and almost failed it in high school, so there was no way I was going to pursue that path. I loved my physics class in high school, so I thought about switching my major to physics, but I also knew that that would be committing me to going directly to grad school as there aren’t very many jobs for folks with only a bachelor’s degree in physics. I wanted to work for a few years right after undergrad, so I chose mechanical engineering as the next best option. It turned out to be an excellent fit, as most of my coursework and industry work have been enjoyable, and most of my peers have been similar to me in personality, and we get along well. I’m still in touch with my high school physics teacher and his wife; I’ve told him time and again how he led me to my current career, and he and his wife came up to visit me in Alaska last year.
From our many interesting conversations at the 2011 ISTVS Conference I understand that you are working on snow mechanics. What are you working on these days and how did you get into this field?
To put it simply, I am doing mid-scale (on the order of centimeters) mechanical testing of snow in attempt to extract mechanical properties. What makes it challenging are the logistics. As you’re probably aware, there are dozens of different types of snow. I’m only interested in the sort that folks have to drive on long-term, such as occurs here in Fairbanks. After the beautiful sparkly flakes fall to the ground, they immediately begin metamorphosing into bland-looking, uniform crystals. However visually bland they may be, they are what sit on the roads and trails all winter, and luckily for me, they maintain fairly constant and uniform mechanical properties. So I test them both in situ, and I gather them up on cold days and bring them into my lab for storage and tightly controlled testing. Fairbanks is so cold and dry that the crystals are very "pure," i.e. they have very little liquid water content, so this is a great place to study the purest form of snow and isolate it from the other factors that vary with time or place.
How I got into this field was that I wanted to do something that was unique to my location in Alaska. I also approached another professor about doing work with him in solid state physics, but I could have done that back in the Silicon Valley, where I’m from. Snow was compelling to me because it utilizes this fantastic natural laboratory we have. And also, getting to spend some days skiing with my dogs collecting snow samples is a bonus.
How do you stay up to date with the state-of-the-art technologies and information in your field?
The number of people in my field of snow research is pretty small, and most of us are in at constant, at least tenuous contact, as we proceed with our research. I also am in contact with glaciologists and avalanche researchers. They aren’t so interested in snow behavior on roads, but we are all interested in snow and can share a lot of common ground. Also, I attend conferences, read papers, etc.
What is the most exciting project you’ve ever worked on?
Hah. I’m going to take the easy way out here and say that the most exciting projects I’ve ever worked on involved developing new process recipes when I was working at Applied Materials. The chemicals involved there were so toxic that I could have killed myself or caused a major explosion if I did something wrong and that would have been lively indeed.
What’s the most meaningful and/or rewarding aspect of being involved with engineering?
To me, the most rewarding aspect of being in engineering is that my work has immediate applicability to other people, and while the nitty-gritty details and the math might be inaccessible to nonengineers, everyone can understand the gist of what we do. We make things. We build things. We do tangible things. The output of my work, for example, will eventually be better snow tires, skis, sleds, maybe even vehicle dynamic systems. These are things that ordinary humans understand and use and benefit from. So many jobs today don’t have any tangible output, and while I realize that they still need to be done to keep the world turning, I don’t think I could do them.
Do you have a hobby that you keep yourself busy with (and balanced) outside of work?
I run 3-7 miles every morning, and I love to ski, and skijor (where my dogs, who retired from a sled team, pull me on skis). In summer, we hike and go berry picking. I have several gallons of blueberries and cranberries in my freezer right now, still waiting to be turned into jam. Although I love my field work, most of my work time is still at my desk, so I don’t really have any sedentary hobbies, other than reading, which I love. I have tons of leisure reading, besides academic papers. Right now I’m reading this: [Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes][]
Which invention or engineering feat would you consider as the one thing the world can not go without? Why?
This is a tough one. I’m tempted to go way back and say the wheel or agriculture, but there were early societies that thrived and prospered without either of those things. So I’ll go further back and say language. Without communicating with each other and communicating each generation’s accomplishments to the next, we’d be nothing. The modern explosion of this, of course, is the internet. But for millenia, there were books, and that is awesome.
Links
Daisy Huang at University of Alaska Fairbanks
Recently published on Journal of Terramechanics: Sensitivity analysis, calibration and validation of a snow indentation model, with Jonah Lee
Vladimir Vantsevich
Hello — tell us a bit about who are you and what do you do.
I am a ground vehicle engineer working mostly in the area of multi-wheel designs with applications to terrain trucks, farm tractors and construction equipment, and military vehicles. I am a Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), teaching and doing research.
What are you working on now? Can you share some images — photos or data welcome!
Currently, I am working on several research and design projects related to innovative tire damping control, minimizing tire power losses of a mobile robot, and designing driveline systems for terrain trucks, as well as developing the vehicle and robotics engineering thrust in the undergraduate and graduate curricula at UAB.
Do you have a first childhood memory of engineering something?
My first childhood memory of engineering something was when I was six years old. My mom was going on a trip to Sochi and I desperately wanted her to catch a monkey for me so that I could keep it as a pet. To prove to my parents that I would be able to take care of this pet, I designed and built a house out of cardboard for the monkey to live in.
Did you have a specific “aha” moment when you knew that you wanted to focus on engineering?
I knew that I had to become an Automotive Engineer during my undergraduate career when I began working with my Mentor, Dr. Anatoly Lefarov.
Describe your path to becoming a engineer. Have you had any mentors along the way?
My mentor, who was the Head of Research Group on multi-wheel vehicles, Dr. Anatoly Lefarov, was an outstanding automotive engineer, professor, researcher and person. He inspired me to devote my career to terrain vehicle engineering. His constant support and teachings greatly impacted my career and after 17 years of working with him, I became his successor of the group.
What does a typical day look like for you?
On a typical day, I am busy working on my research projects and teaching my students.
Are there things that you want to tackle 5 to 10 years down the road?
In the next 5-10 years, I would like to tackle multi-domain and multi-scale systems in vehicles and robotics.
What are your current best sources of news and information for staying up on your field?
To stay current in the field, I regularly receive information on published journals and books and read the ones that are applicable to my research and future plans; I attend at least 3-4 professional conferences per year. Working with industry also allows me to stay current on the latest and future designs and developments.
If you weren't doing what you're doing now, what might you have gone into?
I really enjoy reading about history. I am very interested in American and European history so if I had not become an engineer, I believe I would have been a historian.
What’s your favorite food? ッ
My favorite food is everything that my wife cooks!
Photo taken in China summer 2012: Dr Vantsevich was the Program Chair on Commercial Vehicles at 2012 VTI Conference and also organized/conducted the panel on Vehicle Electrification and Electronization.