Welcome to my e-portfolio!

Hello there fellow engineer !

My name is Mina, I am a second year mechanical engineering student and this is my thus far design portfolio. As you go through pages labelled with the work I am the most proud to share with you, please be considerate of how much time, passion and learning was necessary to make it all. This work represents me as a design engineer and my development throughout the first two years of studying at LSBU. 

CAD was something I have never done beforehand and one of the biggest challenges I faced as a student. Engineering design and approaches learned have had an enormous impact on how I see mechanical engineering as a whole. It has brought joy and creativity into my way of thinking and problem solving skills.  In massive amount of numbers and different analysis, the design is an aspect of making something new which makes it possible to use your imagination and creativity  in between all those calculations.

I believe that am a natural problem solver enthusiast and all of the issues encountered through my CAD journey definitely helped understand what kind of an engineer I want to be - the responsible, accurate and creative one.

My background has a high contribution to my way of approaching engineering problems, that is, I believe that the fact that am an international student from a small European country that has lived in  3 different countries and 2 different continents by the age of 20, really helps me observe and understand, therefore solve problems from different perspectives.

When it comes to my engineering journey so far I'd describe it as a quite diverse one. Below you'll read about some of the experiences that are close to my heart and incredibly valuable for myself.

• I have attended a COP27 simulation in Fall 2022, held in Egypt where engineering students from all over the world came together to discuss global sustainability issues us all are currently facing. During those couple of days I realised many things but perhaps the most important one is to have an environmental impact in mind every time I think of how something will be manufactured, how much material will be used and which material that would be, but also how I can as a future mechanical engineer help our planet and society out in this battle. 

• During my first year and a half at university I was a part of Formula student team at LSBU, South Bank Racing. Going from the very basics that I learned in the first year to being a team manager of the team really helped me understand how team work functions when you want to make something come true. This experience also highlighted the fact that no matter how passionate you are about something, if you do not have a plan in place of how you'll achieve it, the passion alone will get you nowhere.

• Another very important experience for me as an engineer and perhaps a different perspective to launching a new product out in an already crowded market, was Mayor's Entrepreneurship challenge 2022. Three fellow students and I were one of 5 finalists in technological category, and I had an honour of presenting our idea to the board of judges in just 2 minutes. Later on in the portfolio you will see which design/project I am referring to. I/O Room-smart fire solution system that would save lives of Londoners maybe did not win those £20 000 but the entire couple of months long experience of being a part of this challenge really taught me how crucial it is to know how to present your idea to someone in order for it to get out there and for people to understand it. I have also learned the importance of a good concept selection method, how to do a PDS as well as how to publicly speak with confidence and clarity.

• All of the experiences mentioned have impacted my choice of placement in regards to both role and a company. I can proudly say that in the academic year 2023/24 I will do a year long industrial placement in a diesel giant and market leader - Cummins. The role I applied and qualified for is ALDV Design engineer - Analysis led design and validation role definitely did not come my way by accident, whatsoever having said everything above I deeply believe that at this point of my education this type of role will not just enhance my knowledge of different CAD softwares within the industry but also vastly broaden my knowledge of what and how professional engineers work, behave and think like - which, in order to become one myself, I'll most certainly need to know.