Doctoral work is often misunderstood. It is easy to tag someone with a Doctorate as a specialist a tiny field. In some cases this may be true, but given that for the most part you are a ‘one man show’ there is the need to have a diverse skills set to complete the larger job at hand. I hope that my site provides a window into these skills, but as an engineer my true ability comes from blending the technical with the managerial.
The ability to manage my project has been at the fore throughout my time at UBC. My Doctoral work has been primarily as a team of one, set with-in a larger group of (on average) about eight researchers. The diversity of my work has led me to deal with a wide range of people, taking my ‘team of one’ to a ‘team of 20′. I have managed my interactions with my own Supervisors, university Technicians and Contractors to ensure that the most cost and time effective solutions were sought at each stage; and when adversity hindered progress I have been quick to identify the problem and implement a solution. I have also acted in mentoring roles for those newer to the Engines Research Group, and offered important input to the wider group when discussing designs, experimental approaches, results and findings. My ability to do this comes, in no small part, from the many teams that I worked with when with the Ministry of Defense (or on secondment from the MoD). I was regularly required to quickly and effectively fit into teams and assess what the team was out to achieve.
I have manged RFQ/RFT’s, tender assessment and contract awarding for the local, national and international manufacture of parts for my test rig. I have undertaken similar processes for equipment supply, installation and maintenance, while also having played a pivotal role in the design, fitting-out and operation of the new lab spaces in the Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC).
As part of my successful management strategy I have honed my presentation skills with presentations of my own research and the CERC facility at large. My audiences have ranged from fellow students and faculty, to school children, members of the public, UBC Alumni, Government Ministers, university benefactors (one with a personal wealth of $660m no less) and Noble Laureates.
For 18 months when I first started at UBC I was also the president of my Residential College’s dining society, with an annual turnover of $600k and all that feeding 200 people with two meals a day entails.