What are you doing today?
Today I am working as a Senior Controls Engineer at the Walt Disney World company, specializing in the design and implementation of ride control systems for our many attractions. I design the electrical hardware systems that control our rides and shows, and keep them safe for our guests. I am currently on assignment at Walt Disney World in Paris, working on a new rollercoaster that we've put into our Studios.
What excites you most about the future of your professional field?
Like all fields in engineering, electrical controls technology is growing in leaps and bounds. Our ideal attraction immerses our guests in the ride experience, without guests noticing the many elaborate systems that we have in place to make sure that although it may look like you are falling from a cliff, being hit by a giant rolling boulder, or even attacked by a velociraptor, you are in fact as safe as if you were sitting in your living room. The more advanced these technologies become, the more seamless and realistic we can design our ride experiences. I am excited by the many creative challenges that come with such unique applications!
What personal advice would you give to high-school students considering a career in engineering?
The Engineer of tomorrow is not going to be limited to a set structure or job title - more and more, engineers are required to be adept in multiple fields and applications, and there are engineering fields to come that I'm sure haven't been dreamt of yet. Biocomputers, nanotechnology, environmental engineering, etc., are all fields that demonstrate this cross-functional core of engineering knowledge that the future engineer will use to solve new and interesting problems. My personal advice: don't look at the engineers of yesterday for examples of ‘what an engineer is': engineering is a unique field that you have the potential to mold to suit your individual interests.
What was your first job after graduation, and how did it impact your career?
My first job after graduation was as a Biosystems Engineer for the Land Greenhouses at Epcot. There, I used my biosystems degree to maintain and design new systems for growing plants in new ways - using hydroponics, aquaponics, aeroponics, and interfacing with our biotechnology laboratory. I had to opportunity to consult on NASA's ‘Martian Greenhouse' project, and worked daily with interns and guests from all over the world. My work redesigning the electrical control system for the many environmental biomes of the greenhouses began my interest in control systems as a whole, and once that project was done my move over to Disney's ride control group was relatively seamless, because of my project knowledge.
What was your greatest experience while attending the College of Engineering here at MSU?
I think my best College of Engineering experience came during my graduate student years, when the courses I had taken really began to come together and I realized that with the set of engineering ‘tools' I had accumulated, the projects I worked on were finite and solveable.
How does your profession impact people's lives?
Working for the Walt Disney Company is a unique field for an Engineer, but we definitely impact people's lives. I get to see this directly as I watch the guests experience the attractions that I've designed or worked on. It's a feeling of instant gratification to see a family come off of an attraction laughing and having a great time, and knowing that because of a system I implemented, they are safe and can leave the worry of their security and the ‘real world' at the gate.
How were you inspired to become an engineer?
Growing up, I had a great curiosity as to how and why things worked. An engineer, to me, was someone who used the tools of math and the sciences to come up with new technologies and systems to find the answers to all the interesting questions. Becoming an engineer was a natural progression, and it's worked out well so far: I've had the chance to work on some very interesting systems, indeed!
