Author Archives: Rachel

An FDM 3D printer applying a new layer to the cone shaped part on the printing bed.

MECH Project Courses

A 3D printer creating a new part. Photo by Osman Talha Dikyar on Unsplash.

One of my favourite parts of the MECH program is the design project courses we have every year. It feels like these are what all of the theoretical studying in lectures are meant for. They encourage critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving skills, and are very transferrable to what work might look like after graduating. This post is about each of the project courses and my experiences through each one.

MECH 220 – Technical Skills Practicum

Student-made magnetic levitation device that levitates a miniature version of the UBC Engineering Cairn. The circuit board and magnetic coil is visible.

Complete MagLev device

This course is the first thing you’ll take as a new MECH student! It’s structured as four one-week modules that cover machining, engineering drawings, computer aided design, and electronics. As a result, you will create a magnetic levitation (MagLev) that showcases your learning over the entire month. To this day, this is still one of my favourite courses in MECH. The machining module was my favourite, where we got to use the mill, lathe, press, and various hand tools. It felt like we were real engineers, not just students studying equations. I was also able to bond with my classmates during this time, as we would see each other every day, all day, working together.

MECH 223 – Mechanical Design

Race track meant for hovercrafts roped off and surrounded by MECH students.

Competition day.

A handmade hovercraft is decorated with a Barbie theme, the body is pink with the Barbie logo and a Barbie doll head at the front as a mascot. The hovercraft has a large turbine at the back for propulsion.

Our creatively decorated hovercraft.

At the end of MECH 2, we form teams and design something together. Our task was to design a hovercraft for racing competitions against other teams. The hovercraft needed to travel quickly, stop accurately, and maintain specific speeds using an RC transmitter. Using our knowledge of fluid dynamics and material properties, we designed an air cushion for reducing sliding friction on the track. Our design uses two propellers connected to DC motors, a foam/cardboard base, plastic skirt, and 3D printed mounts. It was a great end of year project to recap all our learning in MECH 2.

MECH 328 – Mechanical Engineering Design Project

A large search and rescue boat sits by the dock in the marina. The boat has a soft hull and an observation area for crew.

SAR boat we toured during a site visit!

Inside the search and rescue boat observation area, the control dashboard is lit up with navigation and many controls.

Learning about the control interface.

For the third year project course, we were given an open ended problem and had freedom to choose what design to theoretically create. The prompt was to remove combustion engines from a product, and replace the energy source with something more sustainable. My group chose to electrify search and rescue (SAR) boats. Since this project has more of a focus on stakeholder consultation, we were able to meet with and tour a SAR boat thanks to Royal Canadian Marine SAR volunteers. It was interesting to explore something I didn’t know much about, but I wish that there was a build component to the project.

MECH 45X – Capstone

Bear scratching on a log

A current solution – which we’d like to make higher tech! Photo by Stephanie LeBlanc on Unsplash

It’s currently my final year, and I’m just starting to ramp up my Capstone project. In this course, you are able to choose or rank what prompt you are interested in, and have more freedom with choosing your team members. The projects all interface with real clients, and typically you would build a working prototype by the end of the year. For my capstone, my team is working on designing a better wildlife hair snag to collect DNA samples for biological research! It’s still early on in the process, but I’m looking forward to building something that will be used in the real world.

If you like solving design problems and thinking of novel solutions, you will enjoy the project courses in MECH! From participating in these projects I feel better equipped and more confident about my knowledge and experiences going into the industry. I would encourage anyone to make the most of this time, where we can explore our interests and have design control over our work, which is not always the case post-grad.

Nyhavn, popular canal street in Copenhagen

My Exchange Experience in Denmark – Part 1

Nyhavn, a popular canal street in Copenhagen. Photo by Max Böhme on Unsplash.

Last term, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go on exchange through CIE (Coordinated International Experience), which is the APSC customized exchange program at UBC that connects students with partner universities. I spent one 5 month term abroad at the Technical University of Denmark, one of UBC CIE’s partner institutions. By going abroad through CIE, I was able to take advantage of premapped courses for transfer credits and use the term as a co-op work term.

This was something I had always wanted to do even prior to starting university, I was super excited to gain experience living away from home in a new place! This is Part 1 of 2 where I’ll be sharing what my life on exchange looked like, in this post I will be covering the first two points:

  • Danish culture
  • learning at DTU (Technical University of Denmark)
  • travelling and exploring
  • my professional and personal growth from this experience

I hope through this series you can learn more about international opportunities for study through UBC!

Danish Culture

Other than considering the university, it’s important to think about the city where you will be living for the next couple months. Experiencing a different culture was a priority for me, and definitely helped me grow even more as a person.

The concept of hygge is at the core of the Danish soul. Hygge is described as “cozy, content, and warm” – but it’s a feeling that can’t be put in exact words. Hygge for me was hosting brunch in my dorm in the early morning, having a warm kanelsnegle (cinnamon bun) in a funky cafe, or laying in the sun when the weather is just warm enough. Walking around the city, I had never seen so many cute cafes, restaurants, and even just nooks and crannies in the streets.

A bike on the road

The Danish essential.

View of the Copenhagen canals

Spring in Copenhagen.

A warm and cozy cafe/bakery

Cute cafes are a must.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both the city and community felt grounded. With the focus on organic and seasonal food, and biking or walking normalized, I felt like my healthiest self while living there. During my term, I got to witness the change of seasons, and with it the change in energy of the community. The winter was cold, windy, and dark. Days were spent bundled up drinking hot drinks and indoors, and the streets were quiet. When the weather shifted to even the slightest bit warmer and sunnier, it was like the city came to life. People were outside at all times, sitting on patios and on the grass lining the canals in the middle of the day. I was shocked, wondering where all these people came from! With most of the year being cold, you could tell that the people here appreciated the nice weather so much, reminding me of summers in Vancouver.

At the beginning of my term, I regretted coming to Copenhagen in the winter. But seeing both sides of the city was so valuable – I would recommend anyone to experience Danish hygge any time of the year.

 Learning at DTU

During my four month term, I took 4 classes, with one being an online course:

View at the top of a wind turbine's hub

At the top of the wind turbine!

Introduction to Wind Energy
Since Denmark is one of the world leaders in this technology, I was excited to take this course. It provides a base understanding of how wind turbines work, what calculations go into designing one, and its role in Danish energy supply and economy. This was my most involved course, where we went on field trips and built our own turbine blade. My favourite part was the opportunity to climb up a ~200m turbine, a worthwhile challenge for someone afraid of heights.

Robot Autonomy
This course teaches the analysis, design, and evaluation of robotic/automated systems using ROS2! It was definitely my mostly challenging course since it was at the Master’s level. As a general MECH student, I was happy to try something exploring the MECHA and software side of things.

Introduction to Programmable Logic Controllers
After learning about what PLCs were in my co-ops, I wanted to explore building and using these systems in this course. Although it was online, every assignment was a lab requiring coding and testing programs with industrial PLCs. In this course, I investigated different PLC programs and was able to create, test, and troubleshoot these automation tasks.

Economics for Engineers
This was a credit for MECH 431 and has very similar content. We analyzed financial accounts, developed business cases, and did a case study presentation for our final project. It was interesting to learn about economics at DTU since we were able to learn more about Danish/European companies and listen to guest speakers from these companies.

In general, the learning style at DTU was quite different compared to UBC. Each class is once a week for four hours, which makes it easy to plan travel and studying. The Danes also have a culture of flat hierarchy in the workplace, meaning that coworkers view each other as equals regardless of position or job title. This reflects to university as well, where students are encouraged to address their professors casually by first name and prioritize independence in learning. Since the way courses are taught have similar principles to how the workplace environment will be, I really enjoyed learning differently than at home, and working towards discovering what kind of workplace is ideal for me.

This is the end of Part 1 of my experience, please stick around for Part 2 where I discuss travelling and my learning through this experience!