STEM Ambassador Profile
Chris
Mechanical and Thermal Engineer / Project Manager
Department of Space and Climate Physics, Mullard Space Science Lab, UCL
9 GCSEs, 2 A/S levels, 3 A Levels, BEng(hons) Mechanical Engineering, OU diploma in Physics, CEng (Chartered Engineer) and FIMechE (Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers)
What is your background in STEM?
I wanted to design cars when I was a teenager. Through doing technical drawing and CDT at school, I decided I like the more technical design side of engineering, rather than the artistry of body styling as I loved maths and physics. I read about being a chartered engineer when I was doing my A levels, so I worked towards getting that qualification for the first 8 years of my career. I have taken the opportunities where they have come up and so I have been lucky to work for companies that are leaders in their field, with interesting and varied projects.
Tell us a bit about your job history
After leaving School, I took a year out to work as a Student Apprentice with Dowty Aerospace, who sponsored me through university. During holidays, I worked for them in various departments and workshops in their landing gear and carbon composite propeller factories. Upon leaving university with a 2:1 in engineering, I got a job with Ricardo Consulting Engineers, where I worked as a design analyst and thermal engineer. I worked on diesel engines for a popular car company, a mechanical digger and large marine diesels. After obtaining my Chartered Status and being made redundant, I reevaluated where my career was going and decided that I wanted to work in the Space industry, so made the move to MSSL. I have been the MSSL project engineer on the SPIRE infra-red instrument for HERSCHEL and the project manager for the ESA 50mK ADR project, a cryogenic cooler for use with X-ray detectors in Space and the NIRSPec CAA, which is the onboard flight calibration assembly on the NIRSPEC instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Were you able to find a job easily when you wanted to?
Yes. When I was made redundant, I was only out of a job for a couple of weeks.
What do you do at the moment (in broad terms)?
I am currently the Project Manager for the Solar Orbiter Solar Wind Analyser Consortium. It is a multi sensor instrument which will measure and analyse the particle structure of the solar wind. Each sensor will be measuring a different type of particle (electron, proton or heavy Ion) and will be made in a different country, so my team is spread over 2 continents and various time zones. I manage the budget, the schedule, ensuring that tasks are completed to time and to specification. I conduct mechanical and thermal analysis, write reports.
What skills do you use in your job?
Numeracy, literacy, Problem solving, organisational, management of time and resources and a sense of humour helps.
Give some examples of things you do in your day to day work
Mechanical and thermal calculations, project management, organising and travelling to meetings worldwide, writing technical reports and quality documentation.
How has your perception of STEM changed when moving between education and work
It hasn’t really. You never stop learning. I think that when you move into work you realise how powerful the skills that you learnt doing maths and science are. Problem solving, analysis, evaluation and drawing conclusions which you learn during your STEM education can be applied to any walk of life. However, having a career in STEM, means you can explore more of the world around you and make a difference to that world.
What do you do in your spare time?
Time spent with my husband and my son, model making, miniature painting, drawing, karate, yoga, reading and gaming
