My road to becoming
an engineer
Nicholas Vickers
California Polytechnic State University
9/10/08
My Educational Path
• James Logan HS
2000-2004
• Chabot College
2004-2007
• Cal Poly 2006- …….
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
2
Why Chabot?
•
•
•
•
Cost effective
Has Engineering
Close to home
I could work part time to help pay
for school
• Could finish General Education easily
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
3
What I did at Chabot
• Competed two seasons on the Swim team
• Played one season of waterpolo
• Joined EAC (Engineering at Chabot club)
• Finished half of my GE and most all of my Prereqs
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
4
Transfering
• Used www.assist.org
• Called transfer counselor at Cal Poly
• Took the required classes to transfer to Cal
Poly. (Math 1-6, Physics 4a,b,c, Engineering
45)
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
5
Cal Poly
• Best in the West for`
undergraduate
engineering
• 3rd in Forbes “Top
Public Colleges for
Getting Rich”
• Small student to teacher ratio
• “Learn by doing” hands on
approach to learning
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
6
What is Materials Engineering?
Structure
physics
Chemisty
Engineering
Performance
Processing
Properties
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
7
Me and Mat.E.
• Found out about Mat.E. from physics
professor at Chabot
• Researched the field
– Starting salary, and mean salary
– Types of jobs
– Types of fields within Mat.E.
• Also talked to other MatEs and guest speakers
to get an idea of what its like
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
8
Materials engineering jobs
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Metallurgist
Ceramicist
Polymer engineer
Design engineer
Testing engineer
Advaced R&D
Failure Analysis
Corrosion engineer
3/22/2016
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Microsystems engineer
Nanotech engineer
Biomedical engineer
Composites engineer
Process designer
Structural Engineering
Optical and photonics
And many many more….
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
9
Some Projects
• Solar water heater at the Scitechatorium
• Optical filter measurement system
• Total Lumbar disk Arthroplasty
• Phase change computer memory
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
10
Solar water heater
• A real client
• A real need
• Many real solutions
• One final design
• One built system
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
11
The user
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
12
The need
Water Usage
(L)
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
9:30
3/22/2016
10:16
11:06
12:30
1:30
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
13
The system
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
14
Filter measurement
System
Pour Cup
• User needs
Riser
• Functional
Requirements
• Design
• Manufacture
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
15
Total Lumbar disk Arthroplasty
• Need
• Requirements
• Design
• Test
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
16
Phase Change Memory
• Honors Research project
• Worked with graduate students on fabricating
and testing a new technology
• Went to Chicago to give a poster presentation
on the research
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
17
How it works
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
18
Technical Conference
• Society of Vacuum Coaters 41st annual
conference
• Won best poster of the Techcon
• Made some connections, got job offers
• Walked all around down town Chicago
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
19
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
20
Thank you!!!
Any Questions?
3/22/2016
Chabot Engineering Guest Talk
21