Page 19 - ASME IMECE 2016 Program

MONDAY Special Events

Presenter Biography: Sriharsha S. Sundarram, PhD joined Fairfield Technical Writing: Improve Your Writing Skills by Making a Human
University School of Engineering in September 2014 as an assistant Connection
professor in Mechanical Engineering. He received his PhD in Mechanical
Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2013. He received Jennifer S. Cooper, P.E., Project Engineer, RCP, Inc.
his master’s degree from Texas A&M University in Mechanical Engineer- Improvement in technical communication is more
ing and bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering from College of than just adding words to the page or accumulating
Engineering (Guindy), India. He teaches courses in design, manufactur- more technical knowledge. Knowing yourself, your
ing and materials. Dr. Sundarram’s current research interest is in the area audience, and letting your readers know you is what
of micro/nano manufacturing, specifically large-scale processing of improves your writing. In this talk, Cooper will share her experiences
advanced micro/nano-structured materials with applications in energy, with the human side of technical writing as an early career engineer who
thermal management and biomedicine. The work is interdisciplinary develops compliance manuals and operating procedures.
encompassing manufacturing, materials, chemistry and numerical
modeling. The eventual goal of the research group is to be able to Presenter Biography: Jennifer S. Cooper, P.E. provides engineering
fabricate metal foams with pore sizes on the order of tens of nanome- support to the energy industry at the consulting firm RCP, Inc. with an
ters. Apart from research, Dr. Sundarram is highly interested in innova- emphasis on regulatory compliance. She specializes in assessing
tive teaching practices and has implemented numerous innovative regulatory requirements and applying specific regulations to develop
practices in his classroom. compliance programs, operating procedures, and technical reports.
Jennifer received her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering from the University of Tennessee-Martin. She received a
Preparing Presentations: Building Fundamentals for Long Term Graduate Certificate in Safety Engineering and a Master’s of Science in
Success Engineering Management from the Missouri University of Science and
Technology. Jennifer is a licensed engineer in Texas and North Carolina.
Braden Kowalyk, E.I.T., Design Engineer, AltaGas
Utilities Inc.
Presentations are common in the workplace and it’s Task Management in a Multi-Project Environment
an essential skill to have in your toolbox. At some Sean Burcham, Engineering Supervisor, BAYMAR
point in your career, it may be necessary to make a
presentation, to pitch an idea, provide information, or to deliver project Solutions, LLC
outcomes. It can be a defining moment in your career and advancement. Managing tasks across multiple work streams can be
Therefore, you want to develop a process that starts with some cumbersome, especially for early career engineers.
fundamental best practices. True success in presentations is found Learning how to manage your time, communicate
during the preparation - days, weeks, and sometimes months before effectively, and keeping yourself organized are three key ways to
hand. In this talk, Kowalyk will share how he uses inspiration from all succeed in a multi-project environment. In this talk, Burcham will pull
corners of his life and professional experience, to develop the skills and from his own personal experience and share best practices that has
habits required for long term success in presentations. helped him along his career path.

Presenter Biography: Braden Kowalyk is a design engineer at AltaGas Presenter Biography: Sean Burcham is an engineering supervisor at
Utilities, a natural gas utility in Alberta, Canada. Working on teams Baymar Solutions based out of Tampa, Florida. Starting as an entry level
Braden is involved with both the hydraulic simulations and the detailed design engineer, Sean quickly realized that his true passion was in
design involved with new business and system betterment projects. On project management, quality, and systems engineering. He now
any given day he can be found designing gas measuring, regulating, and manages Baymar’s Tucson operations and oversees all projects. He
odorizing stations, designing both high and medium pressure pipelines, earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the
evaluating pipeline integrity, or providing recommendations for long University of South Florida.
term system upgrades to increase capacity. Braden earned a Bachelor
of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta in
2014. He interned at Labatt Breweries where he worked on lowering
process cost by reducing utility usage. His projects were mainly focused
around the brewery’s powerhouse, cooling plant, carbon dioxide
capture, and effluent conditioning.

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