Page 28 - ME-07-E
P. 28

Out of twenty students who began the program, aviation technologies department and then became

        only ten completed it successfully, Blum among the head of the cyber department. Today, I’m a lead

        them.                                                     in the Wall Administration”—a unit within MAFAT re-

        What gave you the strength you needed to sur- sponsible for active defense measures against rock-

People  vive?                                                     ets and missiles.

        “I just refused to give up, even when things got          “The tools I acquired at the Technion helped me

        hard. I sat and studied, and I fought. I gave it my succeed in different roles that required an ability to

        all. One thing that helped me was that, in the end, understand complex systems. These are very chal-

        I really love these subjects, I love mathematics and lenging roles where you need to keep your ear to the

        equations.”                                               ground and always be ready to anticipate the needs

        Blum explains that by studying mechanical engi- of the state. We have to work closely with bodies

        neering at the Technion, Brakim graduates acquire and organizations from all over the world, constantly

        the tools they need to succeed in their military roles thinking about developing new technologies. Natu-

        later on. “Every position I held in the military re- rally, much of what we do is classified, but one ex-

        quired tech skills and tools, as well as the ability to ample I am at liberty to share is the project where I

        see the big picture when working with large systems. led the development of the first 3D-printed UAV. That

        For example, in my first role in the military, I was a project got a lot of media attention globally. That UAV

        plane crash investigator in the air force. The chain of is in use today. It’s made up of 36 parts, all of them

        events that leads to a crash always starts from one 3D-printed.

        specific point in the aircraft. When a plane crashes,     How is your work in the Ministry of Defense dif-

        there isn’t much left of it, but you still need to pin- ferent from your work in industry?

        point where the problem started. I felt like the Faculty  “Industry is a very broad category—it can cover al-

        of Mechanical Engineering had given me the tools I’d most anything, from tech companies to the defense

        needed to find out what had happened and identify sector. I encounter many different tech companies in

        the root cause.                                           my military work and in my work on “At” (Hebrew for

        “Even R&D roles require proficiency in every part the feminine second-person singular form of "you"),

        of the process, from the preliminary draft to the fin- an initiative I started with the aim of encouraging

        ished product. You need to have a deep understand- women to go into tech and supporting them. I notice

        ing of technology, and I feel that I really gained that that outside, they work differently than we do here,

        understanding at the Technion.”                           but there are similarities too: we all need to develop

                                                                  a product and see how it performs. But I definitely

        “I’m studying how a mechanical                                                    feel like my work has some added val-
        engineering principle                                                                   ue, because at the end of the
        applies in biology”                                                                         day, what I do helps keep the
                                                                                                      country safe.”

        After her time in the Air                                                         When she is not on duty

        Force, Blum transferred to                 “My studies at the Technion              at the Ministry of Defense,
                                                                                            Blum is working on her
        the Ministry of Defense,                     empowered me to tackle                 PhD at the Technion. “After
        where she soon became                       R&D challenges that required            serving as an officer in the
        the head of the avia-                      constant exploration of new              IAF and heading the avia-
        tion technologies de-                                                              tion technologies depart-
                                                   technologies and mastery of            ment at MAFAT, I fell in love
        partment at MAFAT.
                                                   every stage of the development
        “In MAFAT, I served

        as the head of the                         process, from the preliminary          with aviation, and today I am

                                                      draft to the finished product. One      studying aerospace engineering.
                                                    such challenge was developing           If not for my current job, I’d try to
                                                   the first 3D-printed UAV”              become a researcher at NASA.
                                                                                            “My research is focused on a me-

                                                                                          chanical engineering principle called

                                                                                          Saint-Venant's principle, which has to

                                                                                          do with how mechanical stresses decay.

28 | MEgazine | Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33