February 10, 2021 • 43 mins
We're looking at the world through the lens of a younger generation - young professionals, problem solvers, and entrepreneurs - exploring their unique perspective on the challenges facing the Hudson Valley and the country. This week we're talking with a young mechanical engineer about prosthetics, electric vehicles, 3D Printers, and resiliency.
This week's episode features Emma Coltoff, a young mechanical engineer working with TE Connectivity, who even dedicates her free time to solving problems.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
We are experiencing a paradigm shift, a fundamental
change in the way we usually dothings.
We are intentionally choosing tosee the silver lining
opportunity arises.
We can shine a light on thethings that weren't working well
(00:25):
on those things that weren'treally working at all, we can
regroup reevaluate andre-engineer it's time to explore
new patterns and paradigms thosethat inspire us to rise above
the chaos and explore how theconditions of today and take us
(00:47):
to a better tomorrow patternsand paradigms the pattern
podcast from Hudson Valleypattern for progress.
You're listening to season two,episode six, problem solvers,
the resilient generation withyour host pattern, president and
CEO, Jonathan Dropkin.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Hi everyone, and welcome to patterns and
paradigms.
We hope you enjoyed last week'sepisode.
Would Kim element the CEO of theopen space Institute?
One of the nation's mostprestigious land trusts, please
remember to subscribe to ourpodcast and share it with a
friend bubble or trend.
(01:26):
The golden globe nominationswere recently announced.
I said to myself self, how didthey do that?
If no, one's going to themovies.
I looked through the list ofnominees and recognized that
they were all available throughone of the many streaming
services.
What then is the future of themovie theater?
(01:48):
We had a chance to explore someof this when actor Mary Stuart
Masterson joined us on thepodcast, but will the
experiential side of going tothe movies, win out over the
comfort of watching it at home?
We say that people will want toreturn to the movies, but the
(02:09):
business side of making moviesand their distribution will
ultimately dictate where wewatch stay tuned.
Before I introduce this week'sguest, where we, we will be
previewing a new periodic seriesof talking with younger
problem-solvers andentrepreneurs.
(02:30):
Let me ask my partner at patternto help me with framing this
segment, Joe Cheika with what'sup Joe.
Hey JD.
So I thought it would be fun,Joe, if we could take the
podcast every couple of episodesand talk to a younger
(02:50):
demographic about, um,entrepreneurship, where they're,
where they see the country goingin terms of all of the issues
that we're facing.
Um, is it too much?
Can they address it?
And Joe, in order to sort ofgive a little bit of the
background about why I want togo there, maybe you can give us
(03:12):
a little bit of the history ofthe Hudson Valley and its
relationship to, um, engineers.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Sure.
Well, as many people know, theHudson Valley had been home to
IBM, which was filled.
It was filled with engineers andengineers are very interesting
people.
They, they, they come to, to ajob with the theory of one thing
in mind, and that is how do yousolve a problem?
(03:41):
How do you solve a problem likeMaria?
It was a sound of music episode,right?
But engineers, engineers arejust there they're fabulous
problem solvers.
And when they did come to theHudson Valley years ago, it was
a boom there, they, you know,there was, there was homes being
built or businesses beingestablished.
Uh, IBM just, just took off.
(04:03):
I mean, and it became a way, away of the, of the Hudson
Valley, where there were highpaying jobs.
Um, and those high paying jobsthen really helped these
communities thrive and engineerswere local.
They, they lived in thecommunity, they participated on
boards.
They participated as volunteers.
(04:25):
And we had our incredible poolof people with very creative
minds.
And so with these high payingjobs in the, and this, this
thoughtful creative side ofthings, the communities did
well, there were on, on, on, ona track to just continue to
(04:45):
explore and to expand and tolook at things in an efficient
way.
And it was, uh, it was a greattime then IBM downsized,
Speaker 2 (04:57):
IBM is still, still prominent in Poughkeepsie.
And in Westchester there's stillthousands of IBM jobs, but it
left a void, I think is whatyou're saying in that, in that
we had an opportunity for theregion to be populated with
these problem solvers.
Now, one of the exciting thingsthat I think is happening is
(05:20):
there is this whole new group ofpeople throughout the Hudson
Valley that are entrepreneurs,they're creative, they're
thoughtful.
And an entrepreneur could be inmany, many different ways.
Don't, you know, our listenersshouldn't think of it as an
entrepreneur is an only inbusiness throughout the
(05:42):
pandemic.
There've been all kinds ofentrepreneurs who have figured
out how they're going to get by.
So, you know, I think Joe, withthis segment, um, we're going to
take a ch you know, uh, uh, uh,uh, look through the lens of a
younger generation as to theseries of issues that we face in
(06:04):
the Hudson Valley and throughoutthe United States.
So thanks Joe.
And let me introduce our gueststoday.
We're going to be talking withEmma.
Co-taught a 26 year oldmechanical engineer and
currently working for T Econnectivity as a sustaining
(06:25):
product engineer.
Emma graduated with a bachelorof science degree from Tufts
university in may of 2017.
And my explains that engineersare just what we're looking for.
Problem solvers.
The more I tried to prod herabout the numbers of issues, her
(06:47):
generation will have to addressthe more she pushed back by
saying, speaking for youngengineers, we are problem
solvers.
It just means there's moreproblems for us to solve.
And this father died when shewas very young.
He was an engineer.
Her younger sister is a cancersurvivor.
(07:10):
The word that is used so oftento describe getting to the other
side of the pandemic isresiliency and Emma Pitta, Mises
that let us know what you thinkof this episode by contacting
us@patternforprogress.org slashpodcast.
Hi, I am, um, this is the firstin a series where we're trying
(07:32):
to get the perspective ofdifferent generations to the
period that we're in.
So the question I pose to all ofour gasses, how are you doing
and how are you surviving in thetime of COVID?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Well, then I appreciate you asking me that.
And I have to admit, I am, I'vebeen unusually lucky during the
pandemic, and I try to stayaware of that and, and count my
blessings for sure.
Um, you know, my I've stayedhealthy.
My family has stayed healthy.
My friends have stayed healthy.
(08:07):
I've really been relativelyunaffected other than my daily
life, like most of us.
Um, but yeah, I've still, I'vestill been able to work and
maintain my job justtransitioned easily, remotely.
Yeah.
I'm still able to kind of do allmy daily responsibilities in
almost more than that.
They got some new things aswell.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So, so let's explain your job.
You're a mechanical engineer.
How, how did that, how did thathappen?
Why engineering and tell us abit of, you know, your pathway
of getting there?
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Sure.
Well, so my, my current title isas a product engineer, um, at T
connectivity and I'm working inthe automotive industrial
commercial sector.
Um, so the, to just to explainthat a little bit there's, the
automotive is more like personalvehicles, cars, and then
(09:04):
industrial commercialtransportation is basically
everything.
That's a vehicle that's largerthan that.
So construction trucks, uh, longhaul trucks, boats, sometimes
ADVS emergency medicine,vehicles, fire trucks, and, um,
that type of thing, buses.
Um, so that's the field I'mcurrently in, but obviously to
(09:26):
get there, I had to take a fewother steps, um, like getting my
bachelor's in mechanicalengineering.
I graduated from Tufts in may of2017,
Speaker 2 (09:37):
26.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Yes.
My birthday was on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Well, happy birthday, but why engineering?
Well, I mean, you could have,you know, you could have done
anything why'd you pickengineering?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Well, you know, admittedly, my dad was an
engineer.
So from a very young age, I hadthe opportunity to kind of know
what engineering was beyond atrain conductor.
So that started me off on theright foot.
But, you know, I always kind ofgravitated towards science and
math though.
I do also have an affinity forEnglish and writing as well.
(10:12):
Um, that's one of the reasons Iactually chose Tufts is because
it's a liberal arts school thathas engineering.
So I was able to do coursesoutside of engineering, as
opposed to, um, more of atechnical school route where the
courses were kind of hardcoretechnical and you didn't have a
lot of requirements outside ofthose courses.
Um, but I was always drawn tothe concept of, you know, of a
(10:34):
problem solving of hands-ondeveloping solutions for the
world's problems.
Be it something medical, be itsomething in transportation, or
even if it was just, you know,out of Legos or connects, trying
to come up with interesting,weird structures,
Speaker 2 (10:51):
You know, I was looking at your resume and it
said, uh, to D you wanted todevelop within the field of
biomechanics what'sbiomechanics.
And what is the, what is it thatyou're heading towards?
Speaker 4 (11:07):
So biomechanics is broad, um, in terms of the
research, it can refer to, soyou can think of buying a CanOx
of everything from more of anano micro scale of tissue
engineering or cellularmechanics up to more macro level
or whole body biomechanics.
So either thinking you go fromthinking about the cells where
(11:29):
you're thinking about limbs orthe entire body and how that
responds, and that becomesrelevant in everything from
interesting creative treatmentsof cancer through ultrasonic
therapies, or, um, understandinghow different muscle fibers work
up through on the more macrolevel.
(11:50):
Some of the research that I'velooked into is like what happens
during, uh, an automotive crashor during head trauma in sports,
or doing trauma from otherincidents as well, uh, where you
can look at how to developprosthetics or exoskeletons in
ways that are helpful andcomfortable and provide a high
(12:14):
quality of life for the peoplethat are using them.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So I've actually seen you do at least a presentation
on a prosthetic.
Um, but, and, and I know youwould say you're not an expert
in that, but the presentationwas pretty darn good.
This was for the, the hand up tothe elbow.
I think the prosthetic that youhad, or maybe it was just the
(12:40):
hand, I don't know, and you'duse 3d printing.
This was kind of like not yourreal gig as a job.
What were you doing?
And, and I made the idea of justmessing around in something that
seems so incredibly complex.
So what was that all about?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
I mean, one thing about how I, your initial
question for me was how did Iget to engineering in the first
place?
And that's because I'minterested in problem solving.
And I, and one of the thingsabout engineering as opposed to
other careers is that, you know,an engineer, if you, when you're
in school, you learn a skillsetof how to problem solve and not
(13:20):
necessarily.
And it's a language too, andengineers have the capacity to
be thrown on any type of projectand engineer.
Um, so I happened to work in theautomotive sphere and I do my
engineering thing there, butwhere my passion really lies is
with this field of biomechanics.
I love how the human body moves.
(13:41):
I love to think about how itmoves, how we can make it move
better, how it can make it moveworse and avoid that.
Um, you know, I'm an athlete.
So I think about injuries, Ithink about how to improve my
performance.
And that's also led me tointeresting volunteer work,
which is like, what I, what thathand was from that you were
(14:01):
talking about.
So there's a group called Eenable.
Their goal is to use 3d printedand other easily accessible
inexpensive materials to makelow cost devices, to distribute
to people that need them,particularly kids who, as they
grow, you need to replace adevice really often.
And it's really cost prohibitiveto keep them buying devices.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
The imagery is so important as you're showing the
thing.
So we'll provide a link becauseI think our listeners then could
get a better image enabling thefuture.org, all one word.
Okay, perfect.
So any of our listeners outthere, if you want to see some
of the visualization, what Emmawas talking about, um, it may
(14:49):
help a bit more with theunderstanding the conversation.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yeah.
And they have a great, um, you,you can get involved in a
variety of ways, whether youhave 3d printers yourself or
have access to one, um, and youcan help fabricate devices.
Uh, you can be someone whoreceives printed pieces and just
assembles the devices.
If you don't have access to aprinter, you can be the type of
(15:13):
person that helps to createcontacts between people who need
the devices and people who canmake them.
And those are variety of otherroles as well.
I happen to be lucky enough tobe in possession of a printer on
loan to me.
So I'm able to print and makethe devices myself.
Um, but it's, uh,
Speaker 2 (15:34):
And this is just a volunteer.
This was just a volunteer use ofyour curiosity with, um,
engineering.
And as it applies to the humanbody, I mean, I would think
watching sports, but okay.
You know, but that's, it'sfascinating that you would take
the time to do this.
(15:54):
Okay.
So that's per statics, but inyour regular job, then you're
also working on batteries andcabling for electric vehicles.
Or
Speaker 4 (16:04):
I have worked on those types of products.
What I, what I specifically workon is connectors.
Uh, I know people can't seethem, but this is what they do.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
All right.
So let's do our best.
It's a cylindrical device thatscrews into each two parts that
screw into each other and thegoal.
Okay.
So the goal of the connector isto do what
Speaker 4 (16:28):
You can use it for a variety of applications of power
or signals or something that'sgoing to a larger unit on a
vehicle or something that'sgoing to your AVU system or two
yeah.
Power distribution units and thebattery, you know, and then, and
(16:49):
the important thing to thinkabout in that application too,
is that these, these types ofproducts are constantly being
innovated as the needs change inthe industry from hybrid
electric vehicles to fullyelectric vehicles as well.
And in the amount of currentthan you need to be able to pump
(17:09):
through these things increases.
And so you need in conceptbigger, heavier wires, but you
don't want to add more weight toa vehicle because then that
makes it have higherrequirements of more power
output it's balancing the needs.
Basically a good example forthese types of products is that
(17:31):
with the needs of the industrythese days, it's almost like
trying to drink from a firehose.
Like how can we put the mostenergy through these devices,
these cables, so that thevehicles themselves can harness
it.
But with doing that with lowcost, low weight, and still
being sustainable as well interms of our material choices
(17:52):
and making it cost effective too, because nobody wants to buy
something that's thousands andthousands of dollars when you
can make it for a hundreddollars.
Instead,
Speaker 2 (18:01):
General motors just announced that by third 20, 35,
100% of their vehicles weregoing to be electric for the
layman, not an engineer, but forthe layman, is this realistic?
How important is this to youthat we've moved to all electric
(18:21):
vehicles?
Is that the future?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I definitely think it's the future in terms of it
being realistic, that allvehicles achieve that title of
being electric.
Yeah.
I think, I think it is feasible,but I also, you know, I was
actually reviewing some of mycompany's literature earlier in
preparation for this, you almosthave to think about it in, in
different categories.
So it's a lot easier to makevehicles that have a low mileage
(18:47):
or a short route that they dolike a school bus or a mail
truck, or, um, even a, uh,commuter bus, uh, into an
electric vehicle because theyhave shorter range, but it's a
lot harder to do the same thingfor a long haul truck.
You need to drive across thecountry.
You don't want to have to stopevery 200 miles just to charge
(19:08):
the truck and wait a couplehours.
You want to be able to charge itin 10 minutes, or you want to be
able to go 500 miles on onecharge.
So the problem isn't necessarilyelectrifying these to these
vehicles.
It's how can we increase therange, the battery power of
these, of these vehicles so thatthey can fulfill their purpose
(19:31):
in greater and greater ways.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Are we close?
I mean, is it a question ofgetting, you know, the right,
the figuring out the battery,and then once we figured out the
battery, if it can last longerthan a ha we've got it, or we're
not that close,
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Definitely a lot of different groups and a lot of
different companies working onus.
I don't know if I can give youan exact year of when we're
going to have a solution that Iwish I could,
Speaker 2 (19:58):
But do you know how many times they've gotten much
older than, you know, any timesthey keep pushing the year back
and pushing the year back that,so your opinion on this is
probably as good as everyone.
Else's, it's an opinion.
So, but you're a young engineerwho thinks about these things,
so it's possible, but right now,one of the things is not the car
(20:23):
itself, you're saying, but it'sactually figuring out the
batteries.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
It's a combination.
And in fact, from what I see,it's, it's almost more a
question of the, like thecharging inlets and the charging
stations and, you know, how canwe efficiently get energy from
the charging station into thevehicle quickly without causing
an electrical fire or havingcable that's the size of your
(20:49):
head?
So, so that becomes questionsfor engineers of like, what
materials can we choose?
How much can we safely putthrough this cable without
having to provide additionalsafety measures, because you
have to put in safetyprecautions and these types of
things, and we call it pokey Oak, sorry, there's a term that we
use in engineering called pokeyOak, which I want to say the
(21:12):
equivalent is like idiotproofing.
Um, and I'm not saying that theaverage consumer is an idiot by
any stretch of the imagination,but, um, there's certain things
that you have to do to make surethat people are safe using your,
using your equipment.
No matter how well designed itis.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Well, I mean, that's as simple as when people get
gasoline and they have to getsomething that's highly
flammable into their car.
Everybody has to be able to doit.
And so they've tried to make itidiot proof.
You know, you take it, you putit in and still people
accidentally let the gasoline goand someone may be smoking a
(21:49):
cigarette or something.
So I get it that there's a need.
If everybody's going to do it,then it's gotta be thinking
about the common man for thesolution,
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Right?
And that's after we, we, youknow, achieve the actual
challenge of being able tocharge these cars fast enough
and come up with the technologyto even do it in the first
place, because you're talkingabout right now, the goal is to
be able to put the equivalentcharge into vehicles for a 200
mile range.
(22:20):
So to be able to charge the carto go that far in 10 minutes or
less, right now, it takes aboutan hour to charge that much.
So we're trying to reduce it sixfold, which doesn't necessarily
equate to, you know, increasingthe cable size six times.
It's much more complex.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
All right.
So as an engineer, and as yousay, someone who loves to look
at problem solving, are thereaspirational problems that
you've thought about that said,yeah, someday I'd love to be
able to figure this out.
Anything ever come across yourway in, in school or at the job
(23:01):
and say, there's gotta be asolution.
I do it all the time only.
I'm not an engineer, but isthere something that, you know,
you said there's gotta be asolution for it because it's
very interesting that youdescribe engineers as problem
solvers.
Now, maybe all engineers thinkof themselves as that, but the
general public may think ofengineers as, I don't know,
(23:23):
these are these geeky kind ofpeople that do other things, but
we're increasingly in a worldthat says we have problems.
We have big problems.
How do we solve them?
So any that you've thought aboutthat, you've said, boy, someday,
I'd like to devote a little bitof time to figuring this out.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
That's a really good question.
I actually want to, I want toskirt that for a second.
Just for going back to theinitial part of the question you
asked is sure, not only do Ithink of engineers as problem
solvers, but one of the thingsI've actually noticed about
engineers in, in my rockclimbing hobby is that pretty
much every rock climber I meetis an engineer of some sort.
(24:03):
And it's not just that we likeproblem solving in our career.
It's like, it's that we problemsolve all the time in our
hobbies.
Climbing is a sport that'sderived from problem solving.
You just do it with their bodyand your mind instead of only
your mind and maybe your hands,if you're working on something.
And I've always thought that wasreally funny because I'll go to
(24:26):
the gym and I'll meet new peopleand then ask them what they do.
And it's like engineer, computerscientists, mathematicians,
physicists, engineer.
It's just, it's never shockinganymore.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So I saw, um, last night, Elon Musk is prepping for
his, um, private, uh, rocketlaunch, which will put four
civilian astronauts into orbitaround the earth.
It turns out that one of themflew a fighter jet.
(24:59):
So he actually knows a bit aboutaeronautics, but the idea that
anybody could go into space, Iwould have thought was
impossible, but I could onlyimagine the number of engineers
who were sitting there figuringthis stuff out.
And so is that what sort of getsto you is just figuring stuff
(25:22):
out.
You know, I, I work often ingovernment and policies so that
my, what sort of makes Ibelieve, and I'm accused of
this, that I can solve anything.
The answer is I can't, and it'svery hard for me to take that as
like, well, there's gotta be asolution.
I just haven't figured it outyet.
(25:43):
So is that weirdly really?
What is the mindset of anengineer?
Give them a problem.
And they will figure out asolution like the, you know, the
United States has the army Corpsof engineers and they're brought
in to do all sorts of things,erect hospitals during COVID,
uh, you know, and I would havesaid the army Corps of engineers
(26:03):
does that.
Sure.
They do.
They do anything they're told todo.
So I'm just kinda curious, like,if that is sort of the approach
that all engineers have or somemore narrow in focus, or is it
only, are you only bound by yourimagination?
Speaker 4 (26:22):
I would definitely say that that at least from what
I've observed in myself and inmy peers, our approach is, is I
want to solve that.
I want to come up with asolution that works and then I
want to iterate on it and makeit better.
Um, and that, and that can beanything.
It can, you know, it can besomething in your house that
(26:42):
breaks and you want to do betterjob.
I use my 3d printer to come upwith, um, things around the
house.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
What have you done?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Well, um, one small example is, uh, uh, I ordered
one of those, um, devices youcan put in your key chain that
you can use to pull on doorhandles.
So I don't have to wear glovesall the time, um, where you can
push like push buttons or likefor the sink or something like
in a public bathroom, especiallyduring the time of COVID, it's
just this little metal piece.
(27:14):
And then I can go home andsanitize that, but I didn't, I'm
not touching all these handlesand buttons and stuff out in the
world.
The problem with it is while itworks well, and it's strong
because it's metal, it's verythin.
So when I pull on it with one ortwo fingers, it's, it's sharp.
So it digs into my finger.
You know, this isn't like, youknow, a, a global,
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Don't worry about it.
We'll get to those later in it alittle bit, you know, global
issues and your perception, but,okay, so yet we've all, you
know, we, some people use pensto like press the elevator
button cause they didn't want totouch it.
When we were very concerned withCOVID that it was transmitted
from surfaces.
Now we're much more concernedabout it being airborne.
(27:59):
So, so you actually created,
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Well, actually it's even simpler than that.
I can just take the same outlineand design it in 3d modeling
software.
So that's something that Ilearned in school and I use in
my job and I have it on mycomputer from work and I can
just make it thicker and then Ican 3d print it instead.
So now I have exact same thing,but it's just not digging into
my finger.
So you can be, you know, it'ssomething as simple as that, it
(28:26):
doesn't have to be some sort oflike world saving idea.
I mean, obviously those arewonderful.
The people who come up with waysto filter water out in rural
areas where that's just notpossible, otherwise without
hauling in some big equipmentor, you know, people who've come
up with other low cost devicestoo, like cookstoves.
(28:47):
I see a lot of projects likethat.
Cookstoves.
They don't release harmfulchemicals for communities in
Africa or in Latin America.
Um, that's, that's somethingI've seen a bunch of projects on
other sustainability projects aswell.
Those are wildly innovativethings that they're coming up
with there that are trulychanging lives.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Well, so wait, let me, it just occurred to me.
We were having a debate recentlyon our staff at, um, remember
we're planning and policypeople.
And we talk about, well, 3dprinting and then the
conversation went to whatactually happens with a 3d
printer.
What kind of material is in a 3dprinter and what is etching out?
(29:33):
The thing that comes from, Iguess, what I would have called
some computerated design orsomething.
So what's in it that, you know,you is then formed into whatever
you're trying to make with the3d printer.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Well, so the first thing before you even get to
what's in it is there's avariety of different ways to 3d
print.
You can either print just a lineof resin, repeatedly making
layers, almost like layinglayering, a brick wall.
Um, you go around and around andaround.
So you have your piece.
There's also types of 3dprinting that work where you do
(30:10):
it in a liquid body and it'ssuspended and then the liquid
will drain afterwards.
There's also ways to do multipletypes of materials at the same
time.
A really good example of thattype of printing is if you need
a ball and socket joint,something that has mobility.
So you don't want the, the twomaterials are two pieces to
print attached to each other.
(30:31):
You want there to be a littlebit of space, but you can't
print them separately becauseyou can't assemble them
afterward.
Does that make sense?
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (30:40):
It does.
And, and I think unless you'reactually around the 3d printer
and someone is showing you,here's what we're going to put
inside, here's the connectivityto tell whatever the printer is.
I guess here's what you're goingto do to that inanimate object
(31:00):
and to create what you're tryingto create.
Um, I, you know, I thought oneof the most interesting
applications I ever saw of 3dprinting and, um, virtual
reality was it was a discussionwith a very difficult brain
surgery.
(31:21):
And so what they did was theydid a 3d before they did the
surgery, they created you'renodding your head, like, you
know, so that they created a,um, a model of the skull first
and then using virtual reality,they then created the pathway
(31:45):
that the medical instrumentsneeded to take in order to
actually operate.
I believe it was on a braintumor, but it was so complicated
these two doctors use, but toyou, it virtual reality, AI,
these are all common terms tome.
I have to learn about it.
(32:06):
It's the world you'reinheriting, I guess.
And so I want to use this topivot because I think we've
established, you got game andthat you clearly, you know, as a
26 year old are, um, very, verybright and attuned to your area.
So, but I'm curious, what isyour take on where we are and is
(32:28):
there a sense of optimism andwhat I'm referring to is where
we are with regard to thepandemic economic disruption
and, you know, do you thinkthere's, and whether it's you
personally as a young adult, orit is you thinking as an
engineer because there'sproblems everywhere we look, we
(32:52):
can, we can actually figure thisout.
Do you, are you optimistic?
Speaker 4 (32:57):
I say that I'm optimistic.
You know, I think that there'salways going to be societal
problems, um, in the economy.
Hopefully there's not always apandemic, but there will always
be global health issues.
There will always besocioeconomic issues.
It will.
I really hope that sincerelythere are racial issues, but
(33:17):
it's, that's been around for avery, very long time.
There's a whole slew ofcategories we could talk about
here, but I mean, honestly inthe same ways that technology
like AI or 3d printing or anyother things that you mentioned
have developed to enableengineers to problem solve
better.
And one thing about that as itis not only do the, someone have
(33:40):
to develop those technologies,but you also have to, to
understand enough about how thetechnology works in order to
actually use it successfully toproblem solve.
So I could say, I want to 3dprint something, but if I can't
design it in a way that the 3dprinter can make it, then it's
not a successful solution towhatever I'm working on.
Maybe I can just build it on alave or a milling machine, much
(34:04):
better than I can 3d printingit.
And so you have to, part ofbeing an engineer is picking the
right method to actually createyour solution for it to be
successful.
And so in the same way, I thinkwe have technology and social
media and zoom and all sorts ofother softwares that didn't
exist six months or a year agothat are enabling us to do all
(34:28):
sorts of really important thingsfor, for social justice and for
the economy and for globalhealth issues.
I mean, like for take, forexample, um, all of the people
who are gathering together incommunities to make masks where
the people who are sharing filesto 3d print, uh, the mask
holders or the ear savers or allsorts of things.
(34:52):
I mean, that's a communityeffort of, of people of all
generations, not justmillennials, but you know,
working together with thetechnologies that we have.
And that in itself brings meoptimism, that people are
willing to work together to dowhatever they can from their
homes to help out everyone elsein the world.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
So do you think of yourself as a millennial or I'm
about to rename the 18 to 34year olds as maybe because I
need to the resilientgeneration, because if my
father's generation comingthrough the great depression and
world war II was known as thegreatest generation, then we
(35:31):
sure need the 18 to 34 year oldsto be the resilient generation
is resiliency.
It's used in many differentways, but do you consider that
to be a characteristic that'simportant to younger adults
right now that they, they have,it seems like so much is coming
(35:53):
at them from the pandemic, fromeconomics, from social justice.
Uh, well, climate change clearlyanother one, but you know, is it
that you think, I mean, and it'snot everybody obviously, but do
you think you consider yourselfresilient, your friends,
(36:15):
resilient, young adults,resilient?
Speaker 4 (36:18):
The easy answer to that is yes.
However, I don't think only ourgeneration is resilient for
sure.
I mean, like I said, everygeneration has had it's
equivalent to a pandemic and Idon't think there will be any
generation in the future thatdoesn't have something memorable
like this, that, you know, Isort of some things that come to
(36:38):
my head are like the AIDS crisisor world war II or the great
depression, or it just like, youcan think of something in every
generation that requiresresiliency.
So with that in mind, I wouldsay, yes, of course were
resilient.
Just like the generation beforeus was in the generation after
us will be.
I mean, it is important, I thinkto, you know, not only to just
(37:01):
survive on a day-to-day basisand survive through whatever's
happening in the world.
But I also think, you know, froma professional sense too, it's
important to be resilient sothat you can be successful in
your work and then in yourcareer.
And if you're not willing tofail and get back up again, that
hurts, it makes it harder toprogress in life and to, and to
(37:22):
continue on.
So resiliency is, is a criticalcharacter trait, I would say,
Speaker 2 (37:27):
But from your point of view, which I absolutely
willing to be corrected, itcould exist in any generation,
but I'm looking towards yoursbecause I've heard it said to me
many times by young adults thatthey, they look at older
generations and say, you're notthe world you're leaving us is
(37:50):
pretty messed up and that, youknow, we, we have to fix it.
We, there are so many issues infront of us.
And do you, you know, fromtalking to your friends and
others, do you feel that thatburden is upon your generation
to sort of clean up the massiveolder generations?
(38:11):
You know, and let, if we can,you know, if you want let's,
let's just say climate change,you know, there, there's an
issue where, you know, fordecades or generations, people
didn't pay attention to, butwe've managed to say here 18 to
34 year olds, we're leaving youto figure this one out.
(38:32):
Do you think that's a burdenupon younger?
Or it just comes with theterritory?
Speaker 4 (38:38):
I think every generation has its things that
it's focusing on.
And does it happen to be thatwe're truly at a critical
moment, maybe we've, we've beenat a critical moment for
environmental issues and climatechange for a while and maybe the
generation before us could havedone more.
Yes.
But now we're at the point wherethat's, I mean, there's no point
(39:01):
in thinking about what couldhave been done at this point and
, and feeling like it's a burdenon our shoulders.
It's interesting that you pickedthat topic specifically too,
because I, I, you know, there'sa variety of different topics
you could think about of like,why has less been done for
racial justice and, andpolicing?
(39:21):
Um, in particular we've seen somuch of that this year in
particular, but it's not like itdidn't exist last year or 20
years ago or 50 years ago, it'salways been a problem and there
could have been other thingsdone about it too.
Um, so yeah, it depends, itdepends on the topic, but I
think more of these things arecoming to light now and
millennials and even gen Z are,uh, rising to the occasion more
(39:45):
to, to tackle these things.
But also don't want to discreditthe other people in other
generations who are working
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Okay.
You, you can discredit us that,that that's fine.
Um, you know, it, the number ofissues, I can only think of one
period where the caffeinate ofissues was the sixties.
It was just endless, you know,and, and the overarching issue
(40:10):
was the Vietnam war you eitherfor, or against it.
Um, here, it's like, there'sthis incredible cacophony of
issues, this constellation ofissues that are coming to a head
at one time.
And by the way, we're going tojust throw a pandemic at you,
which changes your ability to,you know, move about the cabin
(40:33):
and, and it restricts certainsolutions.
Or you, you have to be thinkingabout, um, climate change at the
moment, but through the lens ofa pandemic, you have to be
thinking about social justice,but through the lens of a
pandemic, I just wonder, is itfair?
Is it, have we justoverburdened?
(40:56):
And, and do we have anobligation to say, we have to
work with you?
And maybe the notion ofgenerations has to go away.
It's just one set of people.
You know,
Speaker 4 (41:06):
Thinking back to how we started this conversation and
making this be through anengineer's lens, because I am an
engineer.
The way we are trained toproblem-solve is first with no
constraints, you treateverything simply, and you say,
anything can happen in thisworld.
Gravity doesn't even exist.
Let's start with the basics.
And then over time as you gothrough your degree, you get
(41:28):
more and more constraints as youlearn more and more about the
complexities and the theoremsyou're with and about, um, you
know, starting to think aboutcost or amount of materials are
available to you or timing andprojects.
And, and I think that that samething can apply here to these,
to these principles, which isthat we still have to problem
(41:50):
solve.
There's just differentconstraints.
And so I think that in terms ofthe way that our generation
things, it's not necessarilylike, Oh, there's more being
thrown at us.
I mean, that it, that, that istrue.
It just happens to be morecomplicated.
And we're going to work withwhat we have here.
You can't just solve racialinjustice.
(42:10):
We have to think about thepandemic.
I mean, think about the peoplewho aren't in the black lives
matter protests, they woremasks, and they did their best
in some cases to socialdistance, too.
There's ways to work on bothproblems at the same time, if
you're willing to commit theenergy to it.
And I think that millennials,
Speaker 2 (42:30):
That's a great way to look at it.
And I think we're going to leaveit there.
Um, because I think the that's agreat sense of optimism, that it
is a sense of, there is noproblem that you can solve.
They get more complicated.
Yeah.
That requires more complicatedsolutions.
And, um, from an engineeringpoint of view, Emma cult, thank
(42:52):
you for joining patterns andparadigms.
I just hope you have theopportunity to solve more issues
that come your way, your energy,your enthusiasm is just great.
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Thank you for tuning in to patterns and paradigms the
pattern podcast.
For more information about thisepisode, visit our website
pattern for progress.org forwardslash podcast.
We are experiencing a paradigm shift, a fundamental
change in the way we usually dothings.
We are intentionally choosing tosee the silver lining
opportunity arises.
We can shine a light on thethings that weren't working well
(00:25):
on those things that weren'treally working at all, we can
regroup reevaluate andre-engineer it's time to explore
new patterns and paradigms thosethat inspire us to rise above
the chaos and explore how theconditions of today and take us
(00:47):
to a better tomorrow patternsand paradigms the pattern
podcast from Hudson Valleypattern for progress.
You're listening to season two,episode six, problem solvers,
the resilient generation withyour host pattern, president and
CEO, Jonathan Dropkin.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Hi everyone, and welcome to patterns and
paradigms.
We hope you enjoyed last week'sepisode.
Would Kim element the CEO of theopen space Institute?
One of the nation's mostprestigious land trusts, please
remember to subscribe to ourpodcast and share it with a
friend bubble or trend.
(01:26):
The golden globe nominationswere recently announced.
I said to myself self, how didthey do that?
If no, one's going to themovies.
I looked through the list ofnominees and recognized that
they were all available throughone of the many streaming
services.
What then is the future of themovie theater?
(01:48):
We had a chance to explore someof this when actor Mary Stuart
Masterson joined us on thepodcast, but will the
experiential side of going tothe movies, win out over the
comfort of watching it at home?
We say that people will want toreturn to the movies, but the
(02:09):
business side of making moviesand their distribution will
ultimately dictate where wewatch stay tuned.
Before I introduce this week'sguest, where we, we will be
previewing a new periodic seriesof talking with younger
problem-solvers andentrepreneurs.
(02:30):
Let me ask my partner at patternto help me with framing this
segment, Joe Cheika with what'sup Joe.
Hey JD.
So I thought it would be fun,Joe, if we could take the
podcast every couple of episodesand talk to a younger
(02:50):
demographic about, um,entrepreneurship, where they're,
where they see the country goingin terms of all of the issues
that we're facing.
Um, is it too much?
Can they address it?
And Joe, in order to sort ofgive a little bit of the
background about why I want togo there, maybe you can give us
(03:12):
a little bit of the history ofthe Hudson Valley and its
relationship to, um, engineers.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Sure.
Well, as many people know, theHudson Valley had been home to
IBM, which was filled.
It was filled with engineers andengineers are very interesting
people.
They, they, they come to, to ajob with the theory of one thing
in mind, and that is how do yousolve a problem?
(03:41):
How do you solve a problem likeMaria?
It was a sound of music episode,right?
But engineers, engineers arejust there they're fabulous
problem solvers.
And when they did come to theHudson Valley years ago, it was
a boom there, they, you know,there was, there was homes being
built or businesses beingestablished.
Uh, IBM just, just took off.
(04:03):
I mean, and it became a way, away of the, of the Hudson
Valley, where there were highpaying jobs.
Um, and those high paying jobsthen really helped these
communities thrive and engineerswere local.
They, they lived in thecommunity, they participated on
boards.
They participated as volunteers.
(04:25):
And we had our incredible poolof people with very creative
minds.
And so with these high payingjobs in the, and this, this
thoughtful creative side ofthings, the communities did
well, there were on, on, on, ona track to just continue to
(04:45):
explore and to expand and tolook at things in an efficient
way.
And it was, uh, it was a greattime then IBM downsized,
Speaker 2 (04:57):
IBM is still, still prominent in Poughkeepsie.
And in Westchester there's stillthousands of IBM jobs, but it
left a void, I think is whatyou're saying in that, in that
we had an opportunity for theregion to be populated with
these problem solvers.
Now, one of the exciting thingsthat I think is happening is
(05:20):
there is this whole new group ofpeople throughout the Hudson
Valley that are entrepreneurs,they're creative, they're
thoughtful.
And an entrepreneur could be inmany, many different ways.
Don't, you know, our listenersshouldn't think of it as an
entrepreneur is an only inbusiness throughout the
(05:42):
pandemic.
There've been all kinds ofentrepreneurs who have figured
out how they're going to get by.
So, you know, I think Joe, withthis segment, um, we're going to
take a ch you know, uh, uh, uh,uh, look through the lens of a
younger generation as to theseries of issues that we face in
(06:04):
the Hudson Valley and throughoutthe United States.
So thanks Joe.
And let me introduce our gueststoday.
We're going to be talking withEmma.
Co-taught a 26 year oldmechanical engineer and
currently working for T Econnectivity as a sustaining
(06:25):
product engineer.
Emma graduated with a bachelorof science degree from Tufts
university in may of 2017.
And my explains that engineersare just what we're looking for.
Problem solvers.
The more I tried to prod herabout the numbers of issues, her
(06:47):
generation will have to addressthe more she pushed back by
saying, speaking for youngengineers, we are problem
solvers.
It just means there's moreproblems for us to solve.
And this father died when shewas very young.
He was an engineer.
Her younger sister is a cancersurvivor.
(07:10):
The word that is used so oftento describe getting to the other
side of the pandemic isresiliency and Emma Pitta, Mises
that let us know what you thinkof this episode by contacting
us@patternforprogress.org slashpodcast.
Hi, I am, um, this is the firstin a series where we're trying
(07:32):
to get the perspective ofdifferent generations to the
period that we're in.
So the question I pose to all ofour gasses, how are you doing
and how are you surviving in thetime of COVID?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Well, then I appreciate you asking me that.
And I have to admit, I am, I'vebeen unusually lucky during the
pandemic, and I try to stayaware of that and, and count my
blessings for sure.
Um, you know, my I've stayedhealthy.
My family has stayed healthy.
My friends have stayed healthy.
(08:07):
I've really been relativelyunaffected other than my daily
life, like most of us.
Um, but yeah, I've still, I'vestill been able to work and
maintain my job justtransitioned easily, remotely.
Yeah.
I'm still able to kind of do allmy daily responsibilities in
almost more than that.
They got some new things aswell.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So, so let's explain your job.
You're a mechanical engineer.
How, how did that, how did thathappen?
Why engineering and tell us abit of, you know, your pathway
of getting there?
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Sure.
Well, so my, my current title isas a product engineer, um, at T
connectivity and I'm working inthe automotive industrial
commercial sector.
Um, so the, to just to explainthat a little bit there's, the
automotive is more like personalvehicles, cars, and then
(09:04):
industrial commercialtransportation is basically
everything.
That's a vehicle that's largerthan that.
So construction trucks, uh, longhaul trucks, boats, sometimes
ADVS emergency medicine,vehicles, fire trucks, and, um,
that type of thing, buses.
Um, so that's the field I'mcurrently in, but obviously to
(09:26):
get there, I had to take a fewother steps, um, like getting my
bachelor's in mechanicalengineering.
I graduated from Tufts in may of2017,
Speaker 2 (09:37):
26.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Yes.
My birthday was on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Well, happy birthday, but why engineering?
Well, I mean, you could have,you know, you could have done
anything why'd you pickengineering?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Well, you know, admittedly, my dad was an
engineer.
So from a very young age, I hadthe opportunity to kind of know
what engineering was beyond atrain conductor.
So that started me off on theright foot.
But, you know, I always kind ofgravitated towards science and
math though.
I do also have an affinity forEnglish and writing as well.
(10:12):
Um, that's one of the reasons Iactually chose Tufts is because
it's a liberal arts school thathas engineering.
So I was able to do coursesoutside of engineering, as
opposed to, um, more of atechnical school route where the
courses were kind of hardcoretechnical and you didn't have a
lot of requirements outside ofthose courses.
Um, but I was always drawn tothe concept of, you know, of a
(10:34):
problem solving of hands-ondeveloping solutions for the
world's problems.
Be it something medical, be itsomething in transportation, or
even if it was just, you know,out of Legos or connects, trying
to come up with interesting,weird structures,
Speaker 2 (10:51):
You know, I was looking at your resume and it
said, uh, to D you wanted todevelop within the field of
biomechanics what'sbiomechanics.
And what is the, what is it thatyou're heading towards?
Speaker 4 (11:07):
So biomechanics is broad, um, in terms of the
research, it can refer to, soyou can think of buying a CanOx
of everything from more of anano micro scale of tissue
engineering or cellularmechanics up to more macro level
or whole body biomechanics.
So either thinking you go fromthinking about the cells where
(11:29):
you're thinking about limbs orthe entire body and how that
responds, and that becomesrelevant in everything from
interesting creative treatmentsof cancer through ultrasonic
therapies, or, um, understandinghow different muscle fibers work
up through on the more macrolevel.
(11:50):
Some of the research that I'velooked into is like what happens
during, uh, an automotive crashor during head trauma in sports,
or doing trauma from otherincidents as well, uh, where you
can look at how to developprosthetics or exoskeletons in
ways that are helpful andcomfortable and provide a high
(12:14):
quality of life for the peoplethat are using them.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So I've actually seen you do at least a presentation
on a prosthetic.
Um, but, and, and I know youwould say you're not an expert
in that, but the presentationwas pretty darn good.
This was for the, the hand up tothe elbow.
I think the prosthetic that youhad, or maybe it was just the
(12:40):
hand, I don't know, and you'duse 3d printing.
This was kind of like not yourreal gig as a job.
What were you doing?
And, and I made the idea of justmessing around in something that
seems so incredibly complex.
So what was that all about?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
I mean, one thing about how I, your initial
question for me was how did Iget to engineering in the first
place?
And that's because I'minterested in problem solving.
And I, and one of the thingsabout engineering as opposed to
other careers is that, you know,an engineer, if you, when you're
in school, you learn a skillsetof how to problem solve and not
(13:20):
necessarily.
And it's a language too, andengineers have the capacity to
be thrown on any type of projectand engineer.
Um, so I happened to work in theautomotive sphere and I do my
engineering thing there, butwhere my passion really lies is
with this field of biomechanics.
I love how the human body moves.
(13:41):
I love to think about how itmoves, how we can make it move
better, how it can make it moveworse and avoid that.
Um, you know, I'm an athlete.
So I think about injuries, Ithink about how to improve my
performance.
And that's also led me tointeresting volunteer work,
which is like, what I, what thathand was from that you were
(14:01):
talking about.
So there's a group called Eenable.
Their goal is to use 3d printedand other easily accessible
inexpensive materials to makelow cost devices, to distribute
to people that need them,particularly kids who, as they
grow, you need to replace adevice really often.
And it's really cost prohibitiveto keep them buying devices.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
The imagery is so important as you're showing the
thing.
So we'll provide a link becauseI think our listeners then could
get a better image enabling thefuture.org, all one word.
Okay, perfect.
So any of our listeners outthere, if you want to see some
of the visualization, what Emmawas talking about, um, it may
(14:49):
help a bit more with theunderstanding the conversation.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yeah.
And they have a great, um, you,you can get involved in a
variety of ways, whether youhave 3d printers yourself or
have access to one, um, and youcan help fabricate devices.
Uh, you can be someone whoreceives printed pieces and just
assembles the devices.
If you don't have access to aprinter, you can be the type of
(15:13):
person that helps to createcontacts between people who need
the devices and people who canmake them.
And those are variety of otherroles as well.
I happen to be lucky enough tobe in possession of a printer on
loan to me.
So I'm able to print and makethe devices myself.
Um, but it's, uh,
Speaker 2 (15:34):
And this is just a volunteer.
This was just a volunteer use ofyour curiosity with, um,
engineering.
And as it applies to the humanbody, I mean, I would think
watching sports, but okay.
You know, but that's, it'sfascinating that you would take
the time to do this.
(15:54):
Okay.
So that's per statics, but inyour regular job, then you're
also working on batteries andcabling for electric vehicles.
Or
Speaker 4 (16:04):
I have worked on those types of products.
What I, what I specifically workon is connectors.
Uh, I know people can't seethem, but this is what they do.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
All right.
So let's do our best.
It's a cylindrical device thatscrews into each two parts that
screw into each other and thegoal.
Okay.
So the goal of the connector isto do what
Speaker 4 (16:28):
You can use it for a variety of applications of power
or signals or something that'sgoing to a larger unit on a
vehicle or something that'sgoing to your AVU system or two
yeah.
Power distribution units and thebattery, you know, and then, and
(16:49):
the important thing to thinkabout in that application too,
is that these, these types ofproducts are constantly being
innovated as the needs change inthe industry from hybrid
electric vehicles to fullyelectric vehicles as well.
And in the amount of currentthan you need to be able to pump
(17:09):
through these things increases.
And so you need in conceptbigger, heavier wires, but you
don't want to add more weight toa vehicle because then that
makes it have higherrequirements of more power
output it's balancing the needs.
Basically a good example forthese types of products is that
(17:31):
with the needs of the industrythese days, it's almost like
trying to drink from a firehose.
Like how can we put the mostenergy through these devices,
these cables, so that thevehicles themselves can harness
it.
But with doing that with lowcost, low weight, and still
being sustainable as well interms of our material choices
(17:52):
and making it cost effective too, because nobody wants to buy
something that's thousands andthousands of dollars when you
can make it for a hundreddollars.
Instead,
Speaker 2 (18:01):
General motors just announced that by third 20, 35,
100% of their vehicles weregoing to be electric for the
layman, not an engineer, but forthe layman, is this realistic?
How important is this to youthat we've moved to all electric
(18:21):
vehicles?
Is that the future?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I definitely think it's the future in terms of it
being realistic, that allvehicles achieve that title of
being electric.
Yeah.
I think, I think it is feasible,but I also, you know, I was
actually reviewing some of mycompany's literature earlier in
preparation for this, you almosthave to think about it in, in
different categories.
So it's a lot easier to makevehicles that have a low mileage
(18:47):
or a short route that they dolike a school bus or a mail
truck, or, um, even a, uh,commuter bus, uh, into an
electric vehicle because theyhave shorter range, but it's a
lot harder to do the same thingfor a long haul truck.
You need to drive across thecountry.
You don't want to have to stopevery 200 miles just to charge
(19:08):
the truck and wait a couplehours.
You want to be able to charge itin 10 minutes, or you want to be
able to go 500 miles on onecharge.
So the problem isn't necessarilyelectrifying these to these
vehicles.
It's how can we increase therange, the battery power of
these, of these vehicles so thatthey can fulfill their purpose
(19:31):
in greater and greater ways.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Are we close?
I mean, is it a question ofgetting, you know, the right,
the figuring out the battery,and then once we figured out the
battery, if it can last longerthan a ha we've got it, or we're
not that close,
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Definitely a lot of different groups and a lot of
different companies working onus.
I don't know if I can give youan exact year of when we're
going to have a solution that Iwish I could,
Speaker 2 (19:58):
But do you know how many times they've gotten much
older than, you know, any timesthey keep pushing the year back
and pushing the year back that,so your opinion on this is
probably as good as everyone.
Else's, it's an opinion.
So, but you're a young engineerwho thinks about these things,
so it's possible, but right now,one of the things is not the car
(20:23):
itself, you're saying, but it'sactually figuring out the
batteries.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
It's a combination.
And in fact, from what I see,it's, it's almost more a
question of the, like thecharging inlets and the charging
stations and, you know, how canwe efficiently get energy from
the charging station into thevehicle quickly without causing
an electrical fire or havingcable that's the size of your
(20:49):
head?
So, so that becomes questionsfor engineers of like, what
materials can we choose?
How much can we safely putthrough this cable without
having to provide additionalsafety measures, because you
have to put in safetyprecautions and these types of
things, and we call it pokey Oak, sorry, there's a term that we
use in engineering called pokeyOak, which I want to say the
(21:12):
equivalent is like idiotproofing.
Um, and I'm not saying that theaverage consumer is an idiot by
any stretch of the imagination,but, um, there's certain things
that you have to do to make surethat people are safe using your,
using your equipment.
No matter how well designed itis.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Well, I mean, that's as simple as when people get
gasoline and they have to getsomething that's highly
flammable into their car.
Everybody has to be able to doit.
And so they've tried to make itidiot proof.
You know, you take it, you putit in and still people
accidentally let the gasoline goand someone may be smoking a
(21:49):
cigarette or something.
So I get it that there's a need.
If everybody's going to do it,then it's gotta be thinking
about the common man for thesolution,
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Right?
And that's after we, we, youknow, achieve the actual
challenge of being able tocharge these cars fast enough
and come up with the technologyto even do it in the first
place, because you're talkingabout right now, the goal is to
be able to put the equivalentcharge into vehicles for a 200
mile range.
(22:20):
So to be able to charge the carto go that far in 10 minutes or
less, right now, it takes aboutan hour to charge that much.
So we're trying to reduce it sixfold, which doesn't necessarily
equate to, you know, increasingthe cable size six times.
It's much more complex.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
All right.
So as an engineer, and as yousay, someone who loves to look
at problem solving, are thereaspirational problems that
you've thought about that said,yeah, someday I'd love to be
able to figure this out.
Anything ever come across yourway in, in school or at the job
(23:01):
and say, there's gotta be asolution.
I do it all the time only.
I'm not an engineer, but isthere something that, you know,
you said there's gotta be asolution for it because it's
very interesting that youdescribe engineers as problem
solvers.
Now, maybe all engineers thinkof themselves as that, but the
general public may think ofengineers as, I don't know,
(23:23):
these are these geeky kind ofpeople that do other things, but
we're increasingly in a worldthat says we have problems.
We have big problems.
How do we solve them?
So any that you've thought aboutthat, you've said, boy, someday,
I'd like to devote a little bitof time to figuring this out.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
That's a really good question.
I actually want to, I want toskirt that for a second.
Just for going back to theinitial part of the question you
asked is sure, not only do Ithink of engineers as problem
solvers, but one of the thingsI've actually noticed about
engineers in, in my rockclimbing hobby is that pretty
much every rock climber I meetis an engineer of some sort.
(24:03):
And it's not just that we likeproblem solving in our career.
It's like, it's that we problemsolve all the time in our
hobbies.
Climbing is a sport that'sderived from problem solving.
You just do it with their bodyand your mind instead of only
your mind and maybe your hands,if you're working on something.
And I've always thought that wasreally funny because I'll go to
(24:26):
the gym and I'll meet new peopleand then ask them what they do.
And it's like engineer, computerscientists, mathematicians,
physicists, engineer.
It's just, it's never shockinganymore.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
So I saw, um, last night, Elon Musk is prepping for
his, um, private, uh, rocketlaunch, which will put four
civilian astronauts into orbitaround the earth.
It turns out that one of themflew a fighter jet.
(24:59):
So he actually knows a bit aboutaeronautics, but the idea that
anybody could go into space, Iwould have thought was
impossible, but I could onlyimagine the number of engineers
who were sitting there figuringthis stuff out.
And so is that what sort of getsto you is just figuring stuff
(25:22):
out.
You know, I, I work often ingovernment and policies so that
my, what sort of makes Ibelieve, and I'm accused of
this, that I can solve anything.
The answer is I can't, and it'svery hard for me to take that as
like, well, there's gotta be asolution.
I just haven't figured it outyet.
(25:43):
So is that weirdly really?
What is the mindset of anengineer?
Give them a problem.
And they will figure out asolution like the, you know, the
United States has the army Corpsof engineers and they're brought
in to do all sorts of things,erect hospitals during COVID,
uh, you know, and I would havesaid the army Corps of engineers
(26:03):
does that.
Sure.
They do.
They do anything they're told todo.
So I'm just kinda curious, like,if that is sort of the approach
that all engineers have or somemore narrow in focus, or is it
only, are you only bound by yourimagination?
Speaker 4 (26:22):
I would definitely say that that at least from what
I've observed in myself and inmy peers, our approach is, is I
want to solve that.
I want to come up with asolution that works and then I
want to iterate on it and makeit better.
Um, and that, and that can beanything.
It can, you know, it can besomething in your house that
(26:42):
breaks and you want to do betterjob.
I use my 3d printer to come upwith, um, things around the
house.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
What have you done?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Well, um, one small example is, uh, uh, I ordered
one of those, um, devices youcan put in your key chain that
you can use to pull on doorhandles.
So I don't have to wear glovesall the time, um, where you can
push like push buttons or likefor the sink or something like
in a public bathroom, especiallyduring the time of COVID, it's
just this little metal piece.
(27:14):
And then I can go home andsanitize that, but I didn't, I'm
not touching all these handlesand buttons and stuff out in the
world.
The problem with it is while itworks well, and it's strong
because it's metal, it's verythin.
So when I pull on it with one ortwo fingers, it's, it's sharp.
So it digs into my finger.
You know, this isn't like, youknow, a, a global,
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Don't worry about it.
We'll get to those later in it alittle bit, you know, global
issues and your perception, but,okay, so yet we've all, you
know, we, some people use pensto like press the elevator
button cause they didn't want totouch it.
When we were very concerned withCOVID that it was transmitted
from surfaces.
Now we're much more concernedabout it being airborne.
(27:59):
So, so you actually created,
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Well, actually it's even simpler than that.
I can just take the same outlineand design it in 3d modeling
software.
So that's something that Ilearned in school and I use in
my job and I have it on mycomputer from work and I can
just make it thicker and then Ican 3d print it instead.
So now I have exact same thing,but it's just not digging into
my finger.
So you can be, you know, it'ssomething as simple as that, it
(28:26):
doesn't have to be some sort oflike world saving idea.
I mean, obviously those arewonderful.
The people who come up with waysto filter water out in rural
areas where that's just notpossible, otherwise without
hauling in some big equipmentor, you know, people who've come
up with other low cost devicestoo, like cookstoves.
(28:47):
I see a lot of projects likethat.
Cookstoves.
They don't release harmfulchemicals for communities in
Africa or in Latin America.
Um, that's, that's somethingI've seen a bunch of projects on
other sustainability projects aswell.
Those are wildly innovativethings that they're coming up
with there that are trulychanging lives.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Well, so wait, let me, it just occurred to me.
We were having a debate recentlyon our staff at, um, remember
we're planning and policypeople.
And we talk about, well, 3dprinting and then the
conversation went to whatactually happens with a 3d
printer.
What kind of material is in a 3dprinter and what is etching out?
(29:33):
The thing that comes from, Iguess, what I would have called
some computerated design orsomething.
So what's in it that, you know,you is then formed into whatever
you're trying to make with the3d printer.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Well, so the first thing before you even get to
what's in it is there's avariety of different ways to 3d
print.
You can either print just a lineof resin, repeatedly making
layers, almost like layinglayering, a brick wall.
Um, you go around and around andaround.
So you have your piece.
There's also types of 3dprinting that work where you do
(30:10):
it in a liquid body and it'ssuspended and then the liquid
will drain afterwards.
There's also ways to do multipletypes of materials at the same
time.
A really good example of thattype of printing is if you need
a ball and socket joint,something that has mobility.
So you don't want the, the twomaterials are two pieces to
print attached to each other.
(30:31):
You want there to be a littlebit of space, but you can't
print them separately becauseyou can't assemble them
afterward.
Does that make sense?
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (30:40):
It does.
And, and I think unless you'reactually around the 3d printer
and someone is showing you,here's what we're going to put
inside, here's the connectivityto tell whatever the printer is.
I guess here's what you're goingto do to that inanimate object
(31:00):
and to create what you're tryingto create.
Um, I, you know, I thought oneof the most interesting
applications I ever saw of 3dprinting and, um, virtual
reality was it was a discussionwith a very difficult brain
surgery.
(31:21):
And so what they did was theydid a 3d before they did the
surgery, they created you'renodding your head, like, you
know, so that they created a,um, a model of the skull first
and then using virtual reality,they then created the pathway
(31:45):
that the medical instrumentsneeded to take in order to
actually operate.
I believe it was on a braintumor, but it was so complicated
these two doctors use, but toyou, it virtual reality, AI,
these are all common terms tome.
I have to learn about it.
(32:06):
It's the world you'reinheriting, I guess.
And so I want to use this topivot because I think we've
established, you got game andthat you clearly, you know, as a
26 year old are, um, very, verybright and attuned to your area.
So, but I'm curious, what isyour take on where we are and is
(32:28):
there a sense of optimism andwhat I'm referring to is where
we are with regard to thepandemic economic disruption
and, you know, do you thinkthere's, and whether it's you
personally as a young adult, orit is you thinking as an
engineer because there'sproblems everywhere we look, we
(32:52):
can, we can actually figure thisout.
Do you, are you optimistic?
Speaker 4 (32:57):
I say that I'm optimistic.
You know, I think that there'salways going to be societal
problems, um, in the economy.
Hopefully there's not always apandemic, but there will always
be global health issues.
There will always besocioeconomic issues.
It will.
I really hope that sincerelythere are racial issues, but
(33:17):
it's, that's been around for avery, very long time.
There's a whole slew ofcategories we could talk about
here, but I mean, honestly inthe same ways that technology
like AI or 3d printing or anyother things that you mentioned
have developed to enableengineers to problem solve
better.
And one thing about that as itis not only do the, someone have
(33:40):
to develop those technologies,but you also have to, to
understand enough about how thetechnology works in order to
actually use it successfully toproblem solve.
So I could say, I want to 3dprint something, but if I can't
design it in a way that the 3dprinter can make it, then it's
not a successful solution towhatever I'm working on.
Maybe I can just build it on alave or a milling machine, much
(34:04):
better than I can 3d printingit.
And so you have to, part ofbeing an engineer is picking the
right method to actually createyour solution for it to be
successful.
And so in the same way, I thinkwe have technology and social
media and zoom and all sorts ofother softwares that didn't
exist six months or a year agothat are enabling us to do all
(34:28):
sorts of really important thingsfor, for social justice and for
the economy and for globalhealth issues.
I mean, like for take, forexample, um, all of the people
who are gathering together incommunities to make masks where
the people who are sharing filesto 3d print, uh, the mask
holders or the ear savers or allsorts of things.
(34:52):
I mean, that's a communityeffort of, of people of all
generations, not justmillennials, but you know,
working together with thetechnologies that we have.
And that in itself brings meoptimism, that people are
willing to work together to dowhatever they can from their
homes to help out everyone elsein the world.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
So do you think of yourself as a millennial or I'm
about to rename the 18 to 34year olds as maybe because I
need to the resilientgeneration, because if my
father's generation comingthrough the great depression and
world war II was known as thegreatest generation, then we
(35:31):
sure need the 18 to 34 year oldsto be the resilient generation
is resiliency.
It's used in many differentways, but do you consider that
to be a characteristic that'simportant to younger adults
right now that they, they have,it seems like so much is coming
(35:53):
at them from the pandemic, fromeconomics, from social justice.
Uh, well, climate change clearlyanother one, but you know, is it
that you think, I mean, and it'snot everybody obviously, but do
you think you consider yourselfresilient, your friends,
(36:15):
resilient, young adults,resilient?
Speaker 4 (36:18):
The easy answer to that is yes.
However, I don't think only ourgeneration is resilient for
sure.
I mean, like I said, everygeneration has had it's
equivalent to a pandemic and Idon't think there will be any
generation in the future thatdoesn't have something memorable
like this, that, you know, Isort of some things that come to
(36:38):
my head are like the AIDS crisisor world war II or the great
depression, or it just like, youcan think of something in every
generation that requiresresiliency.
So with that in mind, I wouldsay, yes, of course were
resilient.
Just like the generation beforeus was in the generation after
us will be.
I mean, it is important, I thinkto, you know, not only to just
(37:01):
survive on a day-to-day basisand survive through whatever's
happening in the world.
But I also think, you know, froma professional sense too, it's
important to be resilient sothat you can be successful in
your work and then in yourcareer.
And if you're not willing tofail and get back up again, that
hurts, it makes it harder toprogress in life and to, and to
(37:22):
continue on.
So resiliency is, is a criticalcharacter trait, I would say,
Speaker 2 (37:27):
But from your point of view, which I absolutely
willing to be corrected, itcould exist in any generation,
but I'm looking towards yoursbecause I've heard it said to me
many times by young adults thatthey, they look at older
generations and say, you're notthe world you're leaving us is
(37:50):
pretty messed up and that, youknow, we, we have to fix it.
We, there are so many issues infront of us.
And do you, you know, fromtalking to your friends and
others, do you feel that thatburden is upon your generation
to sort of clean up the massiveolder generations?
(38:11):
You know, and let, if we can,you know, if you want let's,
let's just say climate change,you know, there, there's an
issue where, you know, fordecades or generations, people
didn't pay attention to, butwe've managed to say here 18 to
34 year olds, we're leaving youto figure this one out.
(38:32):
Do you think that's a burdenupon younger?
Or it just comes with theterritory?
Speaker 4 (38:38):
I think every generation has its things that
it's focusing on.
And does it happen to be thatwe're truly at a critical
moment, maybe we've, we've beenat a critical moment for
environmental issues and climatechange for a while and maybe the
generation before us could havedone more.
Yes.
But now we're at the point wherethat's, I mean, there's no point
(39:01):
in thinking about what couldhave been done at this point and
, and feeling like it's a burdenon our shoulders.
It's interesting that you pickedthat topic specifically too,
because I, I, you know, there'sa variety of different topics
you could think about of like,why has less been done for
racial justice and, andpolicing?
(39:21):
Um, in particular we've seen somuch of that this year in
particular, but it's not like itdidn't exist last year or 20
years ago or 50 years ago, it'salways been a problem and there
could have been other thingsdone about it too.
Um, so yeah, it depends, itdepends on the topic, but I
think more of these things arecoming to light now and
millennials and even gen Z are,uh, rising to the occasion more
(39:45):
to, to tackle these things.
But also don't want to discreditthe other people in other
generations who are working
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Okay.
You, you can discredit us that,that that's fine.
Um, you know, it, the number ofissues, I can only think of one
period where the caffeinate ofissues was the sixties.
It was just endless, you know,and, and the overarching issue
(40:10):
was the Vietnam war you eitherfor, or against it.
Um, here, it's like, there'sthis incredible cacophony of
issues, this constellation ofissues that are coming to a head
at one time.
And by the way, we're going tojust throw a pandemic at you,
which changes your ability to,you know, move about the cabin
(40:33):
and, and it restricts certainsolutions.
Or you, you have to be thinkingabout, um, climate change at the
moment, but through the lens ofa pandemic, you have to be
thinking about social justice,but through the lens of a
pandemic, I just wonder, is itfair?
Is it, have we justoverburdened?
(40:56):
And, and do we have anobligation to say, we have to
work with you?
And maybe the notion ofgenerations has to go away.
It's just one set of people.
You know,
Speaker 4 (41:06):
Thinking back to how we started this conversation and
making this be through anengineer's lens, because I am an
engineer.
The way we are trained toproblem-solve is first with no
constraints, you treateverything simply, and you say,
anything can happen in thisworld.
Gravity doesn't even exist.
Let's start with the basics.
And then over time as you gothrough your degree, you get
(41:28):
more and more constraints as youlearn more and more about the
complexities and the theoremsyou're with and about, um, you
know, starting to think aboutcost or amount of materials are
available to you or timing andprojects.
And, and I think that that samething can apply here to these,
to these principles, which isthat we still have to problem
(41:50):
solve.
There's just differentconstraints.
And so I think that in terms ofthe way that our generation
things, it's not necessarilylike, Oh, there's more being
thrown at us.
I mean, that it, that, that istrue.
It just happens to be morecomplicated.
And we're going to work withwhat we have here.
You can't just solve racialinjustice.
(42:10):
We have to think about thepandemic.
I mean, think about the peoplewho aren't in the black lives
matter protests, they woremasks, and they did their best
in some cases to socialdistance, too.
There's ways to work on bothproblems at the same time, if
you're willing to commit theenergy to it.
And I think that millennials,
Speaker 2 (42:30):
That's a great way to look at it.
And I think we're going to leaveit there.
Um, because I think the that's agreat sense of optimism, that it
is a sense of, there is noproblem that you can solve.
They get more complicated.
Yeah.
That requires more complicatedsolutions.
And, um, from an engineeringpoint of view, Emma cult, thank
(42:52):
you for joining patterns andparadigms.
I just hope you have theopportunity to solve more issues
that come your way, your energy,your enthusiasm is just great.
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Thank you for tuning in to patterns and paradigms the
pattern podcast.
For more information about thisepisode, visit our website
pattern for progress.org forwardslash podcast.
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