About Me.

Every person has a unique story. This is mine.

 

I was born and raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the middle of what is known as "Amish Country". Early on, my parents became aware that I was destined to work with my hands when, as a 2-year-old, I was disassembling and reassembling an oscillating fan.

 

My passion for working with my hands, building and designing flourished through my childhood with endless bins full of Lego Technic and Lego Mindstorms kits, K'Nex, model planes, trains and rockets. My days as a child were not spent watching cartoons or playing sports, but were instead filled with Lego Robtics camps, rocketry clubs, music, railfanning, photography, and woodworking.

 

In middle and high school, I played Cello and Double Bass in the Orchestra, and Percussion for the marching band. I was a member of the Technology Students Association (TSA), participated in The American Rocketry Challenge, and designed and build sets for theater productions, and ran lighting. Over the summers I assisted at Millersville University teaching the same Lego Robotics camps that I attended as a youth.

I attended Drexel University to pursue an education in Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics where I was accepted into the 5-year accelerated BS/MS and co-op program; however, where most students choose to drop their third co-op cycle to focus on the MS classes, I not only kept my 3rd co-op cycle but doubled-down on my MS focus by joining the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Group (TAMG) to pursue a thesis in Finite Element Analysis (FEA) modeling of fatigue-induced crack growth propagation. I graduated from Drexel with a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering in 2012, published and with over 18 months of real-world engineering experience.

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I entered into my college career wanting to work in the field of aviation; however, my co-ops guided me toward medical devices where I have now worked for over 12 years. In some ways, graduating in the midst of the Great Recession proved very challenging, but nonetheless it provided an opportunity to experience different aspects of engineering in a wide range of company types: from New Product Development to Process Development to Sustaining and Advanced Development in companies that ranged from start-up to multinational corporations.

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In my free time I enjoy being outdoors, working on home improvement projects, working with foster youth, creating art, and spending time with my family. In 2014 I started an Etsy business, EngineeringCocktails, where I made blueprint style drawings of cocktails. I have since discontinued the Etsy business but not before landing a 5-book illustration contract for the Shake, Muddle, Stir coffee table book series published by Hardie Grant.