Claim OwnershipThe Mason Mechanical Engineer
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© Leigh McCue
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Interested in George Mason? Interested in becoming a mechanical engineer? Not yet sure what a mechanical engineer does, or what life at Mason would be like? Subscribe to this podcast featuring research, students, outreach, and more!
Intro/outro music by PaulYudin via Pixabay.
Intro/outro music by PaulYudin via Pixabay.
37 Episodes
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Philip and I particularly enjoy getting to catch up with alums doing great things, and we’d been trying to get Daniel Scott Mitchell on the show for a while. Between stints at Form Labs, Tesla, Rivian, and now launching his own startup, Daniel’s career trajectory is inspirational. He chatted with us to share some words of wisdom on perseverance, hard work, creativity, and making things happen. Looking for more from him? Check out his podcast The Next Byte at https://www.thenextbyte.com/, his startup Takton.com, or connect with him by email at daniel@takton.com.
In this episode, we feature Rachel Yoho from the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning. She invited Philip and I to be on her podcast, Keystone Concepts in Teaching, and in the process we were fascinated to learn more about her engineering background and how she uses the skills she developed as an engineer in her day-to-day as Assistant Director of the Stearns Center, helping faculty improve their teaching and classroom effectiveness.
In this episode I caught up with Brooke Mayer from Marquette. Water is essential for our survival. Prof. Mayer is doing high impact research on water quality and working closely with industry to make sure that research finds its way into improving access to safe, clean water. In this conversation we chat a bit about her research and also about the importance of communicating science research effectively. (For any listener interested in the book I mention in this chat, the full title is Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Joseph Aoun.)
Phil and I recently had the opportunity to chat with Edwin Wallis from Maritime Academy Charter School in Philadelphia. In this episode he shares some tricks of the trade for recruiting and coaching a rookie SeaGlide underwater robotics team. (Spoiler alert: they did really well!) Listen on to learn about the bright, future naval engineering workforce.
Capstone Day 2025 was held in conjunction with the Department of Mechanical Engineering's 10th Anniversary Celebration on May 5th. As icing on the cake, the festivities took place in George Mason's brand new Life Sciences and Engineering Building, which is home to numerous instructional laboratories that provide our students hands-on learning experiences. Listening to this episode will give you a glimpse into the day; more information on our capstone design program can be found at: https://mechanical.gmu.edu/hands/senior-design-capstone.
In this episode, Phil and I chat with Zach Lenkay from Ulliman Schutte Construction to learn about construction of water treatment facilities. You’ve probably seen news coverage of water supplies gone wrong; in this episode we’re shining a light on water treatment done right. Zach shares with us his excitement for enabling access to sustainable clean water and the future opportunities for students pursuing careers in this industry.
It’s always a great day when we can spotlight a former student on the podcast. For today’s episode we are joined by alum Mohammad Khogiani, who seems to be loving his time at MTSI. To make it all the more special, he brought with him Senior Principal Engineer Nick Francis. Collectively we had a lively conversation about the past, present, and future of the aerospace industry, from the F-15 to autonomous aircraft and artificial intelligence to hypersonics.
I am so honored to chat in this episode with Farrell Davis, a scientist, engineer, entrepreneur, and fisherman. Listen on to learn a bit about his background and what's led him to his position as a Fisheries Technologist at Coonamessett Farm Foundation, as well as the work he's doing to improve commercial fishing safety and ergonomics funded by the Northeast Center's Ideas That Work incubator.
On the day of Mason’s career fair, Phil and I caught up with a favorite alum Dhiambi Otete as she was back on campus recruiting for the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division. In our chat we covered everything from job hunting, to life after D1 sports, to how to make the perfect pizza (hint: no pineapple). Listen in for this exceptional role model’s words of wisdom.
Philip Wilkerson and I had the opportunity to chat with CAPT Brad Baker, USN (Ret.) about his Navy career, his transition to the private sector at Energetics Technology Center, and building the naval engineering workforce during his service at the United States Naval Academy. Did he train additive manufacturing's Rickover? Listen in to find out!
If you’re interested in learning more, the article CAPT Baker mentions is linked here.
Angela Moran joined us last week to talk about naval STEM outreach, and we could not contain our enthusiasm, jumping right into conversation before we even got to introductions! Her story is so inspirational, it is no surprise she's been dubbed the 'Mother of USNA STEM Outreach.'
For this episode, RJ Santucci invited me to visit him at the Naval Research Laboratory. Before embarking on a lab tour, we chatted about materials science as an enabler for “stuff you do work with” – whether it’s “sailing from one place to another…or bringing electricity to people.” Listen on to learn more! For information on the Pathways Internship Program that RJ mentioned, visit: https://www.nrl.navy.mil/Careers/Students/Pathways-Internship-Program/.
Tristan Wolfe, from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, joins us for this episode to talk about biologically inspired design (owls!), plasma flow, and pathways to knowledge from internships into a career of lifelong learning. For more information on the programs he describes, check out: https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Philadelphia/Partnerships/STEM-Programs/.
Philip Wilkerson, Tim Diggins, and I checked in with each other to reflect on the 2023-2024 academic year, and discuss how both the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Career Services are gearing up to support our students this coming academic year. If you're looking for more information on the DEEP program that Philip Wilkerson mentions, details are here: https://careers.gmu.edu/deep-employers, with the application at: https://careers.gmu.edu/deep.
In this episode I interview members of four capstone design teams, plus one sponsor, during capstone day 2024. Learn all about the amazing design-build activities of our students to get a glimpse into a day in the life as a Mason Mechanical Engineer. To read about these projects, check out: https://mechanical.gmu.edu/hands/senior-design-capstone, and the interview with Maureen Foley mentioned in this episode can be found here.
In this episode of the Mason Mechanical Engineer, Jacqueline Johanas shares insights from leveraging her mechanical engineering background in her career pathway with the US Patent and Trademark Office. To apply for the jobs she describes, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/.
While the scientists developing cures for disease get much of the publicity, behind the scenes, teams of critical facilities engineers keep the biosafety labs those scientists work in operational. In this conversation with Cecelia Wright Brown and Brian Vickery from the National Institutes of Health, we learn more about the engineering involved in this type of critical facilities engineering.
For the 20th episode of The Mason Mechanical Engineer, we are thrilled to share our first video episode, an interview with Dr. Andre Marshall, Mason’s Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development. Listen or watch to learn about Dr. Marshall’s holistic vision for technology in society, drawing off his experiences in industry, government, and academia.
Phil and I sat down with Career Services GOAT (listen in to hear why Phil calls her that) Zakeyah Frazier. She wowed us with her insights tying theory to practice in how she mentors STEM students to find their dream jobs.
Podcast co-host Philip Wilkerson bumped into recent alum Jensen Schram recruiting for her employer M.C. Dean at Mason's Fall Career Fair, and a quick conversation led him to conclude we had to have her on the podcast! In this episode Jensen talks us through being on both sides of the recruitment table and has powerful lessons learned on self-advocacy in academia and the workforce.
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