This edition of Future in Flight introduces @Sharanya Chougule a fourth-year Electrical Engineering student at the University of Calgary who joined DHC’s PMO – Avionics Programs team under the guidance of manager Tobias Smith. Throughout the internship, he has supported daily supply analysis, including reviewing Bills of Materials (BOMs) to help ensure supply can meet customer demand, while gaining experience in cross-functional coordination and understanding the bigger picture behind delivering for our customers. Continue reading to learn more about his experience at DHC, his passion for aerospace and what he’s learned along the way.
1. What’s one challenge you’ve overcome during university that prepared you for this internship?
Understanding how to approach problems and think about solutions strategically. My role at DHC involves the analysis of BOM’s (Bill of Materials) every day, and I have to make sure my thinking cap is on to ensure our supply can meet the customer’s demand. Being part of engineering is valuable to me as we are constantly thrown different kinds of problems from various domains of technical knowledge. When I first started the program, I found it overwhelming to face multiple types of problems and sit down through each one of them. With careful practice, I felt this process trained me to become more competent at taking on different challenges. These skills made its value clear to me during my current internship in daily supply analysis for our organization.
2. Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years, I’d like to see myself in either graduate school or settled down into an industry position. While I have my personal goals, I also find the most amount of joy comes from the daily routine: getting up and being present throughout my day. Whether it is getting the first task done or seeing my work friends for lunch, I’d like to focus on the ‘process’ itself, and build systems that help me to be better each day.
3. What’s something you’ve worked on that you’re proud of?
A Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that I designed myself for a student team at my university. I’m part of Student Organization for Aerospace Research (SOAR), a club where we research, design, and manufacture experimental rockets. As a senior member, I designed one of our main PCBs: The Flight Control Board. This project helped to manage the main rocket states, and captured several flight critical sensors including thermocouples, pressure transducers, and the radio. I’m proud of this project because the board was successful in our launch and proved to be reliable at our team’s competitions.
4. What’s your favorite place you’ve ever travelled and why?
Paris! While some may say it’s overrated, I fell in love with the pretty cobble streets, and it felt like something different was in the air. Seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time was exciting because the tower did not seem very tall but it was designed meticulously, and I appreciated the engineering work that went into the structure. French culture fascinates me as well, and I always like to learn more about their fashion and understated elegance.
5. What surprised you most about yourself during this internship?
Through this internship, I was most surprised by how I could adapt to a new role that is outside my educational background. I came into the internship expecting to focus on a lot of technical problems, but I found myself really enjoying the challenge of coordination amongst different teams, understanding the bigger picture of a company, and figuring out how our group can put all these pieces together to deliver something for our customers.
Team: News