Project Engineer-Mechanical (Project Ada)

Staff - Non Union

Job Category
M&P - AAPS

Job Profile
AAPS Salaried - Scientific Eng., Level C

Job Title
Project Engineer-Mechanical (Project Ada)

Department
Research | Berlinguette Lab | Department of Chemistry | Faculty of Science

Compensation Range
$6,551.00 - $9,418.83 CAD Monthly

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End Date
April 9, 2024

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the Posting End Date above.

Job End Date

Mar 30, 2025

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. 

Job Summary
This position leads mechanical design for projects within a UBC research initiative focused on building electrolyzers and autonomous robotic laboratories for accelerating the discovery of new clean energy materials.
Organizational Status
Professor Curtis Berlinguette (Chemistry Department; Chemical & Biological Engineering Department; Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute) leads a large interdisciplinary team that explores, discovers, and deploys advanced materials that serve an ever-growing need for high-performance, low-cost alternative energy technologies. The Berlinguette group specializes in systems and devices that can convert, store, and modulate clean and abundant renewable energy, and builds automated and autonomous platforms to help find the best new materials faster than ever.

Position reports directly to Prof. Berlinguette. On a daily basis, this position will interact directly with graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and other technical team members at UBC. The candidate will also liaise significantly with technical staff both internal and external to the university in order to efficiently conduct their work.
Work Performed
To create mechanical engineering solutions for the diverse hardware needs of Project Ada including:

- Providing on-site mechanical engineering leadership and expertise to the project Ada team at UBC;
- Leading the mechanical design and integration of custom and semi-custom scientific equipment into autonomous robotics systems. Examples of equipment to be developed may include:
- Electrochemical test cells with automated electrolyte mixing and flow rate control that are compatible with automated electrode loading/unloading by the robot;
- Thermal annealing systems with automated sample loading/unloading and process gas flow control; and
- Ultraviolet curing systems with automated temperature control, process gas control, and automated sample loading/unloading.

- Leading the mechanical customization and integration of OEM scientific equipment into robotic platforms. Equipment requiring integration may include:
- A stylus profilometer with an automated XYZ stage requiring a custom enclosure-opening actuator and fixturing to facilitate automated sample loading/unloading; and
- An optical spectroscopy system requiring a custom precision XYZ-theta sample holder and alignment stage compatible with automated sample loading/unloading by the robotic platform.

- Managing the manufacturing/procurement of custom components and assemblies needed for the project by collaborating with campus technical services, outside machine shops, and other vendors;
- Creating and organizing CAD files, schematics, and other documentation to support manufacturing/procurement and to facilitate development/deployment of robotic systems in other academic and industrial laboratories;
- Fabricating and/or modifying mechanical components using manual and/or automated machine tools to support rapid prototyping and commissioning of robotic components and assemblies;
- Contributing to assembling, commissioning, and testing of equipment in collaboration with the project team;
- Collaborating with the project team and leveraging test data to optimize the speed and reliability of the robotic platform through mechanical design improvements, control algorithm improvements, and general refinement of the robotic workflow;
- Gathering and understanding the functional requirements for each subsystem to be developed;
- Generating design concepts and reviewing the requirements of design concepts with the project team to downselect the most promising concepts;
- Performing detailed mechanical subsystem design using 3D CAD software, including:
- planning of robotic sample handling kinematics;
- optimizing subsystem designs for reliability, speed and efficient use of space;
- adhering to project design standards; and
- creating drawings and bills of materials to facilitate fabrication and procurement;
- overseeing the procurement and/or fabrication of all necessary components (from vendors, internal/external machine shops etc.);
- Mechanical assembly, commissioning, and testing of subsystems off and on the robotic platform, including test-script development in Python;
- Using test results to diagnose subsystem failures and implement design improvements and/or robotic workflow changes to optimize overall mechanical reliability of the system;

- Performing failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) and other safety reviews to pre-empt risks relating to the failure of custom and/or off-the-shelf hardware;- Designing, and fabricating and/or procuring and/or modifying electrolyzer components using manual and/or automated machine tools;

- Producing multiphysics models comprising any given subset of fluid flow (turbulent, laminar, porous media), electromagnetic, chemical, and heat transfer effects in an electrochemical cell;

- Conducting literature reviews and analyses of electrolyzer designs published in academic and industrial sources;

- Prototyping and commissioning electrolyzer components using various 3D printing methods
- Contributing to project documentation via professional reports containing design details, drawings and supporting information; and
Fabrication/modification of mechanical components using hand and/or manual and automated machine tools to accelerate prototyping & testing cycles.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
Work is expected to be of professional quality to prevent delays to research. Consequences of error include increased project costs due to time wasted and potential risks to the personal health and safety of colleagues. Work will be reviewed at a high level by Prof. Berlinguette in addition to workplace safety teams.
Supervision Received
Works independently under general supervision of Prof. Berlinguette. This role will involve working in close collaboration with our team of scientists, engineers, and software developers at UBC (and with UBC’s industrial partners when needed) to generate solutions that meet all respective design criteria for various components of Project Ada. The ideal candidate will contribute to project planning, high level communications with stakeholders, and technical mentorship of junior engineers and other team members.
Supervision Given
This position will provide occasional supervision to project team members performing mechanical-engineering-related tasks.
Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in Engineering or Applied Science. Minimum of five years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own.
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Preferred Qualifications

Graduate degree in mechanical engineering and a minimum of 5 years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Experience with mechanical design using Solidworks or similar CAD software;

- Experience with hands-on mechanical fabrication, assembly, and prototyping;
- Familiarity with robotics, CNC machines, microcontrollers or other computer-controlled equipment;

- Experience with Comsol Multiphysics software;
- Demonstrated leadership experience;

- Experience with design, testing, and interpreting results of electrolyzers and their components;
- Experience with at least one programming language e.g., Python, MATLAB, C++ etc;

- Familiarity with 3D printing methods e.g., SLA/FDM/EBM;
- Exceptional communication and collaboration skills; and
- Demonstrable ability to work toward milestones and manage deadlines.

The ideal candidate will thrive in an environment of collaboration, creativity, and responsibility