Karim Nabulsi
Portfolio
Introduction
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This website provides a collection of records of my education, experiences, skills and achievements as a mechanical engineering student in the University of Toronto. This website's main focus highlights a potential career path into environmental engineering as supported by ITP metrics, projects using CAD, and volunteer work.
Claim 1
Hoping to attain technological advancements in the fields concerning mechanical and environmental engineering
Helping create and find advancements in current technology in the hopes of improving current sustainable energy systems is a great way to help the environment and career path I am interested in. However, in order to be able to do this, I must have the necessary skills. My communication skills will not be enough.
As a student in highschool who regularly used google sketch-up to model my work, some of which include the designs seen below:
However this past year, I dramatically improved my skills in design technology, and started using CAD more seriously than before.
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I have a plethora of projects that I worked on this year. A number of them arose from projects my dissection team and I worked on (my first group). Below are a few screenshots of the designs we made.
In my second group, my project group and I designed and modeled a pick and place machine. The following designs include the final design modeled using CAD as well as other possible designs that were discarded.
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Claim 2
Aiming to work Collaboratively with a team to accomplish design specifications
As previously stated, protecting and conserving the environment through innovations in technology is a goal of mine in the future. An example of this is limiting our carbon footprint, and this in turn implies improving the means of generating energy through sustainable systems. Improving these systems using my knowledge in mechanical engineering can be my way of achieving my goals.
However, it is not possible to work on improving mechanical systems without a team. Therefore it is prevalent that I have the necessary communication skills that can help my team and I to accomplish our design specifications. An engineer's communication skills must be excellent in order to relay key, complicated ideas to any and all people, from the average person, to another engineer, it is obligatory for an engineer to communicate respectfully and concisely.
The following screenshots are from ITP metric surveys conducted by two teams I was on. The first is a dissection team, where my team and I are given a real world device/machine/tool weekly, and are required to model the designs on CAD as well as design, model and 3D print a functioning gear box. The second team I am on is my Project team, where we are required to design and manufacture a functioning pick and place machine.
As seen in the images, the feedback that was provided by my teammate displays that I have good communication skills as seen by the comment regarding my communicate with my team members through chats. It shows that I am a good team member as I was able to fairly divide the work between group members and always did my share of the work. And finally, it shows that I was respectful and an active listener, never attending a meeting late. This however does not meet that I was the ideal team member. I have room for improvement and a lot to learn.
Claim 3
Specialty in Energy and Environment
I aim to specialize in energy and environment as my stream in mechanical engineering, which will be backed up by a minor in environmental engineering, as well as a possible certificate in nuclear engineering. I have a deep passion for environmental and ecosystem health, and a desire to help set the future generations on a path to sustainability.
In my CHE 467 course, I learned about the strategies used by the three levels of government to control pollution, analyzed selected renewable energy technologies as well as conventional and alternative energy systems for their impact on and benefit for society, understood the motivations for and effectiveness of self-regulation, and comprehended the tools of LCA and critical thinking in the analysis of an energy system.
In the past five years, I have been part of multiple community service acts regarding the environment. Notably, I was part of an organization called "Himmeh w Lammeh", an initiative that is co-led by the Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Associations and The Royal Society For The Conservation of Nature, aimed at removing and recycling litter found in Jordan's forests and touristic sites.
It's very important to me to be a part of this kind of volunteer work. I care deeply about the environment, and have a passion for mechanics. Tying these two important things in my life through environmental engineering and through a focus on sustainability is a very likely career path for me.