Mechatronic engineering student Abraham grew up building metal-framed Meccano cars, so you can imagine his excitement when he got the opportunity to help design race car parts for the Curtin Motorsport Team.
Since he was young, Abraham has enjoyed building things, from block towers to fiddly LEGO sets. As he grew older, his passion for construction projects only grew stronger. And so, Abraham enrolled to study mechatronic engineering at Curtin.
Now near the end of his degree, Abraham has found that what he loves most about his course is “being able to see how everyday items come together from the very beginning.”
Before he began his time at university, Abraham knew he wanted to join the Curtin Motorsport Team (CMT), after having been captivated by their Open Day stall he visited in Year 11.
In his first year as an engineering student, Abraham became a CMT recruit, and graduated to become a fully-fledged team member the very next year. Since then, he has had the opportunity to dive into his passion for aerodynamics through being a Front Wing Project student, as well as take a peek behind the curtain and look at the business side of running an engineering firm through being the Marketing and Sponsorship Lead.
As a Front Wing Project student, Abraham got to design, simulate and build the front wing of a race car from scratch. Along with his other teammates, he used Computational Fluid Dynamics to visualise the airflow around their front wing design, and later on worked with other design teams to ensure that their individual components fit together. Having driven the car with and without the front wing he helped design, Abraham was thrilled to see just how much of an improvement the front wing made to the speed and driving experience of the car.
Before he became the Marketing and Sponsorship Lead, Abraham hadn’t really considered where the money and resources to help keep CMT running came from. Through that leadership position, he had the opportunity to learn the team’s mechanics, and interact with other students, staff and professionals here at Curtin and beyond.
Though Abraham loves the freedom that uni provides him, it took him a while to adjust from the structured experience of high school. In his first year, Abraham struggled with time management, and found it quite challenging to juggle his studies alongside CMT and his social life commitments. Now, he uses a timetable to block out his days, setting aside time to work on each assignment, lecture and reading.
For other first year students, Abraham’s advice is simple – “Schedule your time properly. Be on top of things… Break things down into smaller chunks and manage your time well from the beginning. And of course, go to your lectures!”
With CMT right on our doorstep here at Curtin, Abraham recommends any interested student should get involved. As he says, “It gives [you] so much hands-on experience. You get to see what it’s like to work in a business… and you get to work with like-minded people.”
Down the road, Abraham hopes to work at Formula 1 as an aerodynamics engineer. But for now, he plans to continue studying mechatronics, working with his teammates at CMT, and laughing along to the audio of The Office as he drives on to his next destination.
Written by creative writing and professional writing and publishing student, Abbey Carson.
