A University of Nevada, Reno Mechanical Engineering Capstone Project In Cooperation with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Division By Zero
Team Division By Zero
Brandon Josifko
Over Brandon’s academic career at UNR, he has accomplished and learned things that he could never have imagined when he was a freshmen. From accomplishing feats such as making the Dean’s list, building a hovercraft, and helping design a load frame for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Brandon has learned a lot. The main thing that he has learned is that when it comes to engineering you never stop learning. Brandon developed skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and communication at UNR. These skills will be useful to him the rest of his life. Brandon was able to apply these skills to step outside of his comfort zone while working as an engineering intern for Burns’ Machinery in Gardnerville, Nevada. Brandon is from Gardnerville, Nevada and went to Douglas High School located in Minden, Nevada. After graduation, Brandon is looking forward to pursuing a career in engineering and possibly becoming an entrepreneur.
Alex Barry
Alex’s experience as a student at the University of Nevada has been challenging and rewarding. Alex has been involved in many projects that challenged his engineering knowledge and skills. These projects include a bridge building competition, designing and building a hovercraft, and putting together and soldering a multimeter from scratch. While in school, Alex’s problem solving and deductive reasoning have become much sharper due to the challenging courses and projects he has taken part in. Outside of school Alex enjoys building furniture and fixing anything and everything that breaks, including his car. It breaks down often and he has replaced almost every part on that car. Alex was born and raised in Spokane, WA. Alex’s current goals are to acquire an internship and graduate in the spring of 2018. In the future, he would love to go to work for Boeing.
Michal Powell
Originally from North Pole, Alaska, Michal moved with his wife and daughter to Reno in 2013 after a stellar 15 year US Air Force career. His time at the University of Nevada has been spent building a solid knowledge base in mechanical engineering which he intends to use at a small engineering firm helping everyday people solve the unexpected problems that life throws at them. Various projects undertaken during his academic career, most notably the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s load frame, have provided him with a greater understanding of the relationships between the theoretical aspects of engineering solutions and their practical, physical application in reality.
Uriah Valentine
Uriah was born in Carson City and raised in the small rural town of Yerington, Nevada. While in Yerington, Uriah developed a love for mechanics at a young age, taking apart lawnmowers, welding and fixing broken down cars became his day to day routine. At the age of 19, Uriah joined the Marine Corp as a motor transport mechanic and moved to Camp Pendleton. After four years of service, Uriah moved to Reno in 2011 to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. During his time at UNR, and the Marine Corp, Uriah has developed engineering and leadership skills that will help him succeed in the future. His passion is developing new vehicles that do not require fossil fuels to run, and are extremely efficient. After college Uriah hopes to be hired by Tesla or any other car manufacturer to develop and test new vehicles.
Chris Wade
Chris has lived in various places around the U.S. including outside of Washington D.C. which gave him different perspectives before moving to Reno. During his time at UNR he has been involved in several engineering projects, but the most challenging has been building a load frame for LLNL laboratories. Chris has a bachelor’s degree in Biology which has given him a broader view of the world and other ways of thinking. The engineering skills he has developed and refined throughout his academic career include being able to see a problem from different perspectives and being able to pick the best solution, designing a solution, and relating the things learned in the classroom to everyday life. He has applied these techniques to solve problems in his previous warehouse jobs, as well as working on barns and other animal shelters. Chris’ goals include learning what he can before graduating, and pursuing a job working with deep sea submersibles to explore the ocean.