Integrated Engineering · UBC
Electrical, mechanical, and the systems that hold them together.
I'm David, an Integrated Engineering student at UBC. My favourite part of a build is where things have to meet. The PCB has to fit inside the printed frame. The firmware has to trust the solder joint. And somebody has to turn a filing cabinet of equipment logs into a database people will actually use.
Now
Engineering Operations Co-op, GM Canada
Degree
BASc Integrated Engineering, 2029
Based in
Vancouver, BC
Looking for
Summer 2027 internships
Selected projects
Three things I built, and what actually went into them.
Experience
Two co-op terms, on opposite ends of the discipline.
Sep 2026 – Apr 2027
Oshawa, ON
General Motors of Canada
Engineering Operations Co-op, Equipment & Maintenance Systems
This is the one that taught me systems work. The job is taking physical equipment (environmental chambers, load frames, EV chargers, HVAC, machine shop tools) and turning the paper trail around it into something a database can hold. I build asset, location, meter, preventive-maintenance, and inspection configurations in IBM Maximo, and before any of that I read the existing control sheets and logs to decide what each one is actually for and whether it belongs in a system at all.
The technical part is configuration. The real part is talking to equipment owners, administrators, and maintenance trades to confirm what they need, then writing work instructions clear enough that the new process survives after I leave.
May 2026 – Aug 2026
Burnaby, BC
McCuaig & Associates Engineering
Electrical Engineering Co-op
Produced electrical design drawings, single-line diagrams, schematics, and panel layouts across 30+ active commercial, government, and private-sector renovation projects in the Lower Mainland. That meant 3-phase and single-phase distribution from 14.4 kV utility service down to 600 V, 208 V, and 120 V branch circuits, under the BC and Canadian Electrical Codes.
Ran photometric simulations in AGI32 to validate illuminance and uniformity, did preliminary load calculations and feeder sizing per CSA C22.1, and wrote code-referenced scope and condition assessments from site documentation of service equipment, panels, and BC Hydro transformers. Most reports were multi-discipline, so a good share of the work was coordinating with mechanical, drafting, and asset management.
Sep 2018 – Jun 2024
Yellowknife, NT
825 Royal Canadian Air Cadets
Warrant Officer Second Class
Six years in Yellowknife: Remembrance Day ceremonies and cenotaph vigils including overnight guard shifts, the Legion's annual Poppy Campaign, and a long list of community clean-ups, Canada Day parades, and soap box derbies.
Skills
Hardware & electrical
Arduino, ESP32, stepper motors and drivers, multimeters, oscilloscopes, soldering
Software & CAD
SolidWorks, AutoCAD, AGI32, MATLAB, LaTeX
Programming
Python, C, C++, Assembly, VHDL
Enterprise
IBM Maximo, Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook
Codes & standards
BC Electrical Code, Canadian Electrical Code (CSA C22.1)
About
I picked the degree that refused to pick a lane.
Integrated Engineering at UBC is a generalist program, and that was the point. My depth is electrical and mechanical. I'm most comfortable with a schematic in one window and a CAD model in the other. But the work I keep gravitating toward is the systems layer, where those two have to agree with each other and with whatever software is holding them together.
I grew up in Yellowknife and now study in Vancouver. Outside of school it's mostly the drone, the shop at UBC Rocket, and whatever I've currently got half-soldered on the desk.
Shop & site