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National Engineers Week: Celebrating the contribution of engineers at Safran businesses across the U.S.

Human resources

The goal of National Engineers Week – being observed this year from February 19 through February 25 – is to increase the understanding of engineering and technology careers, while also ensuring a diverse future engineering workforce.

National Engineers Week

As one of the Top 100 Global Innovators™ (according to Clarivate), Safran recognizes the major role played by its engineering workforce in ensuring that the Group constantly innovates.



To mark National Engineers Week, we are sharing insights from a group of engineers working at Safran locations in the United States.

 

Name: Janis

Job title: Senior Engineering Manager

Degree: B.S. in Mathematics

Safran Business: Orolia

What does your role entail?

I manage the innovation programs in Research & Technology where we create prototypes to validate new technologies or product ideas.

What inspired you to become an engineer?

I fell into a software engineering internship through my university’s Math department with a company that focused on aerospace software engineering, cybersecurity, systems engineering, and risk management. I loved the work so much that I became a full-time employee and spent the first 10 years of my career learning about and working on software development, database engineering, and systems architecture with this company.

 

Name: Yogesh

Job title: Platform Chief Engineer

Degree: BS in mechanical Engineering & MBA-General Business

Safran Business: Safran Seats

What is one of your favorite projects and why?

A project involving an airline that wanted to introduce a new In-flight Entertainment (IFE) system to its aircraft seats. They also wanted to change comfort of the seats. During the project, I learned how to handle customer expectations and use problem-solving techniques. After the successful delivery of the project, I was awarded a “ferry flight” by the customer and was invited to visit their facility. This is best form of recognition that a customer has bestowed upon me. Even today, I am chosen to be present for technical discussions with this customer, mainly because of the rapport that I was able to build with them.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your career and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge that I have faced is to not to get engrossed into a routine, monotonous career. My curious mind has helped me with finding new challenges and at times, challenge myself to show improvement in my personal growth. The continuous learning of new technologies and enhanced behavior models have given advantage to look at things differently with challenges.

 



Name: Yesim

Job function: Senior Stress Engineer

Degree: Ph.D in Aerospace Engineering (UCLA)

Safran Business: Safran Cabin

What is one of your favorite projects and why?

My favorite project was a micro helicopter design and development project, which was my undergraduate dissertation. The goal was to design an all composite, lightweight, two seat, medium range commercial micro helicopter with international collaboration. I worked on the rotor blade modeling and calculations with my advisor's direction. As a team, we built the life-size mock up with real structural composites and presented the project along with the mock up at international symposiums and events. This project helped prepare me for a career in engineering.   

What are your top three tips for a successful career in engineering?

1. Be curious: It helps you to learn how things work and expand your knowledge constantly. 

2. Don't be afraid to make mistakes: Consider them as a learning tool to minimize and/or eliminate further mistakes in your career.

3. Value teamwork and communication: Ask questions and communicate effectively with others on your teams and collaborators. This will help you learn more and work well with others in a team environment. 

 

Name: Roberto

Job Function: Systems Engineer

Degrees: B.S. in Industrial Engineering, M.S. in Electronics and Automation and M.S. in Aircraft Systems Integration

Safran Business: Safran Power Units

What does your role entail?

As a systems engineer my role is to make sure that the designed product not only functions well, but also meets the customer’s requirements and works as expected when integrated with the rest of the systems in the aircraft. In order to do this, not only is it necessary to know my system very well, but also all of its interfaces. It also requires a lot of testing in simulated environments and in the final product. The last step, once the product is delivered to the customer, is to test the system again with our support in different integration stages from the "iron bird" [test bench] to the flight test vehicles.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your career and how did you overcome it?

Every time I have moved to a new department, I had to start from scratch – which meant learning new systems, working with new people, and facing new issues at a stage in the program where I had missed a lot of the project history. However, my biggest challenge was to move from my country to live abroad, since I faced the same challenges listed above, while also having to communicate in a new language that that I was not fully proficient in and learning to adapt to a new culture. 

Janis
Janis
Janis
© Safran
Yogesh
Yogesh
Yogesh
© Safran
Yesim
Yesim
Yesim
© Safran
Roberto
Roberto
Roberto
© Safran