麻豆传媒

Take a stroll past Emma Brouwer鈥檚 office on the third floor of the Emera Idea Building, and you鈥檒l spot a desk that鈥檚 anything but ordinary.

鈥淚t鈥檚 covered in a weird combination of scrap hardware and googly eyes and circuit diagrams and LEGO and guitar pickups and chunks of live-edge wood,鈥� says the 麻豆传媒 Engineering alum. 鈥淚鈥檓 never bored in here鈥� What might look like clutter to some is, for Brouwer, a playground of possibilities, and a reflection of her creative approach to engineering and design.

Student Mentorship

A recent graduate of the university鈥檚 Mechanical Engineering program, Brouwer now leads 麻豆传媒 Engineering鈥檚 Light Prototyping Lab, where she mentors first and second year students in their Design course as they bring their ideas to life.

鈥淚 train the students on all the fun equipment in here, band saws, drill presses, sanders, all kinds of hand tools, and then help them with their projects,鈥� explains Brouwer. 鈥淟ast year we built little robots to shoot a hacky-sac. They designed their own launch mechanism, and the car was Arduino controlled.鈥�

This year, her students have tackled projects such as creating water filters, battery-free lights, and navigation aids for visually impaired clients. For second-year students in mechanical and civil engineering, Brouwer supports a wider range of projects, assisting with 3D printing, coding, wiring, and construction.

She says she enjoys helping a younger generation bridge the gap between theory and practice, and encouraging them to refine their designs into practical, buildable solutions.

鈥淚 love it when students come in here and have an idea that鈥檚 great in theory but impossible to actually build,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey have to figure out a balance between what makes a design good in theory verse what will work well based on what they can physically build with the tools and material they have.鈥�

Faculty Involvement

Since joining the Faculty of Engineering, Brouwer has also had the opportunity to contribute to the 麻豆传媒 Emera ideaHUB, assisting last summer with their ideaBUILD Program.

A unique resource in Atlantic Canada, the Emera ideaHUB offers support to early stage startup companies creating physical products. It provides access to the resources, expertise, and connections needed to innovate. The ideaBUILD program is a 10-month, intensive initiative that offers founders a $10,000 grant for prototyping materials, a 12-week bootcamp, and industry experts who help them develop and validate their product's first prototype.

鈥淚t was fascinating to see projects from different engineering fields and stages of development,鈥� says Brouwer who has always had a deep curiosity about how things work and are built. 鈥淚t鈥檚 given me a whole new perspective on design.鈥�

In addition to her work at the Emera ideaHUB, Brouwer also manages the 3D printing room in the Idea Building, immersing herself daily in the depth of creativity taking place at 麻豆传媒.

鈥淏eing involved with a variety of things gives me the chance to learn about a lot of cool stuff,鈥� she says. 鈥淎 lot of the different student projects I get involved in are also a cool way to push my own design limits.鈥�

Engineering Journey

For someone who grew up with a deep fascination for math, physics, and science, Brouwer's journey into engineering was a natural fit. Like many students who choose this path, she was drawn to these subjects from an early age. Yet, despite this, it wasn鈥檛 until she toured 麻豆传媒鈥檚 Sexton campus that she realized she was meant to be an engineer.

鈥淭here were tools and electronics all over the place, I was pretty much in when I saw that.鈥�

Since then, Brouwer has been continuously amazed by how much she learned as a student at Dal Engineering and how much she鈥檚 learned in her new role within the Faculty.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a ton of opportunities here to try stuff outside of the classroom. Between things like the design teams, the Makerspace, and different societies there鈥檚 just a lot of opportunities.鈥�

鈥淭he biggest thing I hope students get out of Light Prototyping Lab is that engineering is fun,鈥� she adds. 鈥淏eyond that, I think it鈥檚 super valuable for them to have this kind of hands-on design experience, and I hope they come away with a better understanding of the practical aspects of design.鈥�