Meet Student Researcher: Amal Surendran

Over the last few months, Amal Surendran has been working with WIMTACH in the FIBRE (Fabric-Based Research, Innovation and Technology Development for SMEs in Sports and Healthcare Industries) team, helping a team of researchers to develop the new generation of smart medical fiber, which aims to revolutionize medical care, conduct ongoing medical tests for athletes, and benefit other industries. What did Amal have to do to become a part of this world-changing project? “I logged in to Hire Centennial and saw the job listing,” he said.

Amal was invited to join the team associated with the FIBRE project, which was working to develop a new type of fabric, capable not only of collecting certain metrics and data from a human body but also being completely sweat, fold, washing and stress resistant. “You will be able to wear this fabric when you sleep, put it into the washing machine, and do anything else you do with clothes,” Amal said. The FIBRE project aimed to create a smart fabric indistinguishable from the classic fabrics, and Amal’s job was to ensure that it would hold up to the standards of the FIBRE project.

Amal had to develop, design and construct a completely new stress testing machine to ensure that the stress testing process was repeatable and recordable. This machine was custom-made to standardize the testing process for FIBRE, enabling him to confirm that it would survive the 1200 stretches required by the project while running abrasion and sweat resistance tests at the same time. The creative development and manufacturing of the so-called “stretcher” was Amal’s most enjoyable experience with WIMTACH. “It was a journey to make it work, and I was very proud of myself when I knew it was done,” he said, recalling his achievements.

The WIMTACH experience enabled Amal to grow and develop soft and hard skills preparing him for work after college. His experience with WIMTACH perfected his knowledge of SolidWorks and AutoCAD software. Moreover, the ability to implement his CAD (Computer Aided Design) into real-life products became a crucial educational component for Amal. “After joining WIMTACH, I understood why meeting deadlines, being part of the team, and being someone, people can rely on when needed is so crucial,” Amal said while discussing the soft skills he acquired with WIMTACH.

As his graduation is coming up this April, Amal is planning to join the machine design industry and is expecting to secure a job soon due to his great work experience with WIMTACH. “WIMTACH was the perfect bridge from the classroom to the office, and everyone here helped on the journey across it,” Amal said. In the near future, he plans to join the aerial manufacturing industry with Bombardier, Boeing or other major aircraft manufacturers. Amal said aerial manufacturing was his “dream job” for a long time and believes that the expertise and skills he acquired during his time at WIMTACH will prove extremely useful.

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