Ellie Birnbaum is a blossoming young mechanical engineer whose ambition in life has always been to turn vague ideas into real, functioning products that solve problems and help people live better.
She joined SPARK as an intern in summer 2020 going into her junior year, and ever since then—whenever she had time off school—she’s joined our project teams as a valued voice and irreplaceable contributor.
An RVA native, she graduates in May 2022 with a mechanical engineering degree from Virginia Tech. After that she’ll start a job with ABB in Raleigh working on e-cars, smart homes, and other exciting electrical components.
Our hat is off to this smart, energetic, and creative young lady who has brought so much to SPARK in her time as a mechanical engineering intern. She has a very promising future and we felt the best way to send her off is by sharing her own story of this bright (if brief) landmark era in SPARK’s history.
When did you know you wanted to be an engineer?
Well both my parents and two of my brothers are mechanical engineers, so I grew up knowing it was a good job with a lot of opportunities.
But also I just always found it interesting, building things from scratch. To have an idea and be able to design it to life. And I always enjoyed math and physics and was good at it, so I never really had any interest in doing anything else.
So…maybe age 6 or 7? I knew I wanted to be an engineer before I could even spell engineer.
What’s the path for becoming a mechanical engineer?
The great thing about mechanical engineering is that it’s one of the broader engineering degrees, versus civil or aerospace for example. You’re not limited and you can go wherever you want with it.
So I applied and got into engineering school at Virginia Tech. As a freshman you start with general classes like chemistry, physics, calculus. But I knew I wanted to do mechanical so I got right into it instead of exploring other options like some people do.
With mechanical engineering you’re on a pretty strict path; everyone takes the same classes each semester—but I really liked Statics, Deformable Bodies, and Dynamics.
For all three of those classes I had the same great professor—my all-time favorite—which was lucky because it really matters who you get. I know people who hated Dynamics because they had a bad professor. It really stinks, but that’s how it is.
But I also enjoyed those classes not only because they’re all heavily calculus-based, but because the problems you study apply to real life.
Like calculating forces on a beam to see if it’ll stand a load, is a Statics problem that I actually used at SPARK for a couple projects.
Dynamics though is more theoretical stuff—until you get into Fluid Dynamics where you’re accounting for resistance and drag and other real-world calculations.
In my internship I also used stuff I learned in Heat and Mass Transfer, but one thing that’s different is that in the class you go into all the details of a problem—but when I had to do heat and mass transfer problems at SPARK it was really just using the basics enough to get a good starting point for a project.
In product development you can get really stuck if you focus too much on the details too soon.
What was your process for getting a mechanical engineering internship?
I got started late because of Covid, but summer going into junior year I started looking online for engineering companies in Richmond with internships.
There were lots of companies doing HVAC and stuff like that, which didn’t interest me. Then I came across SPARK’s website and it just jumped off the screen for me. In my eyes it was a dream job. What I always wanted to do as an engineer was design, and create a product from nothing. To me it just felt like real engineering and solving problems, and their projects seemed really interesting.
So I emailed Bruce about my interest and we interviewed a couple times and I interned with them for a couple months that summer.
Some internship applications are way more complicated—but sometimes it’s just about being brave and reaching out to someone at the company you’re interested in.
After that SPARK let me come back whenever I had time off school.
What stood out about your internship with SPARK?
I put in normal internship hours, but it was a lot more flexible than other companies might be. That was really helpful because it let me focus on school and not worry about splitting my time.
My first project was an automatic breast-pump and I did all the research and tear-downs for that. Then I helped design an herb grinder which was really hands on for me. I was involved with the clients and contacting suppliers, which I really enjoyed.
We also worked on a Covid-friendly whistle—which blows air downward instead of upward. It was a big problem for refs in the NBA because they had strict requirements about whistles.
I was always involved in the very beginning steps of a project, like starting with research online. For the whistle I researched existing whistles and the evolution of the whistle. And the acoustics and physical mechanics of a whistle.
Then I’d take some actual whistles and open them up with a bandsaw and see what was going on inside.
After that I’d design new 3D models from scratch on CAD—and I got to 3D print those models in the shop. I designed several prototypes to see how well they worked. Then I’d redesign and test again.
And while that was going on, I’d be contacting the client or creating reports, showing why I did this or that and what we recommend moving forward. Sometimes I’d contact suppliers if we needed material or something.
It was great working with other engineers as well. There were times I got completely stuck and I’d get really frustrated—and they were always good at directing me to a different viewpoint of designing.
Like one of my favorite projects was this mini taser for self defense. I thought I had to figure out the electrical components first, which is pretty complex. I was stuck on that for two days and could not figure out what to do.
But it was getting to the point where I had to move on to next steps and communicate with the client.
Bruce gently helped me calm down and suggested I go out into the garage and start making prototypes with cardboard and tape. You don’t have to overthink it, he reminded me. Go simple. Just start making things and that will spark new ideas.
And it did!
So what’s next after you graduate as a mechanical engineer?
Well I graduate in May. Then I’ll start my job with ABB electrification, who I connected with through a recruiter at the Virginia Tech engineering job fair in September.
I did one traditional interview and then a set of video interviews where they’d give me questions and I’d record myself answering them. That way they can send the videos to managers all over the country, instead of scheduling individual meetings.
It’s a worldwide company so it’s gonna be a very different office environment from SPARK. They specialize in electrical components in four different areas—process automation, motion, robotics & discrete automation, and electrification—which is what I’ll be working on. Related to e-cars and charging stations, smart homes, a lot of different things.
I’ll be doing a rotational program for two years. Three rotations in either commercial sales, project management, product marketing, product management, and things like that. Then I’ll transition to a permanent position.
It’s not so much the design side, but more involved with clients—which was one thing I loved about SPARK because I got to see the client’s point of view versus what an engineer would see.
I’m excited but it will be very different. Still, I’m ready—I feel like I grew a lot as an engineer and as a thinker because of SPARK, and I feel prepared for any new challenge.
Any advice for future engineering students?
Engineering is hard. Junior year was really tough. Try to find positives in everything, even the negatives.
And stay open-minded. A lot of my friends and peers had their minds set on what they wanted to do and it kinda narrowed their opportunities, so they might’ve missed out on something really awesome.
I can’t explain how much I loved working at SPARK. It truly is such a unique company. Every single person I met was really helpful and wants you to do your best—and made me a better engineer.
So the other thing is—be brave when looking for engineering internships. Think outside the box of what you know. Scary sometimes, but it might wind up being the best decision of your life.