Mechanical Engineering 3A · University of Waterloo
Spencer Dionisio
I am a mechanical engineering co-op student at the University of Waterloo, with hands-on experience across healthcare infrastructure, nuclear process improvement, and aerospace research.
At HH Angus & Associates, I delivered HVAC and plumbing design for two of Canada's largest hospital developments, coordinating hundreds of pipe segments across tight, multi-discipline project schedules. At ATS Industrial Automation, I built process automation tools that reduced electrical team wasted time from twelve per cent to one on live nuclear projects. At the UW Emerging Energy Lab, I designed test hardware and flew aboard a parabolic flight aircraft simulating lunar gravity at one-sixth g.
I work well under real project pressure, take ownership of complex deliverables, and communicate clearly across disciplines. Navigate the table of contents to explore my experience and projects, or download my résumé below.
HH Angus & Associates Ltd.
Mechanical DesignerSept – Dec 2024 · Returned Co-op
Ottawa New Civic DPA · West Park Healthcare Centre
Coordinated 6 piping systems across 8 floors in Revit with zero spatial collisions; performed flow and pressure calculations across 300+ pipe segments to validate sizing
Laid out HVAC piping across 5 floors including a full mechanical floor; mapped HVAC zones and 50+ shaft cores across tower plans
Resolved 50+ multidisciplinary coordination issues through zoning overlays and Bluebeam markup; converted AutoCAD schematics into Revit
Managed weekly submission of 400+ mechanical drawings with full model consistency, traceability, and on-time handoff to consultants
Ottawa New Civic Hospital
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Mechanical DesignerJan – Apr 2024 · First Co-op
TWH New Patient Tower · TBRHSC CVS Expansion · Red Fish Healing Centre
Designed full plumbing layouts (HW, CW, HWR, heat-recovery drainage) across multiple floors of TWH New Patient Tower, resolving 500+ spatial collisions for clash-free coordination
Tagged and scheduled 300+ mechanical units against engineering cutsheets and consultant markups; audited 200+ fixtures for label and size accuracy with all QA flags cleared pre-submission
Performed HAP heating and cooling load estimations for Red Fish Healing Centre, validating mechanical sizing across 3 simultaneous hospital projects during early-stage design
TWH New Patient Tower
Revit · AutoCAD · Bluebeam Revu · HAP · Excel
ATS Industrial Automation
Manufacturing Process AnalystJan – Apr 2026
Process automation and supply chain improvement across 5+ concurrent nuclear projects
Built an end-to-end tag request system integrating Microsoft Forms, SharePoint, and Power Automate — eliminated 10 back-and-forth touchpoints per request and freed the equivalent of one full budgeted employee
Developed a wire shortage tracking prototype in Excel VBA through manual requisition analysis; migrated it to a scaleable Power Apps interface with automated SharePoint updates and team notifications; deployed a VMI control board adopted across 2 full electrical teams (8 leads trained)
Analyzed 7,700+ hours of labour data using Kaizen methodology across 6 teams — identified a 40% workload concentration in one resource, enabling rebalancing and capacity planning
Conducted 3 wirestock audits across 446 cables catching 14 inventory errors; maintained facility floor plans across a 12-month construction timeline documenting ceiling restrictions, spatial constraints, and layout changes
Power Apps · Power Automate · SharePoint · Excel VBA · Microsoft Forms · Kaizen
UW Emerging Energy Research Lab
Lunar Rover Tread TestingMay 2025 – Present
Single-wheel test rig · Bekker terramechanics · LiDAR integration
Designed and modelled a single-wheel test rig and adjustable incline ramp in SolidWorks to evaluate lunar tread performance on slopes exceeding 35°; oversaw full fabrication of all modular components
Built Bekker pressure-sinkage models in MATLAB to benchmark historic rover tread behaviour and guide ramp angle, loading conditions, and tread geometry selection
Developed a displacement measurement workflow with LiDAR integration planned for live traction data capture in simulated lunar terrain
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Lunar Regolith Grinder — CAN-RGX 20252025
Parabolic flight tested · Canadian Reduced Gravity Experiment Design Challenge
Contributed to the mechanical design of 3 lunar regolith grinding systems across competing design concepts, evaluating geometry and drive mechanism trade-offs under reduced-gravity constraints
Executed live system testing aboard a parabolic flight aircraft simulating lunar gravity at 1/6g, collecting regolith grinding and flow behaviour data for ongoing academic and mission-application research
Physical single-wheel test rig and adjustable incline ramp built to benchmark lunar tread performance on slopes exceeding 35° — designed to replicate the loading conditions and terrain properties encountered by rovers on the lunar surface
Modular mounting system allows interchangeable tread geometries to be tested across variable slope angles and normal loads
How
Modelled all structural and moving components in SolidWorks; oversaw fabrication of the full ramp-and-rail assembly with attention to alignment tolerance and repeatability
Built Bekker pressure-sinkage models in MATLAB to reproduce historic lunar rover traction data and anchor design decisions to published terramechanics literature
Designed a tread displacement measurement workflow; LiDAR integration planned for live traction-force data capture during physical test runs
Results
Full rig fabricated and structurally validated — modular tread-swap system verified for repeatable test configuration
MATLAB Bekker models benchmarked against Apollo-era rover data; displacement measurement pipeline ready for instrument integration
Physical testing phase ready to launch; rig serves as the lab's primary platform for ongoing lunar mobility research
Fully autonomous robot designed to navigate a field grid and plant seeds at defined intervals — ME101 Capstone project, built from scratch under strict part and time constraints
Led a 4-member team end-to-end: design direction, task delegation, fabrication, and final integration
How
Owned the seed delivery subsystem — modelled chassis and hopper geometry in SolidWorks, fabricated components from raw stock using lathe, mill, and drill press
Programmed the hopper actuation logic in RobotC, integrating it with the robot's navigation and timing systems; prioritised reliability over complexity to reduce failure risk during live demos
Led team decisions on design trade-offs, enforcing a "simplest path to consistent output" philosophy throughout build
Results
Consistent seeding performance across all live demonstration runs — zero actuation failures during judged trials
Finished within part budget and timeline; design held up as a benchmark for field robustness in the cohort
SolidWorks · RobotC · Lathe · Mill · Drill Press
VMI Control System
What
End-to-end vendor-managed inventory control platform built to eliminate supply-chain-driven project delays across 5+ concurrent nuclear projects at ATS Industrial Automation
Replaced a fragmented, manual tracking process with a centralised system spanning Power Apps, SharePoint, Power Automate, Microsoft Forms, and Excel VBA
How
Identified the root cause of project delays through manual requisition analysis — wire shortages were the critical bottleneck; prototyped an Excel VBA tracker to validate the approach before scaling
Migrated to a full Power Apps interface backed by a SharePoint list, with Power Automate flows handling real-time inventory updates, threshold alerts, and automated notifications to project leads
Facilitated Kaizen-based process audits across 6 teams; trained 8 electrical leads on the system and drove adoption through direct collaboration with team leads on the floor
Results
Reduced electrical team wasted time from 12% to 1% through automated replenishment tracking
Recovered 11% of total electrical budget hours; eliminated one full employee-equivalent of manual tracking effort
System adopted across 2 full electrical teams and remained operational across the duration of active nuclear projects
Power Apps · Power Automate · SharePoint · Excel VBA · Microsoft Forms
I'm a mechanical engineering student at the University of Waterloo with a taste for consequential problems — the kind that show up in hospital infrastructure, nuclear automation, and lunar research. Outside the work, I try to stay just as deliberate about how I spend my time.
I keep a running log of every NYC pizza slice worth remembering — scored, noted, and ranked. It started as a personal obsession and became something closer to a methodology. The full list is a few pages over.
I watch a lot of films and track everything on Letterboxd. My taste runs toward slow cinema, directors with strong visual grammar, and anything that rewards a second watch. You can find the full log there.
I write on Substack — mostly about things I'm thinking through: engineering, cities, food, culture, and the overlap between them. Less polished essay, more thinking out loud.
Competitive hockey has been a constant since I was a kid. I also coached youth skating for six years — teaching edge control to beginners is a surprisingly good exercise in breaking down complex things simply, which turns out to be useful everywhere.
NYC Pizza Rankings
An ongoing record of every slice worth remembering. Judged on dough, sauce, cheese, grease balance, and crunch.
Trip I
9.7L'Industrieburrata pizza was glorious; pep perfectly crisped; cheese not oily but not dry; super fresh tomato sauce; CRISP dough that didn't flop
9.5Scarr'sthe perfect OG NYC slice; good sauce; not oily but not dry; amazing dough with good crisp
9.3Juliana's
9.0Joe's (Bleecker)everything you need; perfectly sweet sauce; thin dough but a touch floppy; not too oily
8.7John's of Bleecker Streetno grease; great flavour in dough and sauce
8.3Bleecker Street Pizzagood but a little thick; great crunch; good flavour in dough and sauce; slightly oily
8.3Table 87really good cheese
7.7Championnot enough flavour in dough
7.5La Villa Pizzeriasquare pizza
6.5ROMAtoo greasy; cheese and fat separated; lacking flavour in dough; didn't pull apart enough
6.0Pizza Town
December 2024
9.8Lucalilarge cheese pizza — as close to perfect as it gets
8.5Joe's on Carmine (OG)
6.8Mamas Too (square)great crisp, that's about it; greasy cheese; left hands oily; too thick; vodka slice not it