University

I studied Mechanical Engineering at Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá. Rather than a list of courses, this chapter summarizes the technical capabilities I developed and the projects where I applied them.

1. Computer-aided design and simulation

I started with Autodesk Inventor in CAD Tools (semesters 1 and 2): parametric modeling of parts and assemblies, manufacturing drawings, generative design and dynamic simulation. That foundation is behind the Inventor workshops I later taught at Robocol and the detailed design packages I delivered in the Leader-Indumar consulting project.

In Computational Tools (semester 4) I worked with Python and Jupyter across 14 workshops: symbolic computation, systems of equations, linear programming optimization, differential equations, Fourier transforms applied to accelerometer data and data-driven modeling, with a final computer vision project. It is the foundation of the integrated Python model in my thesis.

The tool I enjoyed most was the finite element method. I started with trusses in Mechanics of Materials, verified against the analytical solution, and in the Finite Element Structural Modeling Workshop I reached nonlinear contact, composite laminates and parametric optimization in Ansys Workbench.

Parametric optimization in Ansys: minimizing Von Mises stress at constant mass. The full process is in Finite element analysis applied to design decisions.

2. Machine design and mechanical systems

• Machine Design: experimental labs on column buckling, thin-walled pressure cylinders, critical shaft speed and permanent and non-permanent joints, comparing measurements with design models.
• Dynamics of mechanical systems: modeling and numerical simulation of dynamic systems in Python.
• Control: modeling and control of a towercopter system in MATLAB, with an experimental setup, and a two-degree-of-freedom cable-driven controller designed in Inventor and 3D-printed.
• Automated systems: data acquisition with thermocouples and processing of experimental signals.
• Materials Science and Engineering: tensile tests on metals and polymers, hardness, materials selection with Granta and viscoelasticity.

3. Leading design teams

At university almost everything is done in teams, and I almost always took on coordination. In order, the projects form a ladder of complexity:

• C-Free (semester 4): I led 5 engineers in designing and building a fluidized-bed separator of coal from sand. First place at the 2024 Innovation Week and third at Pitch Day.
• Fermentation barrel for Verdeser (semester 6): I led 5 people in redesigning a stainless steel fermenter for an artisanal cassava liquor producer.
• Consulting for Leader-Indumar (semester 7): my first industrial client, with the detailed design of an 18-station winder.
• R.O.V.E.R. (semester 8): I led 9 people in the design, integration and validation of an excavation rover under the VDI/VDE 2206 methodology.

In parallel, outside class, I was leading the new rover at Robocol (+50 people) and founded CarbonU (+30).

4. Energy and climate

In the second half of the degree, mechanical engineering met the climate:

• In Energy Conversion I modeled the ML building photovoltaic plant in SAM, ran an energy audit, an economic study of PV self-generation and an analysis of Rankine cycles.
• In Polymer Sustainability I ran the life cycle assessment of a chitin–cellulose biofilter for microplastics in openLCA.
• In Geosciences I studied the Earth system, petrology and glaciers, the basis for CarbonU’s work on geological CO₂ storage.
• All of that led to my thesis: a design tool for CO₂ capture in cement and steel.

5. Teaching

I was a teaching assistant for most of my degree, with more than 200 students in total. Explaining a topic to thirty people at once is the best test of whether you master it: every question sends you back to the theory.

• CAD Tools (semester 2): Autodesk Inventor, with an emphasis on generative design and dynamic simulation.
• Graphic Design Workshop (semester 3): three-dimensional thinking and drawing parts and assemblies in Fusion 360.
• Statics (semesters 3 and 4): force and moment analysis, practice sessions and grading exams and assignments.
• Innovation Ecosystem (semesters 5 to 7): innovation and entrepreneurship assistant; I tell that story in Innovation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem.

Life Cycle Assessment and Decarbonization (2026)

The most complete role was the last one, in a course of the Master’s in Energy Systems Innovation (MISE). Besides supporting the class, I helped plan it: I designed assignments, workshops and the course flow using openLCA to run LCAs of energy systems and decarbonization processes.

During the semester I supported students with the software, the theory of the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards and industrial decarbonization processes. Afterwards I was a tutor in the intersession, in June and July 2026. It brought together three things I care about: teaching, designing a course and the life cycle assessment I learned with the microplastics biofilter.

6. Graduation

I graduated in October 2026 with a GPA of 4.65 out of 5 and received three diplomas:

• Mechanical Engineer.
• Cum Laude, the distinction for GPAs in the top 3% of all School of Engineering graduates over the last five years.
• Minor in Chinese Language and Culture.

The three diplomas: Mechanical Engineer, Cum Laude and minor in Chinese Language and Culture.

Mechanical Engineering graduation, October 2026.

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