Engineering Lab Specialist

Job Description

<h3>Job Description</h3><p>Job Description<p><p><strong>Job Summary: </strong>The Engineering Lab Specialist supports and maintains the teaching laboratory equipment and facilities, provides equipment and safety training to teaching assistants and students, and provides oversight to student projects involving experimentation or construction.<br />In addition, the Engineering Lab Specialist uses engineering principles to design and build new laboratory equipment and experiments, adapt new equipment to existing experiments, upgrade existing equipment and facilities, and provide engineering support to student projects</p><p><strong>Nature of work: </strong><br />Reports to the Manager, Technical Services.</p><p><strong><span >Responsibilities/accountabilities:</span> </strong></p><p><strong>Support Undergraduate Laboratories</strong><br /></p><ul><li>Maintain and support undergraduate teaching labs, engineering student design labs and common shared laboratory facilities with the help of other technical staff in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science</li><li>Responsible for setup, design, fabrication, testing and operation of mechatronics and engineering laboratory equipment including but not limited to micro-controllers, data acquisition systems, wiring and prototyping, PLCs, industrial grade controllers and peripheral equipment e.g. electrical machines, power equipment, mechanical drives, actuators as well as instrumentation </li><li>Program and troubleshoot <span >microprocessors/microcontrollers</span> and integrate with various mechatronic components and systems</li><li>Train teaching assistants, staff and faculty on the safe use of the equipment and maintain training records</li><li>Participate in safety inspections, lab tours, open houses and engineering accreditation</li><li>Troubleshoot computer hardware problems and create security policies on computers</li><li>Troubleshoot data acquisition problems, computer networking and streaming server issues and <span >audio/visual/multimedia</span> equipment in the Faculty</li><li>Calibrate laboratory equipment</li><li>Perform scheduled preventative maintenance and write maintenance reports</li></ul><p><strong>Ensure Safety of Laboratories</strong><br /></p><ul><li>Perform checks on facilities, safety equipment</li><li>Train teaching assistants and students on safety principles</li><li>Set up safety quizzes for labs</li><li>Enforcing safety standards and regulations in labs</li><li>Participate in health and safety inspections.</li></ul><p><strong>Laboratory Enhancements</strong></p><ul><li>Identify opportunities for improvement in current lab delivery</li><li>Develop and implement projects to improve lab delivery</li><li>Update equipment manuals</li><li>Update safety manuals</li><li>Update lab manuals</li><li>Make laboratory equipment purchase recommendations to faculty members in the area of responsibility</li></ul><p><strong>Support Students in Undergraduate Projects</strong></p><ul><li>Provide guidance on engineering principles</li><li>Provide support for material acquisition</li><li>Provide support for techniques (electronics, mechatronics, electrical, programming and mechanical)</li></ul><p><strong>Recruitment</strong><br /></p><ul><li>Support displays for open houses</li><li>Participate in tours, special engagements etc.</li><li>Support photo and video shoots</li></ul></p></p>