Photo caption: UC Graduate Aaryan Sharma, standing in front of a 5.2m diameter experimental vacuum chamber in which first plasma was achieved, landed his dream job working on nuclear fusion.
The only chemical and process engineer in the company, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) Bachelor of Engineering with Honours graduate Aaryan Sharma landed his dream job at Wellington based company OpenStar Technologies.
OpenStar is the only company in the world exploring the Levitated Dipole reactor concept to create fusion – the same process that powers the sun and stars.If it can be replicated, it has the potential to become an unlimited source of clean energy.
"It still feels surreal," Aaryan says. "Fusion energy was something my friend and I joked about in high school as being the future and we wanted to be the first to do it, and now I’m part of the team trying to make it happen."
Initially pursuing civil engineering, Aaryan felt that he could have more impact in chemical and process engineering. "I really wanted to do something with a bigger impact, working with fresh new technology," Aaryan says. "When I learned about the opportunities in chemical and process engineering, especially in energy, it felt like the right path."
“I’ve been able to directly use my degree everyday, including pulling up past assignments and projects from UC to help my coworkers understand particular processes.”
A pivotal moment for Aaryan was discovering OpenStar at a UC STEM Careers fair. After connecting with a UC graduate working at the company, Aaryan secured an internship that led to his current graduate position.
"I got a business card from another UC graduate who now works at OpenStar. We got chatting, and now we work together, which is really cool. And this year I’ll be returning to the STEM fair for OpenStar."
Aaryan notes if there was just one thing he would change about engineering at UC it would be to convince more undergraduates to study chemical and process engineering. "You can work in so many different fields. The learning experience is different from other engineering disciplines – small classes, hands-on lecturers, great people-and so many opportunities for your career.”
