"The future of engineering involves providing added value and all bureaucratic, administrative tasks that can easily be replaced by artificial intelligence"

Name: Gerard Burjalès del Amo

Age : twenty-four years

Currently: Student at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in the Master's in Electrical Engineering specializing in power electronics and integrated circuits. Working a student job in a power electronics company that combines with studies. This last semester he had the great opportunity to be working as an assistant professor in a couple of power electronics subjects in the undergraduate and master's field at DTU.

Since when does your devotion to the world of engineering come to you?

  From a very young age I always wanted to know the why of things (it was my favorite book). When I was six or seven years old, I liked to "touch" electronic devices that no longer worked. He would take them and take them apart, he said it was to fix them, but almost always, at first, he broke them more. More importantly, when they asked me what I wanted to study, I pointed to the sound board of the amateur theater group in my town, La Pobla de Mafumet. He said that in a few years he would design them. Currently, I have a student job in parallel with my master's studies where we precisely design power electronics for stages.

When did your adventure in the world of engineering begin and what studies have you gone through? Do you think constant training is important in this world?

I started studying the double degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the URV. It was a very good decision because of the teaching quality and the large number of laboratory teaching sessions, which have become the foundations of my engineering education. It was in fourth grade, however, that my international adventure began. I spent a four-month stay at the Technical University of Brno (VUT), in the Czech Republic. It was a very interesting experience and soon after, I had the opportunity to do an extracurricular internship at BRP-Rotax in Austria, in an engine company where I developed one of the two final degree projects. In this case on the study of the quality of the combustion by means of the analysis of the ionization current by the spark plugs of the engine. After finishing my degree, I returned to Tarragona to work at Fermator, world leader in elevator doors. There I had the opportunity to continue my education at one of the best universities in Europe, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Accepting it was one of the most important decisions I've ever had to make. It wasn't easy, but yes, a unique opportunity.

Why did you decide to leave to study the Master's?

I heard great things about DTU, the master's degree is free and the Danish government pays you to study if you work a minimum of ten-twelve hours a week. It's what I do and it allows me to combine studies with work and living in Copenhagen. DTU's success is based on being able to attract international talent, bet on research, work collaboratively and be the technical university of reference in the country. The education is extremely flexible and focuses on doing interesting projects (because in many cases you choose them), with funding and in most cases in a group. I'm learning a lot and even though the pace can get hectic at times, I'm enjoying it a lot.

And do you have free time for a hobby?

It's funny, but I started making castles in Copenhagen. I am looking forward to finding a theater association in this city, as I have always liked it very much. And I've taken up sports and started running and I want to resume orienteering soon.

You are the youngest CETIT member. What do you think your youth can contribute to the engineering sector?

  I think that young people have a lot to say, it will depend on us to continue with the College and the future of the profession in the territory. I think, and here I leave the proposal, that it would be very interesting to be able to create links between generations by offering the possibility of creating generational mentoring even with students about to finish to attract them to the College. Having a reference is key, it helps you make decisions and allows you to take a temporary leap and mirror yourself. The experience of many of the house floor professionals is key for us and we cannot let it slip away. And I am sure that from these mentorships, the mentors would also benefit.

You were part of URV Voltage Racing, a project that started in 2016 with students from the Rovira i Virgili University of Tarragona, who participated in the Moto Student competition. The goal was to design and build an electric motorcycle and compete with universities around the world. How do you rate the experience?

I was there from 2018 to 2021 and nothing has marked my time at the URV more than this project, which the College supports. It was where I learned the most about engineering but also about teamwork. We were incredibly lucky to be a very cohesive and competent team with a common goal that allowed us to make what has been our most unique bike in URVoltage history, designing as many elements as possible ourselves. An example that our decision was a success is that our head of electronics designed the battery management system (BMS) from scratch and right now he is working at Wattius, a young company that designs them, created in Tarragona and that, for sure, will go very far.

Last year, in 2023, as part of the Engineer's Day, you were awarded the "Lluís Roca Garcia" End of Degree Work prize, a recognition that PETIT gives to the new generations of engineers . It was with the project Obtaining by means of the hourly consumption curves of the peak power of a photovoltaic installation. Briefly, what is its importance?

The work develops a tool that allows you, in a couple of hours, to analyze in an extremely accurate way all the points of electricity consumption, for example, in a large city, to indicate where it pays to install solar panels and how many I think it's important to show how data can help make decisions and how important it is to create tools to help us do that. Receiving the award was a joy. For the College of Engineers to recognize me for the work I have done is very rewarding and I am obviously very grateful, as it has been an incredible way to start my professional career.

What would you say to young people who want to dedicate themselves to this world? Or to those who hesitate to do so?

That society needs us to keep moving forward because our task is to design the future: from the houses we will live in, to the medical devices that will save and extend our lives. In addition, it is a sector with many job opportunities that, in many cases, we still don't even know exist. And a piece of advice, even if during the course you think there is knowledge that you won't use later, you can apply almost all of it because to solve a problem there is never an ideal solution and the more options you are able to consider, the better.

What do you think the future of engineering will be?

The future of engineering involves providing added value and all bureaucratic, administrative tasks that can easily be replaced by artificial intelligence are dead. We have to accept it and get on the bandwagon, otherwise we will cease to be competitive.

Interview: Montse Solé