Bio

Mark Folk-Liscum is a mechanical engineering student interested in manufacturing with an emphasis on additive manufacturing. He grew up in San Diego, CA, and is the first in his family to attend a 4-year university. Mark will be graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara in June of 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.  

Mark has taken multiple graduate-level courses during his time at UCSB to familiarize himself and sharpen his skills in various engineering disciplines. He took a course on Design Optimization, where he gained proficiency in optimization using COMSOL. He took a course about manufacturing processes, where he learned how cost, production volume, and time affect decision-making when choosing how to manufacture parts. In addition, Mark took on an independent study project with four of his colleagues; this project involved testing the capabilities of airbags to determine their feasibility as life saving devices in the event of a pedestrian-locomotive collision.  

During his 4th year at UCSB, Mark pursued his interest in manufacturing by partnering up with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to create an automated powder spreading machine. This machine would replicate the powder spreading process used in Powder Bed Fusion (PBF), an additive manufacturing process currently being researched at LLNL. As Analysis Lead, Mark needed to understand the intricacies of PBF to ensure that the components designed by the team would adequately replicate this process. Throughout his tenure on the team, Mark became proficient in various engineering analysis programs such as COMSOL, Matlab, and Solidworks. 

Mark is also a proficient technical writer. In 2014, Mark wrote a paper investigating the feasibility of using underwater UAVs to detect the strength of hurricanes before they reach land. Three different kinds of underwater UAVs were compared, and ultimately the best UAV was chosen based on its ability to collect relevant data concerning hurricane strength. His paper was nominated for Best Technical Paper by his professor, and it won first place.  

Mark hopes that his combined knowledge of engineering and technical writing will give him the tools to succeed as an engineer in industry.