John Berglin

Background

About John Berglin

I am an aspiring Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineer set to graduate from Oregon State University in June of 2023. I grew up in Pleasanton California where I started my journey into the world of engineering through the Project Lead the Way program at Amador Valley High School. After three years in the program learning, 3D modeling, and problem solving, I knew Mechanical Engineering was the major for me. I wanted a break from the constant sunshine of the golden state so I set of for Corvallis Oregon. In my time there, my interest in computer aided design grew immensely. Starting with a blank canvas and watching as a piece comes to life on my computer felt so rewarding. At some point along the way, I felt like I was doing all this designing, but never got to do any actual production. I started taking manufacturing classes as electives and realized it helped me design systems while keeping production in mind. Knowing what it would take to produce a part meant, I could design it in a way that would prevent me from future headaches. I decided to pursue a dual major with manufacturing because I thought it could only make my capabilities as a designer stronger. For my senior Capstone project, my team and I worked with Iron Mountain Inc. to design a machine capable of recycling the plastic within LTO computer cartridges. Through experiments and testing we found a way to separate out more than 95% of the recyclable plastic. We got to work, designing a system to rapidly process the cartridges. Then we spent loads of hours in the machine shop on mills and lathes to create the pieces of our design. Near the end, we needed to model our completed system, which was my favorite portion and time to shine. I am looking forward to entering the field, intrigued by what real world situations I can help solve. I'm excited to face the new and unexpected problems that await me, knowing it will only expand the tools in my belt.