Ross MacKenzie

Background

About Ross MacKenzie

Born in Glasgow, I grew up 20 miles north of the city in Balfron where I was very fortunate to develop through primary and secondary education in an incredible environment among incredible people. Forever being actively motivated by sporting achievement and musical expression, from my early years onwards I played football competitively and during high school picked up the saxophone as a hobby - playing in multiple school shows as part of the woodwind band and orchestra. In continuing my education, I enjoyed five brilliant years at Strathclyde University studying Mechanical Engineering within their award-winning MAE Department (1st in Scotland for Mechanical Engineering). Five years filled with practical & theoretical lessons - including an unforgettable semester abroad at Clemson University in South Carolina, USA - rounded off by my final year group project "Recycling End-of-Life Wind Turbine Blade Waste: Circular Wind Energy" completed to a First Class standard. In the fifth and final year of my integrated masters degree I chose to follow the Financial Management stream of the course, completing modules in finance and economics before writing a qualitative analysis dissertation on the UK Government's CFD subsidy scheme for increasing offshore wind capacity. In doing so I completed the educational requirements for engineering chartership while delving into a personally hitherto unexplored area of academia. Two and a half years at Mott MacDonald have flown by. I have been afforded incredible opportunities and responsibilities within flagship infrastructure projects, both within the Building Services discipline and the nitty gritty of multi-disciplinary integration. In my time within the company's Power, Process, and Nuclear division I've delved into the spectrum of Mechanical Building Services - designing HVAC, water supply, drainage, and sewerage systems for large-scale industrial facilities. As I transition beyond the graduate tagline I've gained a confidence in applying myself to whatever opportunities may come my way. And so, in that spirit, I've taken the chance to move abroad for a short-term secondment into the Hydropower team - aiming to do my bit for one of the world's foremost pieces of energy infrastructure.*Header - Tyninghame Beach + Bass Rock, East Lothian (Scotland)