Scholarship Visionary 2019 

Jonathan Shapiro

MEng, AMIMechE

Graduate Engineer at Meggitt

The Scholarship Visionary Award is presented to recipients of the IMechE’s study scholarships who exemplify the spirit of the funding during their studies and beyond.

“I was surprised but very honoured to receive the award” says Jonathan Shapiro, this year’s winner, who graduated with First Class MEng honours from the University of Southampton in 2018.

The IMechE’s judges were impressed by Jonathan’s attitude and his engagement with the Institution and the wider engineering community throughout his studies and since graduation.

Jonathan was awarded an IMechE Undergraduate Scholarship in 2014 to study mechanical engineering. During his studies at Southampton he developed a strong interest in aerospace engineering, “with aerospace engineering I find that the true differentiator between companies is performance and cost rather than product image and branding” he explains. “It means that the work I do can add real value to the end product”.

Since graduating, Jonathan has been employed on aerospace equipment firm Meggitt’s graduate rotation scheme, a role which has so far seen him working at their offices in Coventry and Switzerland. At present he is working on developing simulation capabilities for Meggitt’s piezoelectric products and has also been selected to participate in a leadership training initiative at the company.

While at university, Jonathan explains that he had been advised by more senior engineers to “spend as much time working, and not just studying”. The idea being that he should use all the opportunities that university presented to get a better understanding of what engineers do and broaden his field of interests. He certainly did that.

During university summers, Jonathan returned to the business where he completed a year in industry prior to commencing his studies, gaining experience in a range of roles. Through term time, he also participated in the IMechE’s Formula Student, a competition where student members design and build small-scale formula style cars.Since graduating, Jonathan has continued to be involved in the engineering community – as a member of Meggitt’s STEM programme he designed and ran outreach sessions at schools in Coventry to introduce pupils to the world of engineering. Additionally he has engaged the business in sponsoring the Institution’s UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) Challenge, where students are asked to design and build an unmanned aerial system to complete a themed task.

The Scholarship Visionary Award is intended to recognise those students who make the most of their studies. Jonathan says that “the scholarship gave me a lot of freedom during university – it meant that I could spend as much time as I wanted engaging in extracurricular engineering activities as well as pursuing my interests in music”. He adds that it “enhanced all aspects of my university life, and gave me additional resources to put towards university projects too”.

As a relatively early career engineer, Jonathan recognises the value of IMechE membership as a means for developing himself and accessing guidance and resources. He uses the MPDS (Monitored Professional Development Scheme) to help enhance his skills and sees the benefit in taking a structured approach to his own development. Reading the Institution’s newsletters and publications and attending evening lectures keeps him up to date with the world of engineering, and he also makes use of the Institution’s resources. “I use something from the online library pretty much every week” he says.

For Jonathan, “it is fantastic to be recognised, and is definitely something which I will be taking forward in my professional career”. And he certainly exemplifies the spirit of the Scholarship Visionary Award which recognises ambition and engagement: “I see receiving this award as the start of the journey, not the destination”.