3.3 The ability to engage with a creative, innovative and proactive environment
I was not satisfied with how a standard Perturb & Observe MPPT algorithm tracked the maximum power point once irradiance and temperature started varying, so I built a hybrid version instead. I controlled it with Arduino-based PWM through a DC-DC buck converter, then tested it against a PV emulator and worked through the I-V and P-V curves to check it was actually doing better. It was steadier tracking, fewer oscillations than the standalone algorithm. What that project taught me is that innovation in engineering is rarely a big leap. It is usually just being willing to ask whether the standard approach is good enough, then doing the work to test something better.

3.4 Demonstrated ability to use and manage information
Managing information on the AquaGuide project meant staying flexible about what "finished" meant. We would lock in a design in one client meeting a system that could reliably guide sailors to the buoys and by the next, Sailability NSW had expanded the scope to include obstacle detection, with a request for the buoys to beep once a sailor came within 10 metres. I did not treat that as scope creep to push back on. I used it as new information to work into whatever stage we were at, without losing the progress we had already made. If there is one thing that taught me about managing information, it is that you have to keep checking what you know against what you are actually being told, rather than assuming last week's requirements still hold.

3.5 The ability to manage your own performance in a professional environment
On the same project, managing my own performance came down to owning the electrical side of a build with a client who expected visible progress at every meeting. I planned my work around our hardware and firmware milestones, kept track of what still needed fixing things like audio clipping or calibration drift and made a point of raising problems early rather than letting them surface in front of the client for the first time. When the scope shifted partway through, I reprioritised on my own instead of waiting to be told what mattered. Deadlines and requirements do not always hold still in a live project, and this was where I learned to adjust without losing track of what needed doing.

3.6 A demonstrated ability to work as part of a team and to show leadership when required
I was part of a seven-person team on AquaGuide and responsible for the electrical side specifically coordinating what needed fixing first, and making sure our progress matched what the mechanical team needed from us, such as connector placement or enclosure constraints. When the mechanical engineers were stretched, I would step in even though it was not technically my role, because the system only worked if both sides of the build lined up. Leadership on a team like that is not really about running your own patch well. It is about paying attention to where the disciplines meet.

The Industrus Graduate Program would let me keep building on this experience while rotating across a wider range of projects and learning from engineers in other disciplines. I have attached my resume and portfolio, and I would welcome the chance to discuss my application further.

Thank you for considering my application.

Kind regards,
Nathan Nguyen