From Lego to mechatronics

Kristopher Koiner is the kind of guy who knows what he wants and does the thoughtful planning and hard work necessary to achieve it. It’s that goal-oriented strategic approach that’s led to his receiving this year’s IEEE Gold Medal in Computer Engineering, awarded to the student with the highest graduating grade point average in the discipline.

Asked about the secret to his success, Koiner replies, “It’s less about yourself and more about others. Engineering is all about the requirements. You get to know what they want, and you give it to them.”

For Koiner, like many other engineers, it all started with an innate curiosity and a set of Lego. “I’ve always enjoyed learning how things work,” he says. Growing up in West Vancouver, “My friends would be smashing things with hammers while I’d be taking things apart with a screwdriver.” And later, Koiner was more interested in how computers work than what they could do.

He was attracted to UVic because of its comfortable size and its mechatronics program. “Mechatronics appealed to me because it’s a combination of different branches of engineering: mechanical, electrical and control systems, with a focus on robotics and embedded systems,” he explains.

Looking back on his years at UVic, it’s the friendships that he says he’ll remember most fondly. “I met a huge group of engineers who shared the same interests, and we had a great study group,” he says. He singles out Drs. Fayez Gebali and Kin Fun Li (electrical and computer engineering) as particularly supportive faculty members who were generous with their time.

“My co-ops were great,” says Koiner, who credits his work term placements with giving him an opportunity to see a lot of Canada—including Ottawa and Montreal—and helping him solidify his interest in industrial engineering. Through co-op, he worked with Alcatel-Lucent and with Domtar, among others. “It was great working at Domtar; they treated me just like any other engineer, not like just a student,” he says.

“I’ve found my calling in engineering,” says Koiner, and a career in industrial engineering is calling out to him. With a goal in mind, as usual, he has his sights set on landing a job in Australia in the booming mining sector.