Profile
Graham Cullen
My CV
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Education:
Oatlands Secondary School (Leaving Certificate 2002)
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Qualifications:
2:1 Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering (2009), 1:1 Masters in Mechanical Engineering (2012), Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Engineering (2015)
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Work History:
Intern Engineer in Resource Analysis Department at OpenHydro (April – August 2013)
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Current Job:
Oceanographic Engineer with TechWorks Marine (Sept 2013 – Present)
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About Me:
I am a Mechanical Engineer working in the Marine Science Industry. I design the physical part of systems that collect data about the sea.
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I am from Dun Laoghaire in Dublin. I currently live in Co. Wicklow with my FiancΓ© Anna, who is from Latvia. We attend dance lessons weekly (Ballroom, Tango, Cha Cha Cha among others). I am also learning to speak Russian.
I am a Lifesaving Instructor and Treasurer of Monkstown Lifesaving Club (which I have been a member of since I was 3 years old). I teach lifesaving once a week to students from aged 5 to 105. My favourite part of lifesaving is Beach Lifesaving Sport and I run classes in the Summer for students aged 12 and up. Here is a picture of me with the blue racing board about to run into the sea at the start of the Board Race at the Mountbatton Beach Lifesaving Competition last Summer.
So I am very happy that I was able to merge my lifelong passion of being in the water with my career, working in the marine science industry.
In my spare time I play video games (One of my favourite is Minecraft) and board games (I especially like strategy games) with my brothers and friends. I also spend a lot time managing my Fantasy Premier League football team! I do need to get back into Surfing and Hiking/Camping…
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As an Oceanographic Engineer I am mainly focused on the physical parts of the sea (waves, water flow speed and direction, water temperature, water clarity, creating maps of the bottom of the sea). It is different from a Marine Biologist who is mainly focused on marine life (dolphins, sharks, jellyfish, seaweed).
I work on a lot of different projects:
Dublin Port – Alexandra Basin Redevelopment (ABR) Project, to make it possible for larger ships to come into the harbour they are making the harbour deeper by using a giant hoover to suck up the sand and dirt at the bottom of the harbour into a boat. The boat then travels out in to Dublin Bay and dumps all the sand and dirt into the water. Our job is to monitor the environment at the dump site by measuring the amount of sand and dirt floating in the water. We get live data sent from our 4 buoys to our office every 15 minutes. If the levels of sand and dirt floating in the water get to high the Captain of the dredge ship automatically gets a text message telling him to stop dumping operations. My part of the project was to make sure all the computers, batteries, solar panels, antenna and scientific instruments fit on the buoy where they needed to go. Here is a photo of one of our buoys:
I also collected underwater video using our ROV, of a wastewater treatment plants outfall pipe in the sea to make sure that it was still functioning properly after years of operation. Here are some pictures I took of some of the rubbish and some of the marine life that was on the bottom of the estuary:
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My Typical Day:
As I work for a small company, I don’t have a typical work day. Everyone in the company has to do a bit of everything!
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I suppose the most fun part of my work is going on operations at sea to deploy/recover or carry out maintenance on scientific buoys and seabed frames. The part of my work that most relates to my college degree is designing mounting brackets for scientific instruments. I also do a lot of data processing and analysis, mainly statistical analysis of water speed and direction, and wave heights for the renewable energy industry (tidal turbines, wave energy convertors and offshore wind turbines).
I also drive the company boat and pilot the ROV (Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle). The main qualification for being an ROV Pilot – be able to look at a computer screen on a boat that sways from side to side without getting seasick!
Our newest gadget that we have at work is a 3D Printer (Ultimaker 3). Some of the things that I have printed with it are gripper jaws for our ROV so that we can grab on to stuff under the sea, a lot of brackets for mounting cylindrical scientific instruments to flat metal plates and even replacement parts for the office dishwasher in the kitchen!
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Honest, strategic, logical
What did you want to be after you left school?
Architect
Were you ever in trouble at school?
A lot - mostly in Primary School
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Depends on my mood, can range from Punk Rock (Paramore) to Classical (Grieg).
What's your favourite food?
Chicken Curry with Fried Rice
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Be happy, raise a family and contribute something useful to humanity
Tell us a joke.
To the optimist, the glass is half-full. To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
What don't you like about your current job?
Cleaning scientific equipment that has been at the bottom of the sea for a few months...
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