Damian Jozefczyk

Damian Jozefczyk

What have you been doing since finishing your studies? What are you doing in terms of your career? 

Since I finished my studies, I completed my 2 year Graduate Engineer role with Cummins, where I was responsible for emissions testing of 4.5-8.7 litre diesel engines used in trucks, buses and industrial products. I learnt a lot about engine and after treatment design, materials used, the function of particular elements, and about the dyno test cells. I gained experience in test design and analysis, planning and presentations, engine calibration, vehicle emissions testing and, my favourite, in problem solving. My job offered a nice combination of office work and hands-on tasks. It involved connecting to the engine and flashing the ECM with amended calibration (e.g. fuel amount or timing changes), playing with PID controls on the test cell, assessment of engine parts after durability tests (including a few impressive failures). While with Cummins, I also completed 2 years out of 4 of my MPDS required to achieve the Chartered Engineer status.

What company are you working for, what is your role and what does it involve?

After 2 years I decided to leave the North and moved to my current role at Ford Dunton Technical Centre. I work here as a Calibration Engineer for 2.0 diesel programme. This role involves setting the limits for temperatures and pressures related to air-path at altitude and hot/cold climate. Normally the assessment is carried out in the vehicle/dyno tests cells, at the track or on the public roads, but a few times a year we venture for cold (Scandinavia) and hot trips (Spain, Italy, USA), and all the calibration teams enjoy them quite well!

What experiences at Leeds do you think have particularly helped with your career/will help with your future career?

I am very proud of my project, which was in the field of Tribology. I conducted research on a innovative method of reducing damage of fretting-corrosion degradation, so pretty much at a PhD level, just shorter. I gained a lot of experience in the design of experiment, data analysis and presentation. I also had an opportunity to interact with Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing, where I prepared my samples. All those skills helped with projects I had in my first job, and I know I will draw on them throughout my career.

Looking back, why did you choose to study your particular course and why did you choose the University of Leeds?

I chose the course because I liked the content of it and I found it interesting. I chose Leeds because it was high in university ranking tables, and not far from South Yorkshire. As a bonus I experienced an amazing atmosphere, met a lot of friends and got some of the best memories.

What was the best aspect of the course/the University and why?

In one breath: lots of societies, awesome people, Global Café, brilliant lecturers, high teaching standards, excellent labs and the city is lovely. I enjoyed my project so much that I even considered a PhD in Tribology. However, I changed my mind later on and eventually turned down the offers from ICL and Leeds – I only considered world’s best universities in the field from the UK.

What other activities outside of your studies were you involved in?

I was involved in the Polish Society, and I also enjoyed hanging out with Leeds’ and Leeds-Erasmus students. 

What would you say to students thinking about studying the same course at Leeds/thinking about the same career?

If you want a degree from a top UK university, if you want to be taught by the best staff, if you want outstanding laboratories, if you like meeting a lot of people and having a lot of fun – Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds is just for you. Just do not forget to study, but on the other hand – do not forget to have fun either!