UWaterloo Alumni Podcasts
UWaterloo Alumni Podcasts
Engineering in the fast lane feat. Christina Sullivan (BASc ’23)
Christina Sullivan (BASc ’23) never planned to work in Formula One racing. But when her sister convinced her to binge-watch Netflix's Drive to Survive during the pandemic, everything changed.
From studying mechatronics engineering at Waterloo to securing a placement that turned into a full-time position at Williams Racing — Christina is still early in her career, but she’s proving that she’s on track for a bold future.
Read more about Christina and other champions of change in Waterloo Magazine.
Welcome to Uncharted, a University of Waterloo alumni podcast. I'm your host, jennifer Ferguson. On Uncharted, we feature awesome alumni who open up about their career journeys, the highs and lows, the twists and turns and anything they've learned along the way. On today's episode, we're welcoming Christina Sullivan.
Christina Sullivan:Every day, you know, I sit in my do-it-all. It's very routine and I sometimes forget. Like you know, I see the new season's car before anyone else. So that aspect is quite strange, actually to remind myself that I do work in a really cool, unique industry.
Jennifer Ferguson:Christina thought that she would likely try to study engineering at Waterloo, especially after being mentored by her mom, pearl Sullivan, who was the former dean of engineering at Waterloo. But what Christina didn't expect was to develop a passion for Formula One racing and then end up using her engineering degree to help test F1 cars in the wind tunnel. Christina's still early in her career. She's on track for a bold future. Hi Christina, welcome to the podcast.
Christina Sullivan:Hi, jennifer. It's really cool to be here, so thank you for the invite
Jennifer Ferguson:you have what we would call a kind of cool job.
Jennifer Ferguson:How did you get interested in F1?
Christina Sullivan:It's a funny story, so, as most funny stories during quarantine, my sister was quarantining with me and my family during the pandemic in 2021. And she was, at the time, living in Seattle. So she actually came back to Canada and lived with me and my parents and she was super hyped about this show on Netflix and it was called Drive to Survive, which I think is very popular now I hope people have heard about it and she convinced me. It was like you have to watch this, christina, we're going to watch all of it and season two comes out soon, so we're going to binge it and I'm like okay, veronica, and during this time, at the same time, I actually found out that I lost my co-op job for that summer. So I was trying to find some online local help that I could do for co-op that summer, something to do, online local help that I could do for co-op that summer, something to do. But I got really.
Christina Sullivan:Basically, I got really into Formula One that summer during the pandemic and in the school term following I had to do my work term report still, but I had nothing to really talk about because I had no real work term. Because I had no real work term. So I just did my work term report on Formula One after watching hours and hours of Formula One races and Drive to Survive. So after I got really into it I actually got a lot of ads. The AI formulated ad structure we have on all of our social media now really got me and I got a lot of um notifications about joining industrial placements at Formula One teams and I just applied and I was very lucky enough to have been selected to be one of like the interns at a Formula One team at Williams the following year which is pretty cool.
Jennifer Ferguson:That is such an interesting placement and probably not what you expected to do when you came to Waterloo.
Christina Sullivan:Yeah, definitely like Formula One was racing and motorsport was definitely not on my radar like at all, um, but my sister was super into it, so it's thanks to Veronica. I think we can all thank Veronica okay.
Jennifer Ferguson:So why don't you tell us, uh, what you did for your internship and then what you do?
Christina Sullivan:internship at Williams from August 2022 to the following August in 2020. Sorry, yeah, 2022 to 2023. And I was working as a controls and systems engineer in the wind tunnel for the aerotest facilities department in the wind tunnel. For the Aerotest Facilities Department, which is basically the team in the wind tunnel that does all the facility upgrades, maintains all of the systems we have, makes sure all the wind tunnel data comes out really strong so we can give it to the aerodynamicists so they can develop the car. So that's so some of.
Christina Sullivan:When I was an intern, I did a lot of sort of mini, small projects creating little electronic devices to make testing go faster, create test rigs and test setups to try out new things in the tunnel, new systems, and I have. After a year of doing that, I went back to finish my degree at Waterloo in mechatronics engineering. Then, when I graduated, they offered me back a full-time position. I replaced, actually, my mentor that I was shadowing at Williams. So it worked out really well. I do pretty much the same thing, just a little bit with more responsibility now, um. So right now, um, as a full-time engineer here I maintain and develop the on-model electronic systems. So the wind tunnel model is a scaled version of the full-size car that we have on track, because we can't test the full-size car in the wind tunnel. So we have a lot of electronic systems that simulate the car's motion on the track and we have a lot of sensors and different systems to acquire different data within the wind tunnel so that we can develop the aerodynamics and make the car go really fast.
Jennifer Ferguson:Tell us a little bit more about what it's like working in F1 at Williams.
Christina Sullivan:Yeah, it's kind of a really strange feeling, I think, because I sort of fell into the sport and I got a really you know the acceleration between not knowing anything about it to being really passionate about it and now working into it.
Christina Sullivan:I feel extremely grateful for the opportunity I had for getting a placement here and luckily having enough of the educational background to be able to work here.
Christina Sullivan:But it's really strange because when you're in it it doesn't feel like this great big, multi-million sort of public presence because F1 is I don't think it's getting bigger now in North America but it's really a really big culture shock coming over here how important motorsport is to everyone, especially in the UK.
Christina Sullivan:But when you're working like I work in the wind tunnel which every day, you know, I sit in my do-it-all it's very routine which every day I sit in my do-it-all, it's very routine and I sometimes forget, like you know, I see the new season's car before anyone else and it's super secretive and sometimes you just don't think about it. And so that aspect is quite strange actually to remind myself that I do work in like a really cool, unique industry and especially coming from co-op, doing co-op at Waterloo where I worked in a lot of factories and companies that do mass production Doing thousands upon thousands of either one product or different types of products. Now going to one company, a thousand people working towards two items not even like two of the same car and it's really cool. It's a different atmosphere that everyone's focused on just producing basically one product, which is yeah, it's definitely cool.
Jennifer Ferguson:You have the cool factor, Christina.
Christina Sullivan:Yeah, I like to think so, but it's yeah, sometimes you forget and then you'll like I saw Carlos Sainz in the lunchroom, in the canteen, like literally last week, and I was like, oh my God, yeah, you work here and I get to see you.
Jennifer Ferguson:It's like that reminder of the environment that you're in.
Christina Sullivan:Sometimes you forget yeah definitely, definitely, but it's, it's, it's. It's hard to say like it's a dream come true, because, like, I just literally fell into it. But I have to say, when, my, when I told my sister that I was given a position, she, she was jumping up and down and she was truly ecstatic and you know, it's, it's been a, it's been a pretty cool experience for sure.
Jennifer Ferguson:How could someone do what you did and possibly get a placement there?
Christina Sullivan:Yeah, so uh, williams uh has a lot of like um different outreach programs they do for students at university and high school. Uh, you know they have. What I did was the industrial placement, which is is um geared towards university to students. You have to take a year out of your degree but you get to work in on site and in the company. Um williams is not the only f1 team that does this. I, like majority of the f1 teams, do this um and they have applications um that come out pretty regularly. I think most of them come out in the fall.
Christina Sullivan:Williams comes out in the July August time. They also have at Williams specifically they have summer placements, which are summer internships. We have week-long workshops that are like week-long placements where you just get to have sort of an experience of what it's like to work here just for over a week. But that's most that's geared towards sort of the middle school age. But yeah, we have a lot of early careers outreach programs here at Williams specifically. But I definitely encourage people to go on all the F teams' career sites and look at their industrial placement offerings. Like I just saw, like my personal experience, I just saw an ad on LinkedIn and applied and so I think, especially Waterloo students, with having such a great reputation at Waterloo and with the work experience you get, it's definitely leg up. So, yeah, definitely just look at different F1 teams. Like career pages. I'm pretty sure all of them have one. So that's essentially what I did.
Jennifer Ferguson:It sounds like there is a world of opportunity out there for people who are interested. I'm wondering, though, for you, christina, because this is such a career that you kind of fell into. Maybe wasn't what the dream was when you started at Waterloo. So if you weren't doing this, what do you think you'd be doing right now, just kind of fresh out of your university experience?
Christina Sullivan:A good question. I actually didn't really have too much of a plan. I mean, when I was in high school my goal was actually to do filmmaking and some sort of special effects schooling or education post undergrad because that was something I was really interested in as well, and passionate when I was younger was the practical, behind the scenes special effects side of filmmaking, and I think that's hopefully where I would be if I wasn't working in F1. But in reality I didn't really have too much of a plan. I sort of was like okay, I'm doing this in undergrad and we'll see where it takes me.
Jennifer Ferguson:Sometimes it's about taking advantage of the opportunities that come up and pop up, in your case, on social media.
Christina Sullivan:Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
Jennifer Ferguson:I'm wondering, christina, being in STEM and also being in a male-dominated sport, who have been some of your greatest mentors and your role models really along the way?
Christina Sullivan:Yeah, I mean there's two really big. It almost comes to mind immediately is my fifth slash sixth grade teacher, ms Price. She really got me interested in mathematics and in physics and in the science sort of areas of school. And in the science sort of areas of school she made me really want to like dive right into it and like do well and sort of work towards going into a STEM focused career.
Christina Sullivan:But I also think the main role is definitely my mom. She, you know she was looking for opportunities to come to Canada and when she left Malaysia at 17, she did an undergrad degree in engineering here in Canada and she, just she was, I think, truly a trailblazer when it comes to being a woman in engineering back then. Now it's still quite low percentage between female to male engineers, at least where I am now, but it's much higher than it was back then. And her work ethic really inspired me as a young woman and as a young engineer. And my mom always instilled in me the, the, the strive to wanting to pursue higher education and, you know, to pursue a career. That something I would be proud of and, um, yeah, and I think her work out of being such a hard worker, uh is probably the biggest um piece of role modeling advice that I'd seen growing up for sure.
Jennifer Ferguson:Christina, your mom, former engineering dean Pearl Sullivan. She was beloved on campus and my understanding is now. I never met her, unfortunately, but my understanding is that she was quite involved hands-on and I think you had an experience with her kind of surprising you one day, didn't you?
Christina Sullivan:oh, wow yes, yeah, my mom, she, she loved the students at Waterloo. You know she worked hours and hours trying her best to make the Waterloo education the best it could be for the students and the facilities they have. And you know she had a. She had a. She got a really hard rule that you know, not get me involved to have her involved with my like education or anything while I was at Waterloo. But she did surprise me one morning, you're right.
Christina Sullivan:So one time I, because I was doing varsity field hockey in my first year, I came in maybe a few minutes late because coming from hockey practice in the morning and coming from SIF all the way across to RCH, I had a seat just outside the door, just so I wouldn't have to like crawl over people. That my friend saved me. So I was always sitting right to the main door into the RCH basement room and I was, you know, very tired from hockey practice in the morning. So just trying to, you know, get my breakfast, eat breakfast at my seat and get my books ready.
Christina Sullivan:And I remember Professor Mayer was doing a materials class and he started the class. He's like OK, guys, today I don't feel like teaching, so let's see what happens and he walks away and I'm sort of barely not really paying attention to what's going on. But everyone in the classroom, all of my classmates, were like I don't know what's going on. Everyone looks really confused. And Professor Mayer just walks to the back of the class and all of a sudden I see this door the door right beside me slam open and I hear a good morning. And it's my mom right in front of me, scaring me half to death, and she decided to teach my materials class to my entire class that morning because she used to teach materials. But it was really funny.
Christina Sullivan:I definitely was awake for the rest of the day after that.
Jennifer Ferguson:That sounds like quite a joyful, surprising experience.
Christina Sullivan:Yeah, yeah, she loves to pull little pranks like that. One of her favorite things to do on campus with all the deans was a Halloween costume. She went as Oscar the Grouch one year and she went as Darth Vader a different year. And yeah, it's good.
Jennifer Ferguson:Oh, those sound like some really great memories to have, with your mom being such an amazing role model. I mean not just for you, christina. I think she was a role model for a lot of folks on campus and truly dearly missed. I want to go back to your time as a student for a minute here. Christina, I'm wondering. I know you did varsity field hockey for your first year. What's something that you're glad you did while you were a Waterloo student?
Christina Sullivan:Yeah, I think doing I did a lot of intramural sports.
Christina Sullivan:I did intramural soccer and volleyball and I did squash as well, and two of I think squash and volleyball I did on my own and it was that's.
Christina Sullivan:I think when you're doing engineering at Waterloo, you spend a lot of hours of your day in the classroom and doing work with sort of basically the same people all the time. And doing any reals got me to meet people you know outside of my department and yeah, I get to talk to people that I probably would never have talked to if I hadn't, probably would never have talked to if I hadn't and it gives you sort of a little more perspective on the university life than just being in RCH or E6 and E7, you know, worrying about lectures and classes and stuff. So I think intramurals was probably the biggest thing. So I think intramurals was probably the biggest thing. The second thing is probably I was sitting by myself in one of my classes and I invited myself to this group of people's lunch and didn't know any of their names and I was like I'm coming to lunch with you and they're like OK, and I'm very happy I did that, because now they're all my best friends.
Christina Sullivan:So that's, I think, the two biggest things, best things I did, choices I did.
Jennifer Ferguson:Oh my goodness, that is such a hard thing to do, Christina, and I remember you know similar experience in university, where you kind of just you put yourself out there and sometimes it works out. And because most people are in the same situation where they're in, you know university for the first time too and they also want to make friends, that there's like an openness to be friendly. Did you find that at Waterloo? I?
Christina Sullivan:think I'm definitely coming from a biased standpoint, being in engineering, because we're all sort of struggling in the same boat that you can just like have a very easy topic to relate to very easily with people. But I think that, you know, finding friends and putting yourself out there is definitely super important and everyone I've talked to has been super friendly and nice. And you know, we've all we all, we all worked really, really hard to get into Waterloo and you know, one of the things my mom always says is that we work even harder to get out, and I think that's the mentality everyone has. It's like, okay, we're going to struggle together as long as we have each other and we're going to get through this. So, yeah, yeah, it's always a good time,
Jennifer Ferguson:Christina.
Jennifer Ferguson:Before we wrap up, I'm wondering if you have any other pieces of advice for alumni or current students or future students.
Christina Sullivan:Yeah, I mean I was heavily influenced to do engineering from obvious sources. Both of my parents were engineers and my mom really believed in education there, and both of my siblings did engineering at Waterloo. But I really do think that people really need to see the value of having a degree at Waterloo is because the reputation there is it's really highly regarded, I think, not just within Canada but outside Canada and specifically from personal experience, like the value of the co-op program. Even if sometimes you get placements that, um, aren't really something that you're interested in or, um, not really to the level that is well suited to you, you can always find something that you can leverage and I think having just finding one thing is super important and using that to whether to diversify your skill set or really push along a specific, a specific skill is always going to be valuable. And learning how to communicate that is super important and I think students should focus on that and definitely it will. It will help you in the long run in your career.
Christina Sullivan:Um, yeah, I think that would be it,
Jennifer Ferguson:Christina. It has been such a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you so much for being on the podcast and all the best in whatever comes next for you.
Christina Sullivan:Oh, thank you so much, jennifer. It's really nice speaking to you and having this time. So, thank you.
Jennifer Ferguson:UWaterloo alumni podcasts are produced and hosted by me, Jennifer Ferguson. Don't forget to follow, like and subscribe wherever you listen, and for more alumni content, go to uwaterloo. ca/alumni.