Greetings from…
Ricardo Ernesto Díaz:
“At TU Delft I learnt to go back and forth between numbers and softer values, like environment, safety and well-being.”
© Ricardo Ernesto Díaz
Text Agaath Diemel
Meet Ricardo Ernesto Díaz, AE & TPM alumnus. Born and raised in Ecuador, he was visiting relatives in Germany when he was invited to a TU Delft Open Day back in 2011. Impressed by the campus and the research facilities, he changed his plans from studying in Aachen to studying at TU Delft. As an engineering project lead, he now builds and equips clean rooms in the Copenhagen Capital Region, and is involved in the regional alumni chapter.
Ricardo felt welcome in the Netherlands from the moment the International Office picked him up at Schiphol Airport. “Their introduction programme is the way to get to know TU Delft and Dutch culture, and to kick-start your social life at TU Delft,” he reminiscences. Thinking fondly of the campus, he adds, “As soon as you enter the Mekelpark, you get a clear impression of the campus as an ecosystem – the different faculties and architecture, the opportunities for collaboration, and the fact that you never have to go far for social activities and sports.”
Ricardo took his Bachelor’s in Aerospace Engineering and went on to the TPM Faculty to take his Master’s. “I decided to look into industrial production and management more broadly, and I structured my Master’s accordingly: Management of Technology at TPM, combined with a specialisation in production engineering at Chalmers University in Sweden.” He broadened his horizons even further by joining the TU Delft Honours programme and the UNITECH International programme.
One of his most precious takeaways from TU Delft is learning to combine engineering and design for values. “I rarely meet engineers who talk about values of ethical importance in the design and implementation of their solutions. At TU Delft, I learnt to go back and forth between numbers and softer values, like environment, safety and well-being. This helped me in my current work to deliver solutions that work equally well for both operators and steering committees. For me, this learning is uniquely TU Delft.”
Clean rooms
Ricardo works at Emendo Engineering in Copenhagen, where he is engaged in the construction and upgrade of clean facilities for pharma and biotech production. “I currently work as a project manager for the building & utilities package of a new 1,600 m2 facility. I coordinate the internal users and contractors, and do the final design and installation of structures, cables and pipes on behalf of the client.” He can draw on his aerospace background here. “Both the pharmaceutical and aerospace industries are highly regulated and require clean room production.”
Full of good memories of TU Delft and his life in the Netherlands, he emphasises the importance of one’s network and keeping in touch. This is why he has always been engaged in the local Copenhagen alumni chapter. In 2022, the chapter will organise events for the alumni of the four Dutch universities of technology (4TU) around the region. “It hasn’t been easy because of the pandemic, but the chapter will remain alive.”
