Mark Yanagisawa ’14
Degree: B.S. in engineering with a mechanical engineering concentration, minor in architectural studies
Job Title: Reliability engineer at Kimberly Clark in Chester, Pennsylvania
Favorite Trinity Memory: While there are many to choose from, a favorite memory was setting the school record for the 200 butterfly my freshman year!
What was your path to your current position? I started as a mechanical engineer at Kimberly Clark just three weeks after graduation day. Our manufacturing facility is the proud home of Scott 1000, where we take raw fibers and produce finished rolls and bundles you see in stores and take home. I started off on a project team working on capital projects developing, planning, and installing equipment and moved into an asset engineering position where I was the mechanical engineer overseeing the maintenance, reliability, and operation of a paper machine. My time and experience in that role led me to my current position as a reliability engineer. This year, I celebrated 10 years with the company.
What do you do in your role? As a reliability engineer, I am focused on preventing equipment failures and improving the efficiency of our machines. I analyze machine performance data and collaborate with maintenance and operations teams to develop and implement strategies to predict and prevent failures. Working in manufacturing is dynamic and provides me with a lot of different and interesting projects to work on while seeing results through the improvements.
What do you enjoy most about your work? I love the variety of projects—designing new equipment, improving the condition-monitoring routes, or piloting the latest vibration technology.
What are the biggest challenges you face? A challenge that I face is improving the communication between the asset teams and across the departments to ensure that there is alignment and understanding across the team. When working with big teams at work, at school, or at home, communication helps build trust and relationships and avoids misunderstanding.
How did Trinity help prepare you for what you do now? Trinity helped me develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The engineering classes and professors taught us to take a problem, break it down to its smallest parts, solve for the unknowns, and, ultimately, solve for the answer by building it back up. This has been so important and helpful when faced with a new problem, where I can methodically take steps to build my understanding and solve the problems.
What was the most memorable course you took at Trinity? “Engineering 120,” where we designed, built, and programmed an autonomous robot to compete in the RoboWaiter competition. While I do not remember how we placed, I do have fond memories of the late nights with my classmates overcoming programming issues and repairing broken parts.
Was there a professor at Trinity who was particularly influential? Professor [Emilie] Dressaire had an impact on my Trinity education and taught me the importance of working through problems systematically and being dedicated and focused in all aspects in and out of the classroom.
What advice would you give to current students interested in a career in engineering? Be curious. Take the initiative to learn as much as you can about a subject, and ask others for information and advice. Also, embrace failure, which is inevitable, both in school and industry, but it is important to reflect and to learn from the mistakes and to use them to succeed.
Did you participate in any extracurricular activities at Trinity? Why did you enjoy them? During my time at Trinity, I was involved in several extracurricular activities that shaped my time at the College and provided me with a community that I will forever remember. I was a student-athlete on the swimming and diving team, a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, a co-founder of the Trinity College Engineers Without Borders Club, a Quest participant and three-year leader, and a TA for several engineering courses. I really enjoyed how I was able to try new things, discover my interests, and be introduced to lifelong friends through these programs.
