Alexander Wyrstiuk
click to download a copy of my resume!
My skills vary from programming to designs to technical
documentation. Click to see some
of my
work!
The purpose of this page is to provide more detail about my more recent involvment opportunities. For a more concise description that includes my personal projects, see my resume above.
BEng in Electrical Engineering, Minor in Math, Minor in Computer Science CGPA: 3.69/4.00
Awards: (for the 2023/2024 academic year)
1. Dean's Honour List:
Awarded for remaining in the
top 10% of the faculty
2. Motorola Foundation Scholarship in ECE:
Awarded for high academic standing, interest in
wireless
comms, leadership & teamwork qualities
3. Faculty of Engineering Scholarship
Awarded for high academic standing
Macdonald, Dettwiler & Associates (MDA Space) is widely recognized as Canada's largest
aerospace company, specializing in Earth and
Space Observation, Space Exploration and Robotics, and the design and manufacture of Commercial
Communications Satellites. Although the company was officially founded in 1969, it has roots as far back
as the 1920s with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). With a 55-year+ record of firsts, 450+
missions and now 3800+ employees,
MDA Space is a major contributor to the rapidly expanding global Space industry. Check out the official MDA
Space
website here
I work at the hub of MDA's Satellite Systems Division which focuses on the design and
manufacture
of communications satellites, and is located on the island of Montreal in Sainte-Anne-De-Bellevue. Although
not
officially the company HQ, this location is the largest and has an immense inter-divisionary role.
I've had the pleasure and privilege of working on a team within the RF and antennas department, where I had
the opportunity to learn and practically apply antenna and microwave engineering theory. I learned
state-of-the-art Antenna and EM modeling CAD software tools such as TicraTools from Ticra, and HFSS from
Ansys Electronics.
With these tools at my disposal, I was able to configure and run simulations that yielded significant
results
among departments and that were of particular interest to our clients directly. I worked full-time during
the Summer 2025 term (from May to August), and am now working part-time throughout the Fall 2025 semester
concurrently
with my studies at McGill. I decided to accept the offer to continue working part-time because of how much I
enjoy
my team and the work atmosphere, and because I'm not quite ready to take a break from the incredible nature
of the work
that MDA has presented me - the projects are truly spectacular!
Founded and directed by Prof. Narges Armanfard, the ISMART Lab researches particular
topics in AI and Machine Learning for various applications including Healthcare and Industrial
Automation.
The
ISMART Lab is associated with McGill University and the MILA-Quebec AI Institute, and is situated at
McGill's
McConnell Engineering Building. Check out the iSMART Lab's website
here.
My work with the ISMART Lab
was on a project in developing AI for Healthcare. This project had called several times upon
my understanding of signal processing, and has required me to become familiar with operating much of
Biopac's hardware, equipment, and software. The project has also required me to assist in preparing
technical
documentation such as an application to McGill's Research Ethics Board and has also had me search
through
academic
literature concerning non-invasive health monitoring and physiological signal recording. Since we lacked a
suitable dataset to train our models with, I was tasked with putting together a data recording setup
expected to
accomodate more than one hundred participants. At the same time, I worked with a team of students to
conduct a preliminary market assessment for the technology, and inquire into its commercialization.
At the end of the day, I have nothing but fond memories with the iSMART Lab, and I'm extremely grateful to
Prof.
Armanfard for the privilege of working on her team!
Situated in Montreal, Canada, McGill University is one of the few english post-secondary institutions in Quebec and is among the highest ranked universities in the country. McGill's Department of Mathematics and Statistics is located in Burnside Hall on McGill's downtown campus, and has an impressive faculty of leading researchers in a variety of fields such as Algebraic Geometry, Applied Mathematics, Differential Geometry, Mathematical Physics, Probability and Statistics and many more!
I assisted in delivering the MATH 133 course during the Summer term of 2024 as a volunteer teaching assistant. This is an introductory course in linear algebra that teaches about vector spaces, matrices, linear transformations, projections onto lines and planes, diagonalization, and many other concepts and their applications. I held in-person office hours twice a week from 1pm to 4pm (often staying for longer), and I also joined the instructor for extra sessions before all midterm and final exams. I emphasized strengthening students' understanding to help them discover the answers to their own questions. Especially as you study math at a deeper level, it often becomes more important to understand why the answer is correct than to arrive at the answer itself. That's the kind of inquisitive spirit that I would instill in my students. This was my first formal experience in helping students, and I absolutely loved it!
Located at 955 Lakeshore Boulevard in Toronto, Ontario, the provincial government redeveloped a section of Ontario Place's parking lots into a new waterfront park and trail known as Trillium Park in 2016. With the opening of Trillium Park, the rest of the Ontario Place grounds remained as a public space for walking and biking, with several events scheduled to take place on-site especially during the Summer. Ontario Place also had two operational marinas for patrons to keep their boats, and the Cinesphere (the world's first IMAX theatre) remained open as well. This was the state of Ontario Place during my first work term. However, much of the park including the Cinesphere and marinas was closed during my second work term, with Trillium Park being the main source of pedestrian traffic.
In my first Summer at Ontario Place, I was part of the GEP (garbage, events and programming)
team.
The
GEP
team was divided into two subgroups of 3 people; one which operated from Sunday to Wednesday and
the
other which
operated from Wednesday to Saturday. I was in the former subgroup. We would work ten hour shifts
from
8:30am to 6:30pm, and both subgroups would work on Wednesdays. Our daily responsibilities were
to
perform
tours of the park to change garbage bags, dispose of litter around the site, and to empty and
clean
our rentable fire pits. Any garbage
we
collected
throughout the day would be taken to our local trash compactor, where we would compact it
ourselves.
In addition to the daily tasks, our manager would
inform us about events that were scheduled to take place on site and give us assignments to help
prepare accordingly.
These extra assignments could be to clean a particular area of the site, to move assets such as
chairs or tables from
one location to another, or to help one of the other teams (other than GEP) with their tasks.
In my second work term at Ontario Place, I had a more flexible position. I was
working
8:30am to 4:30pm from Monday to Friday, and I operated between two teams. One team was
tasked
with
tending to Trillium Park, and the other was tasked with cutting grass throughout the site.
In
concept
I was there to help whichever team needed me most, but I actually spent significantly more
time
with
the Trillium Park team. The main tasks were to redevelop overgrown sections of the park,
remove
invasive plant species, and weed flower beds. Throughout my time at Ontario Place, I learned
to
operate
the push-mower, weed wacker, backpack blower, roto-tiller and even our trash compactor!
Although
I enjoyed
the leisure of being outside and getting a mental break in this Summer position, I decided
after
my second Summer there that it was time to start taking greater steps in my career.