Thomas Warren

When your job is building robots that move silicon wafers just microns at a time, there’s no room for error — and no shortage of engineering challenges.

For mechanical engineering major Thomas Warren, that’s exactly what made his back-to-back summer at Brooks Automation so exciting.

“It definitely put my skills to the test,” says Warren, who worked in robotics design and production engineering, testing and verification at the Chelmsford-based company. His main task was developing a key part for robots that move fragile silicon wafers, helping the machines work faster and more reliably.

The work was challenging, but Warren felt prepared thanks to courses he’d taken in materials science, applied strengths and heat transfer.

“It supported what they’re teaching us in school. Understanding the fundamentals of those classes really helped,” says Warren, an Honors College student from Westford who landed the internships through UMass Lowell’s Professional Cooperative Education (co-op) program.

Engineering runs in Warren’s family. His father, mechanical engineering alum Jeffrey Warren ’94, is a principal systems engineer at Rapiscan, a Billerica-based security screening technology company where Warren interned following his freshman year. His father also serves on the Francis College of Engineering’s Industrial Advisory Board. 

“He definitely steered me toward UMass Lowell, and once I saw it for myself, it clicked with me,” Warren says.

A major draw was , the student club that is the university’s chapter of SAE International (formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers). Warren joined as a first-year student and immediately “got my hands dirty doing projects.” 

As a senior, he is serving as president of the club, which will take its open-wheel, Formula-style race car back to the Formula SAE competition in Michigan in the spring.

“I love cars,” says Warren, who as a high school student restored a 1999 Jeep that he still drives. “If I don’t do something in the robotics field, I would like to do something in the automotive industry.”

Warren plans to continue at UML through the Bachelor’s-to-Master’s Program and would “gladly accept” an opportunity to join Brooks Automation full time after graduation. 

“I’ve grown a lot as an engineer through my internships and River Hawk Racing,” he says. “I’ve been able to apply what I’ve learned in classes to real life.”