Good engineering is not just about the best technical answer, but also about finding practical solutions based on the urgency of the problem and the resources available.
Hanuma Yashwanth, our next pathbreaker, develops and scales processes for fuel cells and electrolyser technologies to the point where R&D meets manufacturing, where technology that works on a lab bench has to become reliable, repeatable and scalable under real operating conditions.
Hanuma talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about his work on PCB-based fuel cell technology and wider PCB-based hydrogen technology, including electrolyser-related development, which brings together electrochemistry, materials, mechanical design, manufacturing thinking and process control.
For students, always focus on doing engineering work that creates value, solves real problems and contributes to a cleaner future.
A conversation with Hanuma Yashwanth
Most people think clean energy is mainly about invention.
My journey has taught me something different.
A fuel cell working once in a lab is not enough. A strong test result is not enough. A promising material is not enough.
The real engineering challenge is making technology work again and again, with the same performance, quality and reliability.
That is where my journey has taken me: from mechanical engineering into hydrogen technology, MEA development, PCB-based fuel cells, electrolyser-related systems, process development, validation and scale up.
Another important part of my journey was joining an early-stage clean energy company and growing with it.
That experience taught me that engineering decisions do not happen in isolation. In a startup environment, you also learn how technical priorities, timelines, funding runway, customer needs, resource limits and risk all influence what gets done first.
It helped me understand that
That changed how I think as an engineer.
Hanuma, your background?
I come from a mechanical engineering background, and my interest in engineering started with curiosity.
From a young age, I was always interested in how things work. When I looked at a vehicle, a machine or an engine, I did not just see parts. I used to wonder where the energy came from, how movement happened, why things failed and how they could be improved.
That curiosity became the starting point of my career.
I did not have everything perfectly planned from the beginning. Like many students and early career professionals, I explored, made mistakes, learned from people around me and understood my direction step by step.
What helped me most was discipline, patience, hard work and the willingness to keep learning.
I am grateful for those values because they helped me move from mechanical engineering into clean energy and hydrogen technology.
What did you study?
I completed my B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering in India. Later, I moved to the UK and completed my MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Anglia Ruskin University.
During my master’s, I worked on a project related to hydrogen fuel cells in passenger vehicles. That project became a turning point for me. Before that, I saw engineering mainly through machines, design, calculations and mechanical systems. Through that project, I started seeing engineering differently.
I realised that engineering can help solve larger global challenges such as pollution, clean transport, climate change and sustainable energy. That project first pulled me towards hydrogen fuel cells. Later, through professional work, that interest expanded into wider hydrogen electrochemical systems, including MEA development, PCB-based fuel cells, process development, validation, scale up and electrolyser-related technologies.
That changed the way I looked at my career.
I started seeing engineering not only as a technical profession, but as a way to create useful solutions for society.
Why did you choose this career in hydrogen technology ?
I chose this career because I wanted to work on technology that has both a future and a purpose. The world needs cleaner ways to produce, store and use energy. We need better solutions for transport, industry and power generation without depending too much on fuels that create pollution.
Hydrogen technology interested me because it connects clean hydrogen production and clean power generation. A fuel cell helps convert hydrogen into electricity. An electrolyser works in the opposite direction. It uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
That connection inspired me because it showed how one area of engineering can support a wider clean energy system.
For me, hydrogen technology is exciting because it brings together mechanical engineering, materials, electrochemistry, manufacturing thinking and real world problem solving.
It showed me that engineering can be scientific, practical and meaningful at the same time.
Tell us about your career path
After my academic training, I started my professional journey in the UK through a graduate engineering role in the hydrogen and fuel cell industry. That stage was important because it showed me the difference between classroom learning and real engineering work.
In university, problems are often structured. There is usually a method, a formula and an expected answer. In industry, things are different. Materials behave differently. Machines have variation. Tests do not always give the result you expect. Sometimes a small process change can affect the final performance.
In my early role, I learned through hands-on work. I supported MEA development, testing, process trials, data review and technical problem solving. At the beginning, I found it challenging when results did not behave the way theory suggested. I had to learn that industry does not always give clean answers. Sometimes the data is noisy, sometimes the material behaves differently, and sometimes a process works once but not the second time.
That experience taught me to observe carefully, ask better questions, respect practical data and understand that engineering is not only about knowing the answer.It is about finding the answer through evidence.
My core work has been around MEA engineering, PCB-based fuel cell development, process trials, testing, validation and manufacturing readiness. MEA means Membrane Electrode Assembly. It is one of the most important parts inside a fuel cell or electrolyser because it is where the main electrochemical reaction happens.
In a fuel cell, the MEA helps convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity.
In an electrolyser, the process works in the opposite direction: electricity is used to split water and produce hydrogen and oxygen.
My strongest hands-on experience has been in fuel cell MEA development and PCB-based fuel cell systems. That work also gives me a strong foundation for electrolyser-related systems because many engineering questions are connected: materials, membranes, electrodes, interfaces, process control, testing, durability and repeatability.
A simple way to understand the MEA is to think of it as the heart of the electrochemical system. If the MEA is not performing well, the whole system is affected.
My role is not only about testing components. It is about understanding how materials, interfaces, process conditions and test behaviour affect final performance.
That is where process development becomes important.
How did you get your 1st break?
My 1st break after my masters was joining Bramble Energy which develops PCB-based hydrogen technology
At Bramble Energy, my work has been connected to PCB-based hydrogen technology. Bramble’s approach is technically interesting because it applies printed circuit board design and manufacturing thinking to hydrogen technologies. Instead of looking at fuel cells only through traditional stack hardware, the technology uses PCB-based routes to support scalable, adaptable and manufacturable clean energy systems.
This includes PCB-based fuel cell technology and wider PCB-based hydrogen technology, including electrolyser-related development. For me, this is exciting because it brings together electrochemistry, materials, mechanical design, manufacturing thinking and process control.
The challenge is not only to prove that a concept can work in the lab. The bigger challenge is to make the technology repeatable, reliable, manufacturable and suitable for real world use. That is where my work in MEA development, testing, process trials, validation and scale up becomes relevant. The focus is not just performance once. The focus is controlled and repeatable performance.
One of the most valuable parts of my journey was joining an early-stage clean energy company and growing with it. That experience taught me things that are difficult to learn only from textbooks. In a larger company, roles can be more defined. In an early-stage company, you often see how different parts of the business connect: R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, testing, quality, customer requirements, funding timelines and commercial priorities.
It helped me understand that every technical decision has a wider context. Sometimes the question is not only, “What is the best technical solution?”
The question is also:
What is the fastest way to reduce risk?
What needs to be validated first?
What will help the next milestone?
What can we do with the resources we have?
What decision protects quality without slowing progress too much?
What matters most at this stage of the company?
That experience helped me mature as an engineer.
I learned that early-stage engineering needs both technical depth and business awareness. You need to care about performance, but also about repeatability, cost, time, risk and whether the solution can realistically move forward.
It also helped me understand runway and prioritisation in a practical way. When resources and time are limited, teams have to be very clear about what matters most.
That environment taught me ownership. It taught me to move with urgency, but not carelessly. It taught me to think beyond my own task and understand how my work supports the bigger direction of the company.
For me, that was one of the most important learning experiences of working in clean energy.
I learnt that one needs to cross the bridge between R&D and scale up One of the most important lessons I have learned is that R&D and scale up need different types of thinking. In R&D, one strong result can show that an idea has potential. In process development, we need to understand why that result happened.
In scale up, we need to know whether the result can be repeated with quality, reliability and control.
A simple example is making one perfect cup of coffee at home.
That is a good result.
But if you need to make the same coffee for 500 customers every day, you need a controlled process. You need to manage the recipe, water temperature, brewing time, equipment condition, cleaning method and quality checks.
Engineering is similar.
One good MEA or one strong test result is valuable, but the bigger question is whether we can repeat that result consistently.
Can we reduce variation?
Can we control the process?
Can we understand the failure modes?
Can we validate the method?
Can we move from lab trials towards a scalable process?
That is the bridge I enjoy working in.
It is where ideas become reliable engineering.
What are some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?
One of the biggest challenges was moving from academic learning to real industrial problem solving. In academic work, problems are often clean and structured. In industry, problems are rarely that simple.
A test may fail. A material may behave differently from expectation. A process may work once but not repeat. A result may look good at first but create another issue later.
At first, failure can feel disappointing. But over time, I learned that failure is also data. Every failed test gives a clue. It tells us what changed, what needs to be controlled and what we should investigate next.
That mindset helped me grow as an engineer. It also shaped my view of leadership. Leadership in engineering is not only about managing people. It is about taking ownership, staying calm when the answer is not obvious, using evidence instead of assumptions and helping the team move from confusion to a clear next step.
Any memorable project?
One memorable project for me was contributing to development and optimisation work behind high performance PCB-based fuel cell technology, including Bramble Energy’s publicly announced PCBFC™ milestone of 8.76 kW/L volumetric power density.
What made this project meaningful was not just the headline number. It was the engineering learning behind it. High power density in a fuel cell is not achieved by one change alone. It depends on how materials, MEA behaviour, interfaces, flow field design, operating conditions and process consistency work together. My contribution was connected to the kind of engineering work I enjoy most: MEA development, testing, process trials, data review, troubleshooting and optimisation.
When performance did not meet expectations, we had to understand why. We reviewed test data, compared samples, looked at materials and process conditions, and used controlled changes to guide the next step.
That process taught me a lot. A strong result is important, but understanding how to repeat and control that result is even more important. For me, that is the real value of process development.
A good result once is useful.
A repeatable result is engineering.
That lesson has stayed with me.
What are the Skills that matter in this field?
This field needs technical knowledge, but technical knowledge alone is not enough. You need mechanical engineering fundamentals, electrochemical system understanding, MEA knowledge, testing, validation, materials awareness, process development, data analysis and quality thinking.
But working in an early-stage clean energy company also taught me that engineers need business awareness. You need to understand why priorities change. You need to understand why speed matters. You need to understand why a technically perfect solution may not always be the right solution if it cannot be repeated, scaled, funded or delivered on time.
You need to be able to ask:
What is the actual problem?
What does the data show?
What is the risk?
What needs to be controlled?
Can this be repeated?
What needs to be prioritised now?
How does this decision affect the next stage?
How do we explain this clearly to others?
That is where technical work, process thinking and leadership thinking come together. For me, leadership is not only about a title. It is about bringing clarity, taking responsibility and helping work move forward in a structured way.
What do you enjoy about the work?
I enjoy this field because it connects deep technical work with real world purpose. Some days are focused on experiments. Some days are focused on data. Some days are about process variation, failure investigation or discussing the next technical step with the team.
The work keeps you humble because you never stop learning. It also keeps you motivated because the bigger purpose is clear. Clean energy technology can help the world, but only if it becomes reliable, scalable and practical. Being part of that journey is what motivates me.
How does your work benefit society?
My daily work may involve MEAs, materials, process trials, tests, data and technical reports. But the bigger purpose is much larger. Hydrogen technologies, including fuel cells and electrolysers, can support cleaner energy systems across transport, industry, backup power, off-grid applications and future energy infrastructure.
What is your advice to students?
For students and early career professionals, I would say this:
You do not need to know your entire future today.
Do not underestimate small engineering work. You may work on one part, one process, one dataset or one test method. But that small contribution can become part of a much larger solution. That is one of the most meaningful parts of engineering.
Start with curiosity. Ask questions. Build your basics. Do small projects. Learn how to explain your ideas clearly.
If you want to work in advanced engineering, learn to respect both theory and evidence.
Theory helps you understand what should happen.
Evidence tells you what is actually happening.
Real engineering begins when you learn to connect both.
Do not be afraid of failure. In engineering, failure is often the point where real learning begins.
Most importantly, choose consistency over shortcuts.
Your background does not limit your future. Your starting point does not decide your ending point.
With discipline, learning, courage and the right attitude, you can grow step by step.
The world needs curious people, practical problem solvers and people who are willing to keep learning.
Future plans?
My goal is to continue growing in clean energy engineering, especially across MEA development, fuel cells, electrolyser-related technologies, process development, validation and scale up.
I want to keep contributing to the space between R&D and manufacturing readiness because I believe that is where some of the most important engineering challenges exist.
A technology can look promising in the lab, but to make real impact, it has to become reliable, repeatable and scalable.
That is the journey I want to contribute to.
For me, success is not only about having a title.
It is about doing engineering work that creates value, solves real problems and contributes to a cleaner future.
Closing message
When I look back, my journey was not perfect or straight.
It was built through curiosity, discipline, mistakes, learning and small consistent steps.
My message to students and early career professionals is simple.
Do not wait until you feel completely ready.
Start with what you have.
There will be moments when you feel confused. There will be moments when things do not work out. There will be moments when you compare yourself with others and feel behind.
But do not give up on your dreams.
One line I remind myself of is:
“Your dream does not become impossible because the road is difficult. It becomes stronger when you keep walking.”
Engineering is not only about machines, equations or technology. It is about solving real problems and creating something useful for people and society.
I feel grateful that my journey brought me into clean energy, and I am excited about the future because students and early career professionals across the world will play an important role in building a cleaner, smarter and better future.
Keep learning. Keep trying. Keep believing.
That is where real impact begins.