Meet the Team: Steven Cuciti
Meet Steven - engineering powerhouse, aspiring sinophone, and all around lovely chap. Steven is a Senior Engineer at MicroTau, responsible for developing riblet film layout designs and integration processes for the Riblet Modification Package, and led the film installation process on our recent US Air Force C-130J flight tests.
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Steven, and I am a Senior Engineer at MicroTau. I am responsible for developing the riblet film layout designs and integration processes tailored to specific aircraft.
Tell us about your journey at MicroTau? What was your first role, and how did you get to where you are today?
My first role was as a Mechanical Engineering intern in 2020. I gained an understanding of our manufacturing methods and spent time manufacturing riblets and developing manufacturing and material testing processes. Our first opportunity was to then install on Matt Hall Racing’s Zivko Edge 540 Red Bull air race plane, where I developed the first installation procedures for riblet film. Recently, I played a lead role in the design and development of a riblet layout solution on a US Air Force (USAF) carrier aircraft. I now work in a small team that creates our riblet layouts, enabling their efficient integration into various commercial and defence platforms.
Image: Steven measures Zivko Edge 540 race plane ahead of riblet material installation
What do you do in your spare time?
For the past year and a half, I have been learning to speak Mandarin. I'm a far way off fluency, but I have learnt over 500 characters so far!
What's been most exciting to work on lately?
Leading the design and development of riblet film installation packages for multiple upcoming aircraft. Each aircraft type has its specific design challenges to overcome. We have also continuously improved our riblet design and layout capabilities so that MicroTau can provide a more tailored and optimised end-to-end solution. It has been exciting to see the team expand recently to make light work of design development.
Tell us about the cool stuff you get to do as part of your role?
I’ve worked in US Air Force hangars and crawled all over some of their largest aircraft to install our product, and traveled to the Mojave Air and Space Port to test our product on the Boom XB-1 demonstrator.
In the day to day, I’m trying to solve the very complicated problem of wrapping a riblet film over a complex aircraft, understanding the risks and trade-offs between efficient and seamless installation and installation processes and riblet performance. I’m also investigating novel application processes and design processes to increase performance and speed of installation on target aircraft platforms.
Image: Steven (right) with MicroTau and Boom personnel next to the XB-1
What's your crowning achievement at MicroTau?
As part of our DIU project, we developed and installed a riblet product on a US Air Force aircraft. This included developing novel installation and design methods to ensure the riblets were precisely and safely applied to the aircraft within the designated time window. Seeing the design materialise on a real-world operational aircraft was definitely a proud moment.
