60-Day Innovation Sprint: Rapid Integration of Gas Emissions Technology
Define
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After acquiring Scientific Aviation, ChampionX faced a dual challenge:
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Protect critical market share in emissions and water management.
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Meet aggressive methane regulations with field-ready solutions.
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Scientific Aviation’s airborne and drone-based methane detection systems were advanced but not ruggedized for harsh, ground-level deployment.
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Normally, adapting these technologies would take 6–18 months, but leadership demanded solutions in 60 days under intense pressure from competitors, customers, and regulators.
Goal
As an intern on a cross-functional engineering team, I was tasked with supporting rapid exploration of technical pathways for three urgent domains:
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Methane leak detection
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Gas remediation
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Produced water optimization
Success meant delivering actionable, development-ready concepts fast enough for executive review and decision-making.
Approach
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To meet a 60-day deadline, I applied the Innovation Engineering framework, a systems-engineering approach for rapid product development under high uncertainty. I played a central role in translating ambitious ideas into engineering-grounded concepts through structured analysis, strategy planning, and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
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Front-end technical exploration: I decomposed methane detection, gas remediation, and water optimization challenges into functional requirements, environmental constraints, and performance tradeoffs turning abstract “what if” ideas into actionable innovative pathways.
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Rapid conceptual iteration: Using a “fail-fast, fail-cheap” mindset, I generated multiple solution approaches, evaluated their feasibility with the team, and refined concepts to survive tight 24-hour decision cycles. This required balancing creativity with practical engineering constraints and systems thinking.
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By the end of the sprint, I developed seven distinct concepts, four of which were advanced by the technical team for further development. These ideas reimagined sensors, chemical processes, and digital tools into robust, field-ready solutions, compressing a process that normally takes 6–18 months into just 60 days.
Methane Leak Detection (EmissionsIQ)
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Developed concepts for adapting aircraft-grade spectrometer sensors to ground deployment
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Considered constraints such as vibration tolerance, thermal cycling, and dust ingress
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Outlined integration pathways into a truck-mounted platform with edge-computing telemetry
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Proposed passive site scanning during routine servicing, eliminating need for new infrastructure
Gas Remediation (Sealing Agent)
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Conceived design approach for injectable sealant curing under full production flow
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Researched material chemistries across industries to identify promising candidates
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Defined system-level requirements for simulating high-pressure leak environments
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Shaped injector delivery concepts to guide feasibility assessments
Produced Water Optimization (Digital Water Advisor + Simplicity)
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Created system-level concepts for sensor fusion to clean and standardize noisy SWD data
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Translated raw signals into actionable KPIs for operational decision-making
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Developed ideas for floating water pods and inline sensor housings for modular deployment
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Integrated concepts into a unified AI dashboard for predictive maintenance and uptime optimization
Impact
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Advanced 4 of 7 concepts to development stage.
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Validated $55M+ projected revenue potential across platforms.
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Delivered hardware, chemical, and AI solutions under extreme time pressure.
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Established an internal innovation framework reducing risk 30–80% and compressing time-to-market up to 6x.
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Executive VP approval: After 60 days, leadership greenlit multiple concepts for development—a direct validation of the team’s and my contributions.
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Earned a Blue Belt Certification in Innovation
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Engineering, an innovative systems engineering development course utilized by Fortune 500 companies
Key Takeaways
Translated complex, uncertain challenges into structured engineering solutions. Leveraged mechanical reasoning, systems thinking, and disciplined creativity to deliver innovative, high-impact concepts at speed. Compressed months of development into weeks, advancing ideas into viable designs under extreme pressure.