Bryn Dixon has always been a builder. Before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2011, Dixon grew up sketching cars, shaping clay models and tearing apart engines in his Detroit neighborhood. Now, as a design lead technician at General Motors, Dixon is not just building; he’s leading innovation in automotive fabrication.

“My dad was a jewelry designer, and my mom was an art teacher. Between them, I was constantly around creative energy,” Dixon says. “I used to enter art competitions, build minibikes and dream about cars. That turned into a career.”

Dixon’s path to GM was not without a few curves. After high school, he joined the GM Tech Academy engineering co-op program, where he first worked on real-world design problems from computer-aided design (CAD) modeling to remote-control car fabrication. That experience lit a spark. After relocating with his parents to South Carolina, he enrolled at USC with no connections, but plenty of passion.

“I started as a civil engineer, but it wasn’t the right fit. Mechanical engineering just made more sense because it matched what I loved,” Dixon says. “The [Molinaroli] College of Engineering and Computing gave me the foundation. It was the machine shop, the CAD lab, the professors -  all of it.”

Dixon points to his pivotal time on USC’s Mini Baja Society of Automobile Engineers team. The project tasked students with building an off-road vehicle from scratch on a shoestring budget. With just $5,000 in funding, the team built a car that outperformed better-funded universities in water trials and durability.

“That project taught me more than any textbook,”  Dixon says. “You had to solve problems fast, manage chaos and still meet deadlines. That’s real engineering.”

After graduating from USC, Dixon landed a role at Eaton working on superchargers, a dream job for a self-described motorsports enthusiast. The role provided hands-on experience, from finite element analysis to teardown labs and materials testing.

“I was doing everything from analyzing broken bearings under microscopes to running equipment. It gave me a full-system view of how parts function, fail and improve,” Dixon says.

The experience gave him a foothold at GM when he joined the company in 2015 as a studio design engineer. For six years, Dixon worked alongside world-renowned clay sculptors and digital designers to bring vehicle concepts to life, bridging art and engineering.

“People don’t realize how much art is in automotive design,” Dixon says. “We use five-axis mills to carve full-size clay models. We simulate sunlight reflections in virtual reality. It’s an art show as much as it is an engineering exercise.”

In his current role as design lead technician, Dixon helps prototype concept vehicles and advanced fabrication projects, many of which never reach the public eye. He has worked on midgates for trucks, hollow carbon fiber structures, and even collaborated with aerospace manufacturers to shape seamless acrylic panels used in vehicle canopies.

“Sometimes I feel like a magician. We build things that look impossible and then make them work,” Dixon says.

Even outside of the spotlight, Dixon finds meaning in pushing the boundaries of design. He helped create a cutting-edge electric bike and an off-road concept vehicle that showcased custom billet suspension and aerospace-grade materials. While the public never saw those models, Dixon says the work shaped how his team thinks.
“Those projects taught us that failure is part of innovation,” Dixon says. “We failed fast, learned fast and built better the next time. That’s what keeps me coming back.”

Now a leader in the shop as a fabrication engineering-design lead technical, Dixon brings a "glass half full" mindset to his team. His advice for young engineers? Stay curious, embrace uncertainty and talk to everyone.

“Some of the most talented people I’ve met were the ones I almost overlooked,” Dixon says. “You don’t know what someone brings to the table until you start a conversation. That openness is what helped me grow in this career.”

He also credits his perspective to life experiences, including managing type 1 diabetes.

“You’ve got to keep pushing. No one’s going to come pick you up; you have to show up for yourself,” Dixon says. “Use the tough stuff to motivate you.”

Looking back, Dixon says he wouldn’t trade the combination of creativity, engineering, and teamwork he found at USC and GM.

“That passion I had as a six-year-old drawing cars is still with me,” Dixon says. “Now I get to bring those dreams to life.”