His passion for technology and engineering lead him to create a robotic hand exoskeleton.
The 21-year-old former mechatronic engineering student has been rewarded for his efforts by being named as a finalist in the 24th annual WAITTA Incite Awards.
"When it came to choosing a thesis project I wanted to recreate what had originally inspired me to be an engineer in the first place by recreating an exoskeleton like I had seen in Iron Man," Mr Phan said.
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READ NOW"The idea just evolved from there."
The exoskeleton is a robotic medical device 3D printed to fit the size of anyone's hand.
Mr Phan said the main use for the exoskeleton was rehabilitating patients suffering from a hand disability.
"It aims to give patients back their independence by either training them or by proving assistive movement in everyday tasks," he said.
"However, with continued development the potential applications for the exoskeleton can extend to military applications, performance enhancing and even augmented reality applications."
"I truly hope that in the future this project helps to improve the quality of life of those suffering from hand disabilities."
Mr Pham said it took copious amounts of coffee and several sleepless nights to finish his project in time.
He even spent his 21st birthday in a hospital bed working tirelessly to submit the project.
Winners will be announced on Friday, June 19.