- Worked with advisor Professor Enoch Yeung in the Biological Control & Computing Laboratory at UCSB- Working on elucidating how gyrase behavior responds to stress in E. coli cells- Currently developing next-generation techniques for high fidelity interrogation of gyrase and cleavage activity

- Won the Best Innovation in Mechanical Engineering Award ($1500 prize) for a Senior Capstone Design in Mechanical Engineering- Led a team at UCSB to develop ARES, the Advanced Regolith Excavation System. ARES is a next-generation excavation module for the Venturi Astrolab FLEX rover that will enable mass harvesting of the lunar regolith for in-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU).- Independently reached out to Venturi Astrolab and negotiated funding for the project- Collaborated with Venturi Astrolab to develop the scope of the project and independently interviewed potential candidates for the team- Set project milestones and worked with team members to assign roles that emphasize their strengths- Developed a team meeting and work schedule to ensure timeliness of deliverables and continuous progress- Managed all team budgeting, expenditures, and purchasing throughout the course of the project- Independently performed analysis for and designed a transmission that would enable the system to overcome soil forces during excavation- Sourced excavator transmission components including: a roller chain, sprockets, a motor, shafts, couplers, and bearings- Cooperated with team members to model the completed transmission into CAD- Participated in manufacturing integral structural components such as the structural arms, arm covers, and components of the structural frame. Assisted in manufacturing the transmission.- Developed a preliminary design for an electrical system and sourced the necessary components. Collaborated with faculty and team members to optimize and implement a final design of the electrical system.- Participated as one of the primary technical writers and presenters for the team. Received high praise from capstone instructors for the quality of my presentations and speech.- Recorded and edited a video showcasing our team's design. The completed video was nominated as the second best during the final design exposition.

- Worked with Professor Samantha Daly, Dr. Bhavana Swaminathan, and Caelin Muir in the Daly Group at UCSB- Researched the characterization of damage mechanisms in Ceramic Matrix Composites, high temperature structures for aerospace and space applications.- Developed a novel edge detection algorithm using Python for automated analysis and visualization of sub-micron sized cracks- Assisted in the development of algorithms to enable data visualization

- Worked at aerospace startup Venturi Astrolab as a Mechanical Engineering & Business intern in Hawthorne, CA- Designed and developed a payload adapter plate to easily facilitate interfacing of assorted modules to the Astrolab FLEX rover. To date, the adapter plate has been used on every under-slung payload module demoed by Astrolab and is featured both on their website and in their Payload Users Guide.- Designed and developed a structural suspension member currently in use on the Astrolab FLEX rover- Designed, sourced components for, and manufactured a demonstration payload crate for Astrolab that is featured in media on their website and on their YouTube.- Developed GD&T for drawings of every designed component prior to manufacturing- Assisted in the assembly of rover wheel motor housings- Gained exposure to high-level day to day business management tasks such as building development and finance

- Worked in the Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, a senior capstone project at UCSB endeavoring to develop a cryogenic liquid bipropellant rocket that will compete in the FAR Mars competition- Assisted in the development of a cryogenic feed system to facilitate transportation of liquid cryogen from a containment dewar to the engine for ignition- Performed analysis of system to determine risk of malfunction due to phenomena such as water hammer and developed strategies for mitigation- Oversaw the development of critical Safety Operating Procedures (SOP) for testing, such as a chill down procedure to cool the system prior to fire

- Worked at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA as part of their Intelligent Systems Division - Researched the development of a machine learning model for unmanned navigation of non-urban terrain- Generated training datasets for use in training the objective machine learning models. The training datasets developed included labeled images for both bounding box classification, as well as semantic segmentation classification.- Implemented and trained a machine learning model utilizing the YOLOv3 architecture in PyTorch to recognize terrain of interest using a bounding box classification method- Implemented and trained a machine learning model utilizing Google's DeepLab V3 architecture in TensorFlow to recognize terrain of interest using a semantic segmentation classification method- As a secondary project, collaborated in the design and simulation of a tensegrity kite

- Worked at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA as part of their Intelligent Systems Division - Assisted in the development of soft-robotic structures known as tensegrities which are composed of elements of pure compression and pure tension and feature low mass and extremely high robustness- Developed methods of rapidly prototyping six-rod tensegrity structures for experimentation with various configurations- Collaborated in developing novel configurations that advance the robust nature of a six-rod tensegrity robot while mitigating potential failure modes- Helped to design a simulation tool in JavaScript that could be used to develop a locomotion pattern for a six-rod tensegrity robot structure- Implemented a locomotion pattern that was discovered for a six-rod structure in simulation onto a physical structure using Pololu servos and a micro controller with a stack-based programming language - Developed potential prototypes of tensegrity drones and assisted a UC Berkeley PhD student by manufacturing a potential model for a tensegrity spine- Investigated the potential for scalability of a six-rod tensegrity structure for potential terrestrial and extra-terrestrial applications- Published a lead author publication on my research