Ben Jeffery Email & Phone Number

Richardson, Texas, United States

- Organizes and leads a group of ~250 active members in all engineering and scientific disciplines, including project management, finance, business, and marketing.- Manages ten unique interdisciplinary projects, as well as organizing social and professional development events.- Projects include Rocketry, Aviation, Aerial Robotics, and Aerospace Research.- Directs UT Dallas teams in three international competitions: Spaceport America (Rocketry), Design/Build/Fly (Aviation), and NASA Lunabotics (Aerial Robotics).- Leads with a focus on professional and technical development, while encouraging a collaborative mindset amongst different specialties and fields.- Works on creating the first ever aerospace classes at UTD through this organization.

Richardson, Texas, United States

- Managed a group of 15 engineering students through the design, manufacture, and testing of aircraft structure, landing gear, and payloads.- Used SolidWorks to simulate performance and optimize design, and machine shop tools for fabrication.- Spearheaded the writing of a 60-page technical report (placing 1st in Texas), integrating knowledge from entire design.- Organized workshops to teach laser-cutter and other machine usage to less-experienced team members.- Achieved UT Dallas’s best ever fly-off results, placing 1st worldwide among universities without an aerospace program.

Richardson, Texas, United States

- Worked with a team to design, fabricate, and test airfoils for an RC plane for use at the 2023 AIAA Design/Build/Fly Competition.- Researched various airfoil properties in order to select the optimum wing shape.- Used a CNC foam cutter to manufacture wings.- Designed a stand for the aircraft and worked with the whole team to write a detailed technical report.

Richardson, Texas, United States

- Researches soft robotics and programmable materials, studying the fusion of materials science, kinematics, and control.- Fabricates microfluidic nanochannels in soft materials, with applications in biomedicine, space exploration, etc.- Investigates novel integration of magnetic liquid metals into soft robots, allowing for untethered control and automation.- Incoming for the 2024-2025 academic year - check us out at https://labs.utdallas.edu/ni/

Richardson, Texas, United States

- Leads two 90-minute sessions per week to help 16 students through CHEM 1311 (General Chemistry I).- Prepares problem-set packets and facilitates student-to-student interaction to foster a stimulating learning atmosphere.- Selected from a very competitive applicant pool (~10% acceptance rate from applicants with an A- or above in the class).

Richardson, Texas, United States

- Helped students solve problems in weekly problem sections to reinforce concepts covered during lectures.- Worked with graduate teaching assistants to ensure that students maximized their conceptual understanding.- Met weekly with the class professor to further discuss teaching strategies to help the students improve.- Took up this post as a first-year student; this class is normally taken by sophomores.

Dallas, Texas

- Developed package-fitting algorithms and built an interactive, customer-facing Python tool to visualize optimal box packing solutions.- Identified kinematic design flaws in end-of-arm tooling gearbox mounting and redesigned the system using SolidWorks.- Designed and implemented a bearing system for an articulating guiderail, successfully eliminating torsional fatigue.- Integrated fatigue analysis and testing, DFM & DFA techniques, kinematic analysis, and GD&T into all system designs.

Richardson, Texas, United States

- Conducted research into materials manufacturing, focusing on applications in vapor generation and oil recovery.- Learned advanced techniques used to fabricate energy harvesting devices, and assisted with the manufacturing process.- Used Microsoft Excel to analyze experimental data and visualize mechanical properties of newly-fabricated materials.- Met regularly with a graduate advisor to discuss progress and make future plans.