Gary Hill Email & Phone Number

San Fernando Valley, California, United States

Teaching robots to be skilled craftsmen.At Machina Labs we use robots to perform DSIF (dual-sided incremental forming), turning metal sheets into complex parts. Beyond just forming parts, robots can act like a craftsman and pick up different tools to cut, grind, polish, weld, etc. Process Devs at Machina Labs are responsible for developing, refining, and teaching to our robots these processes so that they can apply them in dynamic, extremely adaptable sheet part manufacturing.

Valencia, Ca.

Primary role: lead engineer and project manager for hydrogen process monitoring systems.- Design gas conditioning systems using mechanical engineering principals and skill set. Examples of skills applied:-- Gas conditioning principals (pressure, temperature, physical state)-- Mechanical design layout (Solidworks CAD, P&ID)-- Mechanical build/assembly (Swagelok fittings, tubing, instruments to measure gas conditions, flow controls)-- Hazardous area classification requirements (up to and including Div. 1 Class 1 areas)-- User interface design (system user-control schemes)-- Documentation (illustrations, manuals, quick start guides, certifications)-- Interface with third party manufacturers to build systems according to designs-- Manage project timeline, resources, etc.-- Provide on-site (e.g. oil refinery) system commissioning and trainingCompleted Systems:- Complete first system within 3 months of hire (no previous experience with gas conditioning systems)- Complete two additional, high-value systems ($160k+) in 6 monthsOther roles:Project Management Assistance- Created Flow charts, Gantt charts, Decision trees, Process charts, and Logic charts to illustrate and document project planning for a new company product-- Gantt chart accurately predicted events 6+ months out, within 2 weeks- Continued sensor research and development- Manufacturing process development- Python programming

Malibu, California

HRL is a privately held research and development company. I work within the Sensor and Materials Lab creating new materials.- Developed a novel thermal barrier material (Inventor on patent #10,040,723)- Designed apparatuses and experiments; executing development with minimal supervision- Planned, assembled, and managed a new high temperature furnace lab with adaptable flow-through gas system- Experience in lab environments such as chemistry, hazardous, mechanical testing, characterization, and cleanroom- Communicated effectively with team members and support staff (machine shop, facilities, purchasing, contracts, etc.)

Irvine, California

QuantumSphere leverages a patented, robust, nano-materials manufacturing process to create nano-materials useful in many applications. Using nano materials to enhance air cathode catalysis, QSI is preparing a line of zinc-air battery products to serve primary battery markets with cheap, safe, high energy density batteries.Metal-air battery technologies require research and development knowledge over a broad swath of mechanical and chemical areas: acid-base chemistry, electrochemistry, polymers, mechanical design, sealing techniques, netting/web manufacturing ("roll-to-roll"), coating processes, electrochemical plating processes, heat treatment, environmental testing, and more..Being a startup company I tend to wear as many hats as possible for any given project.My primary role at the company is to rethink, organize, and make judgement calls defining the experimental testing processes used to determine a best course-of-action in product development, all in the most efficient and timely manner possible. It is important to integrate a wide range of detailed, experimental situational knowledge with broad scientific intuition.Secondary roles include interviewing, training, and management of interns; design and by-hand manufacturing of intermediate/lab prototype batteries for custom applications/field testing by prospective customers or investment interests.

Irvine, Ca.

Performed research in the Chemistry department under Professor Matt Law with a small team of graduate and undergraduate researchers developing photovoltaic (solar) cells. My work was on the initial stages of materials synthesis and characterization for unique inorganic oxide materials useful in a new kind of solar cell.The research was extremely engaging and challenging, members of the Law lab are highly competitive and work to meet high standards. I learned a great deal of hands-on chemistry and materials characterization (SEM, XRD, etc.) which greatly enhanced my basic chemistry/materials background.The research project continues and is expected to thoroughly explore many syntheses before proceeding through to actual devices within the next decade. The final result will be a novel solar device architecture which satisfies a critical demand in both developed and developing parts of the world.

Research with the UCI BioMEMS group to develop a far-field electrospinning apparatus for use in production of nanofibers. Exploration shifted the focus to characterizing the pyrolyzability of various polymers spun with near-field electrospinning.I undertook the design, building, and initial calibration testing of the electrospinning apparatus with minimal oversight. The apparatus was successful and able to maintain a stable Taylor cone for electrospinning or electrospraying in a variety of voltage, humidity and polymer conditions for several hours.The project was passed on to a graduate student who made slight modifications to make the apparatus "near-field" (small needle-substrate distances matched by lower voltages) and later published on those results, unfortunately no credit was given to the initial project on those publications.

Read and distilled long, complicated research funding opportunity announcements into short summaries for professors and graduate students on campus to quickly and easily browse through.