Rene Frank Gahitira Email & Phone Number

Boston, Ma, Us

Bedford, Massachusetts, United States

*Designed, tested, and delivered a production line PCB to address a problem that came up on the assembly line. This solution was very urgent and needed to resume preparing prototype units on a Roomba project.*Designed, tested, and debugged a pre-production PCB used on a next-gen robot to enable partial navigation while a vision-based solution was yet to be available. As co-owner of the board, I was responsible for the caster wheel detection circuit and all the layout work including that of the boundary wire detection circuit.*Both hosted and participated in design reviews across multiple programs to improve the designs and learn from senior EEs. *Designed, assembled, calibrated, and tested roadkills (deconstructed robot platforms on a portable surface). These units significantly increased productivity by providing senior engineers (mostly for EE and SW) with efficient bring-up platforms tailored to their work needs.*Owned the failure analysis process for all high-priority safety customer-returned units. This work includes a detailed analysis of each unit’s condition and failure mode, further testing and debugging when possible, and providing suggestions for improvements to our future designs. In escalated cases, I visited customers’ homes to conduct a full product and environment analysis alongside other involved parties, legal personnel, and police officers.*Received the R&D Excellence Award for leading EMC improvement efforts on a next-gen product. This work focused on improving the EMI performance of the robot as well as reducing its ESD susceptibility. Through testing, I discovered 5 major points of failure and worked towards delivering fast and cost-effective solutions to address them.*Led all EMI testing and investigations efforts for all iRobot’s 2024 and 2025 products to ensure both FCC and CISPR regulations compliance. My work to front-load testing for all programs significantly reduced previously common last-minute efforts to reach compliance.

Notre Dame, Indiana, United States

Designed, tested, and built a two-sensor (FS3000 and BME280) based prototype product that detects lint accumulation in a dryer’s vent pipe. Built around the ESP32, this system alerts the user via text in case of lint build-up to prevent dryer vent fires.

Notre Dame, Indiana, United States

Worked in cleanroom to place 5000 transistors on silicon wafers through deposition. This challenge enabled me to explore a different side of EE with no previous background and taught me to excel in new/unfamiliar environments.

Bedford, Massachusetts, United States

*Designed, tested, and delivered a PCB that assesses proper wheel assembly for a Roomba product. This solution enabled testing right after each wheel was assembled and eliminated failures that were being caught once robots were fully assembled.*Designed the test for a pad detection PCB used in a 2-in-1 Roomba and extensively tested & collected data used to make decisions that led to significant performance improvements.

Kigali, Rwanda

Assisted the program’s cohort 8 in collecting needed documents, writing required essays, preparing for interviews for college applications. All 27 members of cohort 8 secured full college scholarships in both the US and Europe

Kigali, Rwanda

Went over 2000+ applications, administered and supervised application exams, and aided the admissions team throughout the 2018 application process. I was blessed to be part of the group that welcomed the 28 admitted scholars into the program's cohort 8 and served as a mentor to one of them throughout their journey to college

Bachelor'S Degree, Electrical Engineering, 3.370

Activities and Societies: Fighting Irish Scholar, African Students Association, Galvin Scholar

Pre-College Program, Leadership And Service

Learned English, Philosophy, Sociology, Mathematics, and Economics as part of my leadership training while preparing for college.

High School Diploma, Mathematics, Physics, Geography, And Entrepreneurship, 73/73 (Gpa Equivalent: 4.00)

Activities and Societies: Served on the Student Government Board for 2 years and was President of Environment club.