Origin Materials developed a PET bottle cap as an alternative to HDPE/PP bottle caps in an effort to create a more circularly recyclable PET economy. The Team was tasked with (1) assessing consumer perception of the PET bottle caps to inform marketing strategies when they are brought to market and (2) researching existing PET recycling processes in Southern California to identify potential process changes after adoption.I was Team Lead in the fall, where we defined the problem, conducted a rigorous literature review (PET's circular recyclability, intrinsic viscosity, demographics of consumers who frequently use single-use-bottles, etc), contacted 27 facilities to interview or tour, toured 3 facilities, created a process-flow diagram of the PET recycling process, and made a report summarizing our findings. In the spring, I procured a PET bale (compressed plastic block for recycling purposes) for the Team to conduct a manual bale sort to determine HDPE contamination in the PET recycling stream. Over the course of 6 weeks, the Team sorted 400+ pounds of plastic bottles into the following categories: bottle with cap, bottle with cap and tamper-evident band, bottle with just tamper-evident band, bottle with no cap, and contaminants. From our analysis, we determined that we sorted 2 grade B bales (as defined by the PRCC) and that roughly 3.5% of the bale is composed of HDPE/PP from caps that was not previously accounted for with existing metrics.

For both the Class of 2026 and 2027, I worked under HMC Residential and Campus Life deans to plan and execute their four-day New Student Orientation (NSO): managed a budget of $114,000, facilitated informative programming for incoming students to better understand academics and traditions at HMC, balanced peer connection opportunities with programming, managed a team of 36 student leaders who were each responsible for a different Orientation event. A post-Orientation survey was given to the incoming classes to collect success metrics, that I then presented to the HMC Board of Trustees.For both the Class of 2025 and 2026, I also planned and executed the Sophomore Retreat, which is a two-day event for undergraduate sophomores to gain career advice and future college work guidance. Typically, sophomores are looking for internships or resume advice at this time. Managed an $18,000 budget, coordinated with both the HMC Office of Career Services and HMC Office of Health and Wellness for programming, facilitated new peer connections.

Instruct students how to use various machines in the metal shop (mill, lathe, heat treating, sandblasting, etc) and woodshop (bandsaw, belt sanders, routing table, etc). Promote a healthy and safe work environment for students across the 5Cs to use.

Voice for the engineering student body. Help the engineering department at Harvey Mudd College serve its engineering students while also reaching out to prospective engineering majors. Brainstorm community engagement and welcoming opportunities.

Used ROS on Ubuntu 16.04 to control Sawyer, a seven-degree collaborative robot, to analyze human-robot interactions with the goal to develop more intuitive and effective human-robot teams.

Guide students through the engineering design process while working on engineering projects. Focus on organizational tools such as morphological charts, best of class charts, pairwise comparison charts. Emphasis on team-building skills to facilitate psychological safety in a productive environment.

Instruct students how to use a wide array of tools in a safe manner such as 3D printing, laser cutting, welding, spray painting, embroidering, sewing, and more. Maintain a safe work environment for students across the 5Cs to be creative and work on passion projects.

The Silvus Technologies clinic project aimed to use machine learning with geolocation-based signal processing to locate the position of a transmitting RF source. The final deliverable was a Python neural network, trained on simulated data, to geolocate RF sources in environments with varied terrain with an accuracy of 10 meters. The neural network was validated using emulated data collected on a Silvus SC4400 Radio.When I joined the Team in the spring, I engineered a test setup to validate our simulated results with the desired hardware. The goal was to simulate a drone receiving an RF signal from the ground, so I determined and procured the following materials: 30-foot flagpole, custom 3D-printed SC4400 flagpole mount, and other measurement instruments. Then, I facilitated the data collection process by defining a procedure and test conditions, while managing my teammates' success.