resume

Master of Science in Robotics

• GPA: 3.94/4.00
• Advisor: Dr. David Wettergreen

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

• GPA: 3.98/4.00, Summa Cum Laude
• Minor in Robotics
• Honors Program Scholar
• President of NURobotics & ASME

Graduate Intern

• Led end-to-end development of Mars Sample Return PLANAR testbed by overseeing design, analysis, fabrication, assembly, wiring, and operation of 160-lb, 250+ component gantry to evaluate lateral footpad interactions with 5 tons of simulant.
• Operated full-scale footpad impact testing by creating software tools, managing technicians, and administering impact tests.

Spacecraft Mechanical Engineering Co-op

• Coded algorithm to procedurally generate 3D rock field .stl files, heightening landing simulation accuracy and informing designers on footpad reactions with rough terrain; optimize to produce 1,250 meshes/min for monte carlo method.
• Composed parameterized physics model of lander testbed to convert desired impact energies and velocities into pre-drop configurations, matching physically achieved results with < 3% error.
• Created app to evaluate soil compaction across 8 foot landing zone and plot pressure-depth curves & relative density heatmaps.

R&D Mechanical Engineering Co-op

• Designed and prototyped 5-axis universal manipulation robot for picking & transferring highly varied inventory consisting of thousands of grocery items ranging in profile, hardness, texture, mass, & volume.
• Modeled 350+ part assembly using principles of DFM, DFA, static simulation, tolerance stack-up, & kinematic constraints.
• Drafted 25 drawings to ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards for manufacturing via CNC machining, turning, & sheet metal bending.

Graduate Research Assistant, Planetary Robotics Lab

• Zoë2 Rover
  • Architect rover software stack, implementing CANopen for low-level motor and encoder communication, ROS2 Control for active kinematic control of implicit-steering drivetrain, and Gazebo for physics simulation.
• Moonranger Rover
  • Conduct 80+ discrete-element-modeling (DEM) simulations of micro-rover driving on 3.5 million terrain particles to evaluate drawbar-pull in lunar and earth gravity. Validate results using physical slip testing on gantry test rig.

Undergraduate Researcher, RIVeR Lab

• PROSPECT — Precision Robot Spectroscopy Exploration and Characterization Tool
  • Implemented surface normalization algorithm for 12-DoF arm to generate hi-fi spectral spatial maps of complex objects.
• BOOST — Battery-Optimized Onsite Swapping Technology
  • Led team of 10 to develop multi-agent battery-swapping architecture to continuously sustain fleet of field robots.
  • Created iterative physics solver to conduct 10k+ rigid-body docking simulations, characterize misalignment compensation, and generate optimal bumper splines, resulting in 360% increase in starting docking poses validated via overhead imaging.
• Department of Energy E-ROBOT Retrofit Challenge
  • Devised robot to navigate crawlspaces and seal uninsulated surfaces, winning $200,000 from the U.S. D.O.E. as 1 of 10 National Finalists pioneering minimally invasive & low-cost robotic retrofitting solutions to reduce building emissions.
  • Developed quad-flipper mobility platform to traverse above sparse ceiling joists by unfolding and increasing span by 87%.
  • Engineered coaxial tread and detachable flipper assemblies while minimizing weight, part count, & disassembly procedure.
• NASA Moon to Mars Ice & Prospecting Challenge
  • Directed design & manufacturing of two robotic solutions to drill, heat, extract, & purify simulated Martian ice deposits, earning 2nd-Place Nationally, Best Technical Paper, and doubling all previous water collection record.
  • Coordinated mechanical team of 15 to develop 825-component & 1,638-component assemblies within 60kg mass, 150N drill force, 1m x 1m x 2m package, and $10,000 stipend awarded by NASA as two-time National Finalists.
  • Composed 1st-Place technical report featuring schematics, contingencies, integration plans, & spaceflight adaptations.
  • Achieved top 4 standing out of 460 projects and won the 1st-Place Innovation Award at the RISE 2022 Research Exposition.

• Guest Speaker, Machine and Ground Consortium
• Guest Presenter, IEEE Aerospace Conference

• Greg Jarvis Memorial Scholarship
• Gorlov Innovation Award

• Alfred J. Ferretti Academic Excellence Award
• RISE Innovation Award
• Phoenix Award

• James D. Arangio Memorial Scholarship
• 2nd Overall and Best Technical Paper, NASA Mars Ice Challenge
• National Finalist, E-Robot Competition