experience! (scroll as you please)

mechanical / thermal / cryogenics engineer at hrl labs

july 2023 - present

• developing thermosiphons (a one-way wickless heat pipe) filled with ethane or oxygen to cool our fridges faster
• standing up entire cryostats (from internal hardware to coax cables to gas handling carts & compressor lines)
• theorycrafting testing advanced materials and adding to our metal/dielectric/ceramic material database
• designing mechanical trinkets and bits that make production go smoother

mechanical engineering intern at teledyne relays

jun 2022 - sept 2022

• redesigned a relay spring mechanism which was plastically deforming at solder reflow temps; ran 100+ simulations on 37 new spring shapes to lower stress by 5.5x
• made testing procedure to validate AlNiCo magnets, with Helmholtz coil, fluxmeter, and 3D-printed slider fixture
• conducted root cause analysis with Pareto, scatter, and Weibull charts to lower reject rates of magnetic latching relays by 16%
• collected measurements with oscilloscopes and Gaussmeters (coil resistance, activation voltage, arm bounce time, overtravel, magnetic moment, etc.)

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engineering intern at pyro-e

sept 2021 - jan 2022

• achieved 3rd place in the DoE Ocean Observing BUILD Contest with a piezoelectric mechanical eel
• fabricated the waterproof exterior out of fiberglass-epoxy composite shells, using vacuum-bagged wet layup and resin infusion on fiberglass sheets
• built a makeshift eel with two Bevel gearboxes, welded sheet metal, controller board, stepper motors, and 3D-printed parts
• ran a propulsion test with said prototype in a water tank using a strain gauge load cell, coil spring, and Teensy

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program creator at ucla engineering transfer center

jun 2021 - sept 2021

• created an engineering transfer bridge program for newly admitted ucla students (find them at NASA, Tesla, and Amazon now!)
• planned out and ran amazing basic training workshops and a sprawling 72-hour hackathon
• brought the hackathon challenge (Arduino car driven by Bluetooth commands, an IR controller, and autonomously) from ideation to design to reality

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fun portfolio add-ons!

spinning lightsaber

jan 2024 - march 2024

• sketches, torque calculations, motor selections, 3D-printed designs, and relearning Center of Mass

it's a small world party backdrop

oct 2023

• churned out Disney party decor with my cousin samantha in only 3 weekends!

power window plastic roller replacement

aug 2023

• my first youtube video, see lego demonstrations and sacrificed melted plastic

jlaser lego batmobile

april 2022 - may 2022

• pulley system for smoke bomb activation
• rockets and cool vibes

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1966 volkswagen restoration

~2020

• car shifted out of gear constantly and looked like (expletive)
• tore apart transmission, replaced synchronizer gear
• replaced disc brake pads, windshields, steering wheel, and headlights; did some body work with hammers and wire brushes

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projects done at ucla!

eyelid force measurement device (senior design project)

sept 2022 - may 2023

• collaborated with ucla health to identify a product need and understand current frustrations with eyelid paralysis measurements
• used encoder and steel arm with known moment of inertia to calculate eyelid blinking force based on angular impulse equation
• made calibration testing system with 3D-printed pulley, string, and weights

miniature rocket and 3000ft rocket

jan 2023 - mar 2023

• made a two-piece, 3oz. 3D-printed rocket with A8-3 Estes motor and learned a lot about stability and COM placement
• designed a high-powered rocket (13" long) in SolidWorks and OpenRocket, made of laser-cut wood fins, composite body, and 3D-printed nose-cone
• launched to an apogee of 3000ft with altimeter data and payload camera
• lost found the rocket!

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checkers-playing robot

oct 2022 - dec 2022

• CADded the links and motor mounts of a 4-DOF robotic arm
• calculated the arm's forward and inverse kinematics and made Matlab animations
• designed a 3D-printed mechanism for in-plane linear motion, with rods, timing belt, GT2 pulley, ball bearings, and MX-28AR motor

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electric go-kart

feb 2022 - mar 2022

• guided team of 5 freshmen as their project manager (sic) to build a battery-powered sturdy go-kart
• orchestrated design and fabrication of drivetrain, chassis, steering, and power systems; robust-ified the braking calipers
• carried out mechanical assembly and electrical wiring
• most importantly, enscribed an "M" on the floorplate and wore a Toad helmet

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translational flexure compliant mechanism

feb 2022 - mar 2022

• designed the flexure elements in SolidWorks, printed prototypes for a Jonathan Hopkins sponsored project (read our paper)
• TL; DR: an outer cylinder is connected to an inner rod via thin diaphragm sheets or nested blades, allowing the stage to move ONLY in the axial direction (stiff/constrained in 2 other directions and 3 other rotations)
• JHop promised us a Youtube video, still not out yet (bummer); see The FACTs of Mechanical Design for what could have been

cnc aluminum desk prop

nov 2021

• miniature chair's life purpose is to pass the butter hold my headphones (CNC, lathe, drill press, and SolidCAM)

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ucla design/build/fly cad engineer

dec 2019 - dec 2021

• wrote 40-page manuals and produced trainings on aircraft manufacturing processes + structural analysis (laser cutting, dowels, jigs, lightening holes, stabilizers, ribs, etc.)
• that was all off the top of my head, 5 years removed
• 3D-drafted a bunch of features: ribs, elevators, and a NACA 0100 airfoil

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ucla battlebots: minotaur clone

sept 2019 - march 2020

• shamelessly planned on building a Minotaur clone, shamefully never competed with it (COVID)
• sketched initial GD&T schematics and made the BOM (battery packs, wheels, bearings, etc.) for a 3 lb. battlebot with spinning drum weapon and curved armor
• did a bit of soldering, a bit of machining, a bit of drill bitting

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