For UC Merced's mechanical engineering program, all students take part in a 2-semester Capstone senior project. Our client, Arnold Farms, required an automated singulation mechanism to feed sweet potato seedlings into an existing transplanter. I led all design and systems integration tasks. 

A concept for a singulation was delivered by a previous Capstone team in December 2023, but a final design was not realized. Our December 2024 goal was to create a rapid iteration prototype to confirm the viability of the design and optimize it prior to production implementation. 

I lead the design and systems integration team while supporting the manufacturing team for specialized tasks. The delivered product effectively addressed all issues outlined in the previous team's report and is currently undergoing the patenting process. Our team received the Lakireddy Engineering Award, the highest award from the University of California Merced for Capstone projects.

On the left: Solidworks rendering  of variable singulation mechanism

Below: Renderings of subassemblies and historical design concepts

As a design lead in the UC Merced AIAA club I designed the fuselage and co-designed the wings and nacelles for Project Turbine. This project is a long-term research and development project introducing industry emulating design, manufacturing, and systems engineering. 

The project's goal is to grow institutional knowledge with parametric design, composite manufacturing, systems test, component validation, and other aspects of large scale drone development. This institutional knowledge benefits AIAA’s other competition teams  such as Design-Build-Fly team, Spaceport America Cup team, and the CITRIS aviation research competition team. All CAD work was done in Solidworks using GitHub for collaborative design. The photos below detail the first iteration of subassemblies in various stages of manufacturing and development. As the project progresses, each subassembly will be incrementally upgraded to meet updated design requirements

BOBSAT-1 (Bio) was founded as a joint venture between the AIAA student chapter, the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and the School of Natural Sciences. This program was conceived with many requests to me as AIAA president for a satellite program from students and faculty. After securing undergrad, graduate, and faculty interest, the team quickly found success applying to grants, connecting with stakeholders, and establishing a mission framework.

I took on the role of interim systems engineering lead and later took the role on permanently to structure the team, develop necessary digital infrastructure, and provide training to undergraduate and graduate students. During my time as systems engineering lead, the team hit the several key milestones, including Mission Overview Presentation, System Concept Review (SCR),  and System Requirements Review (SRR). These reviews and presentations followed the Space Dynamics Labs - University Nanosat Program (SDL - UNP) format and were attended by UC Merced Faculty, Space Dynamics Labs (SDL) engineers, and Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Scholars 

Developed a system to unload cartridges of fasteners for Boeing's 777X Horizontal Build Line. This mechanism allowed for fasteners to remain sorted after ejection from automation equipment and allow the reintroduction of otherwise wasted material. All modeling was done in CATIA and I manufactured a demonstrational system in Boeing's rapid prototyping lab. The system addressed a value loss of over $320,000 over a 3 year timeframe. Received Boeing invention disclosure for final design and was reviewed for patent.

UCM AIAA's Propulsion Development and Rocketry team (PDR) had years of institutional knowledge for small scale personal rockets, but only attended the first competition in March 2024, competing in the Argonia Cup. The competition marked the first two stage rocket in UC Merced history and kickstarted the competition branch of PDR.

Having received my Level 1 High Power Rocketry Certification with a custom scratch-built rocket, I served as an technical advisor to the Argonia team. For the 2024-2025 academic year, the team decided to take a shot at the largest rocketry competition in the world - the Spaceport America Cup. For this competition I took on the leading design and systems role for our airbrakes. 

The airbrakes are designed and manufactured from scratch and require a high speed, precision, and redundancy - all with a budget of under $400. These constraints challenge me to leverage my CAD and manufacturing expertise to deliver a mechanical system to meet these design requirements while saving every gram possible. This project is also creating an opportunity for me to develop my electrical and mechatronic engineering skillset by designing the two-factor redundant control system.

Referencing published AIAA research papers on high-aspect ratio flexible wing specifications to design wing test structures. Used FEA and CFD simulations as a basis for benchmark models that is then compared to static load and wind tunnel load trials. These experiment's allow for the analysis of FEA and CDF  limitations for flexible wing designs based on the non-linear nature of flight characteristics due to aeroelastic deformations.

For my level 2 rocket I am focusing on maximizing reusability and modularity of parts. Most of the parts are designed to be manufactured from scrap material from pervious rocketry projects. This serves as an example of cost-effective, low-waste, problem-solving-oriented product development to help inspire similar ideas for students in the future. To help facilitate the learning potential of this rocket, it minimizes permanently bonded connections and is able to be easily disassembled for reverse engineering lessons. I will donate the rocket to the PDR introductions project for future students to continue to learn from after the launch. A render of the motor mounting system is shown to the left

As a member of the Propulsion Development and Rocketry team in the AIAA club, I designed and manufactured a rocket for my Level 1 High-Power-Rocketry certification.  Rather than using a commercially available L1 kit, I pioneering the use of custom 3D printing parts for HPR certification. This reduced the cost by 21% when compared to kits and accelerated initiates to create more opportunities with limited resources. My design features a modular nose cone base that allows various nose cones and payloads to be easily and cheaply interchanged. Having this modularity will allow the team to rapidly prototype and gain experience with different systems in preparation for AIAA’s rocketry competition team (PDR Comp).

Third iteration of the robot for the 2020 FIRST robotics competition season. I designed four of the five main systems for this initial concept: chassis, intake, climber, and secondary game piece manipulator. The launching mechanism (circled in blue) was a subsystem I co-designed with our vice president at the time. Below are the intake and chassis subsystems. All parts were designed using Autodesk Inventor. These parts were imported into Autodesk Fusion CAM for CNC manufacturing.

Intake system designed for the 2019 FIRST Robotics Competition. This design was manufactured from carbon fiber square tubing, fiberglass sheets, polycarbonate, and 6061 aluminum. This was the first time anyone in my team worked with composite materials. The design cut down the mass of the dynamic sub assembly by more than 15% over the original aluminum design. By designing and manufacturing with these new materials I gained unprecedented experience I was later able to pass onto new incoming members