Head of Technical Projects – Systems Integration & Technical Program Management

Jan 2023 - Present

MAero UIUC (Minorities in Aerospace at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Attempting to build the next generation of Student-led Engineering Projects.

• Plan, advise, and recruit engineering students for any technical initiatives undertaken by MAero.
• Lead 3 tech project teams: High-altitude sounding rocket, Sustainable airplane, and a Fully 3D-printed autonomous drone.
• Coordinate and oversee system requirements, budgeting, prototyping, and timeline planning across multidisciplinary teams.
• Present engineering progress and future goals to potential sponsors and advisors to gain monetary & advisory support.
• Secured $2,500+ in funding from Blue Origin and organized aerospace research events featuring 5+ UIUC faculty.

Project Systems Engineer – System Optimization & Prototyping

Aug 2023 - Nov 2023

Department of Defense S.T.E.M. Vertically Landed Rocket Challenge

• Volunteered and assembled a team of engineers, over a month, to represent UIUC at the DoD VLR Challenge.
• Built & optimized a dual-servo system enabling a solid-fueled lander to reorient and land on descent from a height of 30m.
• Programmed and tuned onboard avionics to control burn timing and collect inertial and altimetric data across 5 test flights.
• Utilized simulation and test data to refine system parameters and improve stability margins by 40% across test iterations.

Avionics Team Lead & Avionics Engineer

Mar 2021 - Jun 2021

International Planetary Aerial Systems Challenge, Mars Society South Asia

• Designed a theoretical prototype for an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of carrying out man-assisted missions on Mars.
• Led the Avionics/GNC sub-team of 14 graduate/undergraduate students to develop all electronics required for the system.
• Facilitated full team meetings (50+ graduate & undergraduate students), as the youngest sub-system lead, to make sure all sub-systems maintain a good line of communication and minimize technical misunderstandings.
• Simulated functioning of mission avionics using industry-tested software and reduced avionics weight by 20%.
• Developed a terrain-hugging navigation system using Martian data from NASA within 2 weeks to minimize risk of crashes.
• Wrote, edited, and verified the avionics and GNC section of our engineering design report over 3 months with my team.
• Ranked 4th out of 26 teams internationally in the “International Planetary Aerial Systems Challenge” organized by MSSA.

More Projects: