Curriculum Vitae
Education
- Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California Irvine, June 2026 (Expected)
- M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California Irvine, June 2022
- Thesis: Aerial Vehicle Navigation with Terrestrial Signals of Opportunity: Performance Analysis and Transmitter Selection [PDF]
- B.S. with Honors in Mechanical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, June 2020
- A.S. with Honors in Mechanical Engineering, Diablo Valley College, May 2018
Research Experience
- Robot Ecology Laboratory (Irvine, CA), Graduate Student Researcher, Sept. 2022 - Present
- Advisors: Dr. Magnus Egerstedt and Dr. Faryar Jabbari
- Leveraging ecological principles to understand why, when, and how it is beneficial for a heterogeneous multi-agent team to work together.
- Built and programmed differential- and mecanum-wheeled robots with lab members (graduate and undergraduate students).
- Gave lab tours, which included live demonstrations of mobile robots performing coordinated algorithms, to 70+ visitors.
- Presented research findings at the SoCal Robotics 2023 workshop (in-person), IEEE CDC 2023 (in-person), and SoCal Control Spring 2024 Workshop (in-person) to 160+ attendees, including high school students, undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, and industry professionals.
- Multi-Robot Systems Laboratory (Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico), Visiting Researcher, Oct. 2023 - Nov. 2023
- Advisor: Dr. Luis Guerrero-Bonilla
- Designed a scalable architecture that allows for collaborative interaction to occur between large swarms comprised of heterogeneous robots.
- Programmed mecanum-wheeled robots with lab members (graduate and undergraduate students).
- Performed analysis and design for attaching a mechanical structure onto the Dingo-O robot.
- Presented research findings at the Multi-Robot Systems Laboratory (in-person) to 10+ attendees, including undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors.
- Autonomous Systems, Perception, Intelligence, and Navigation Laboratory (Irvine, CA), Graduate Student Researcher, Sept. 2020 - June 2022
- Advisor: Dr. Zak Kassas
- Spearheaded the terrestrial-based opportunistic aerial vehicle navigation projects, which involved designing computationally efficient transmitter selection strategies and conducting performance analyses of cellular signal-based aerial vehicle navigation.
- Set the hardware requirements for the lab by specifying the necessary equipment to purchase for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight experiments.
- Prepared the UAV’s software and hardware before flight experiments and processed the signals collected from cellular towers after flight experiments with lab members (graduate students).
- Presented research findings at the ION GNSS+ 2021 (virtual and in-person) and ION ITM 2022 (virtual and in-person) to 100+ attendees, including graduate students, professors, military researchers, and industry professionals.
- Biological Control Laboratory (Santa Barbara, CA), Undergraduate Research Assistant, Sept. 2019 - Mar. 2020
- Advisor: Dr. Enoch Yeung
- Researched new methods for synthesizing genetic circuits for nonlinear biological systems using a data-driven approach.
- Prepared synthetic biology experiments and performed data collection for graduate students and a junior research associate.
Work Experience
- Autonomy Technology Research Center Summer Program (Dayton, OH), Electrical Engineering Intern, June 2021 - Sept. 2021 &
June 2022 - Sept. 2022- Mentors: Mark Carroll and Mark Smearcheck
- Developed a simulation environment to study the estimation accuracy of an aircraft navigating via localization, mapping, or simultaneous localization and mapping framework with cellular signals of opportunity.
- Processed cellular signal data collected on a U.S. Air Force high-altitude aircraft during a flight campaign in Southern California.
- Compared the estimation accuracy and computation time of different nonlinear stochastic filters (variants of the Kalman filter and a bootstrap particle filter) using the processed cellular signal data.
- Debriefed 15+ AFRL researchers in the Navigation and Communication Branch (RYWN) on the project findings.
- Summarized the project’s findings into a presentation (virtual and in-person) and a poster (virtual and in-person) presented to 50+ attendees, including interns, local university professors, and Air Force Research Lab researchers.
Skills
- Program: MATLAB & Simulink, Python, C++, Mathematica
- Software: LaTeX, Microsoft Office Suite, Ipe, Git, Solidworks, AutoCAD, KiCAD, LTSpice
- Machine Tools: Lathe, Mill, Band Saw, Drill Press, Soldering Iron, Laser Cutter
- Languages: English (Native) and French (Elementary)
Relevant Coursework
- Dynamics and Control:
- Nonlinear Control Systems, Synthetic Biological Design and Computing, Linear Systems I, Optimization Methods, Network Control, Nonlinear Feedback Systems, Geometric Nonlinear Control, Learning Control Systems, Dynamics (Lagrangian Mechanics), Engineering Analysis I (Linear Algebra and Ordinary Differential Equations), Engineering Analysis II (Partial Differential Equations)
- Estimation Theory:
- Parameter and State Estimation, Advanced Detection and Estimation Theory, GNSS Signal Processing and SDR Design, Random Processes
- Robotics:
- Robot Locomotion Control, Soft Robotics, Robot Dynamics and Control, Robot Motion Planning & Navigation
Honors and Awards
- Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need Fellowship
- IEEE CSS Student Travel Award and Workshop Support
- Mexico Graduate Research and Education Program Fellowship
- UCSB College of Engineering Honors Program
- UCSB Dean’s Honors List
- Eagle Scout
Professional Organizations
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Student Member
- Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Student Member
- Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Student Member
- Institute of Navigation, Student Member
- National Eagle Scout Association, Eagle Scout Member
