Manufacturing Equipment Engineer, Tesla

(March 2021 - Present)

Started my career as a member of the Final-Assembly Sustaining Team in Gigafactory 1 (GFNV) where I worked on designing tools, enclosures, fixtures, and OEE improvement projects. In addition to troubleshooting and maintaining the manufacturing lines, I also spearheaded multiple initiatives that improved the efficiency of our operations resulting in reduced cycle times, better safety, increased availability, and scrap reduction.

After a year, I relocated to Austin Texas to help with the Model-Y production ramp as an engineer on the Rotor team. Presently, I am responsible for overseeing the production and equipment of the die-cast machine as its equipment owner, while continuing to work on manufacturing OEE improvement projects.

Experience in...

• Designing new equipment features, hardware integrations, creating test procedures, and performing validations.
• Analyzing key performance indicators to facilicate OEE improvements and completing projects that improve line availability, performance, cycle times, and safety.
  
• Identifying and resolving open issues by working with vendors to validate machines, and unlocked equipment to meet cycle times.
  
• Root cause anaylsis and troubleshooting issues regarding equipment, programmable logic, and robots. 
  
• Leading cross-functional teams to meet business needs and production goals.

University Research, UNCC

(March 2020 - September 2020)

Designed commercial Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) concept for Eaton Corporation and developed the first prototype of an on-campus charging station. Lead developments in Computer Aided Designs (CAD), NEMA and UL specifications implementations, injection mold analysis, finite element analysis (FEA), Bill of Materials (BOM), design review presentations, and building comprehensive design packages. 

• Assembled prototypes.
  
• Sourced manufacturers to supply for an EVCS design.
  
• Fabricated parts by machining and 3D printing.
• Manufactured EV chargers that were installed at two parking lot locations.
  

Reliability Engineer Internship, Duke Energy

(May 2019 - August 2019)

Removed labor costs by reducing data analysis time for power outage reports by 98%. Achieved this by building a web-application
that evaluated errors in power outage documents, using Python to clean, evaluate, and distribute data to a front-end application.

Software Engineer Internship, Optum (UnitedHealth Group)

(May 2017 - August 2018)

Worked as a SCRUM Master, coordinating a team of developers to create a new UI/UX interface for medical records. The application would take JSON data from any existing software application and transfer it to a customizable user interface. 

Later transitioned into a front-end developer role where I designed the user architecture for a mobile application, that allowed clients to interface with a virtual medical assistant. 

Civil Engineering Internship, HNTB

(May 2016 - August 2016)

Evaluated traffic data from excel spreadsheets, generated future estimations of interstate traffic congestion and transposed the information onto diagrams, added to full reports. Performed roadway inspections, matched/updated intersection features with existing diagrams, logged detailed errors and automated reports based on observations.

Teaching Assistant, UNCC

(August 2018 - May 2020)

Hosted lectures on applying decision-making processes with engineering projects and gave lessons on web development (HTML, CSS) for students to use the platform to showcase their work. Mentored students during class lectures, proctored exams, graded assignments, and held office hours.

Founder & Engineering Lead, FRC Team 5518

(June 2014 - May 2017)

Transformed a passion for engineering into an organization that advocates STEM education. First Robotics Competition (FRC) is an organization led by mentors and volunteers that host an annual event where students are challenged to build a robot in six weeks to compete at regional and international competitions. 

Team 5518, the Techno Wolves, has won several regional awards and was qualified to compete in the world championship event during its second year. The organization which was founded in 2014 has helped hundreds of students exercise their creativity and apply engineering knowledge to real-world applications as the team continues to accomplish its goal of inspiring students to pursue STEM education and creating the future generation of engineers. 

Click here to learn more about the team: 

Visit Techno Wolves!

Linear Actuator

Develop calculations that convert rotational movement to translational movement by defining the forces required to accelerate an object. Define minimum load and potential maximum load to select the correct motor for this task. Test mechanism and integrate safety features that restrict over travel. 

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Load Cell Testing

Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between stepper motors, motor drivers and torque as it relates to the holding current of a Nema 17 stepper motor.

• Practice iterative design
• Create procedure, test, and analyze data
• Derive a conclusion based on findings

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EV Charging Concept Design

(2020)

Developed a concept design for an EV charging station. Internal components included a 'smart' breaker that received a 240 volt power supply and could be controlled remotely through API commands from a program that was developed to monitor the system. 

• Designed components to be UL Compliant 
• Included drafts in part design to be enable injection mold fabrication
• Learned to design with surfaces in Solidworks

Wind Turbine Design

(2020)

For my Senior Design project, I worked on the calculations, design, and fabrication of a wind turbine. My objective was to optimize the parameters of different sub-assemblies for strength and efficiency (e.g. Encapsulate all critical components while reducing the front-facing area of the nacelle to minimize drag). 

• Static and dynamic analysis for the structure and power generation components.
• Material selection based on minimum strength requirements and cost.
• Applied force calculations and constraints to select electrical and mechanical components.
• Learned about air foil design, applied lift/drag calculations, and design optimization.

Injection Molding Machine

(2019)

At the time, I was learning about plastics and castings. Interested in how the parts were manufactured, I thought it would be fun to design a machine that made small plastic parts. This is just an animation of the design, but during this process, I learned about the components of a die (ejection pins, mold cavity, cores, guide pins, etc.) and plastic part design. 

Robot Design

(2019)

Junior Design is a university course at UNCC where students are given constraints and challenged to design a robot to compete with other teams. The primary objective was to design a robot that could traverse a complex terrain, retrieve an object that was suspended across a large opening on the field, and return it back to its original starting point. Success is based on the completion of the course in addition to the fastest time.

• Worked on 3D CAD, fabrication, and the design.
  
• Did calculations and validations for the gripper/crane sub-assembly.
  
• Performed Finite Element Analysis (FEA) on the gripper arms to optimize part by reducing mass and maintaining the minimum strength of the component with the added payload.
  

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Duke Energy Full Stack Data Application

(2019)

Manual documentation is laborious and prone to potential human error, especially when the individual has to input dozens of parameters for a single power outage incident. During my time at the company, I developed a tool to review these documents and correct them within seconds, compared to the hours it took during the original practice of a manual audit. 

• Researched the problem and gathered data on where the inefficiencies were present.
  
• Programmed back-end using Python.
• Used Flask, HTML, CSS and Bootstrap for the front-end application.
  

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Air Engine

(2018)

The Sophomore Design Air Engine Project from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) is an exciting project that challenges engineering students to design, build, and test a compressed air engine.

• Designed the engine using PTC Creo.
  
• Created drawings for components.
  
• Machined every component, assmebled, and tested.
  

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Drivetrain Design 

(2018)

This was a university project where students were assigned to design a mechanical assembly with a minimum of one degree of freedom. With my background in robotics, I decided to design a simple swerve drive mechanism. This assembly is comprised of two DC electric motors that dictate the rotational movement of the drive wheel as well as the yaw rotation of the wheel itself (z-axis rotation). In this project, I learned how to isolate then assess different parts of the sub-assembly, and analyze the minimum deformation to select the optimal material and diameter of shaft components.

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Mechanical Design (2016 FIRST Robotics Competition)

(2016)

The 2016 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) season was themed 'Stronghold' and tasked teams with designing and building robots that could breach the defenses of a medieval-inspired castle. The robots had to be able to cross rough terrain, scale obstacles, and shoot a ball into a high goal. The competition also included a cooperative element, where teams could earn extra points by working together to reach a common objective. The 2016 FRC season had a total of 3,166 teams competing in events across the world. The competition was designed to inspire students to pursue careers in STEM fields and to promote the ideals of gracious professionalism and teamwork as they compete in an exciting and challenging game.

Mechanical Design (2015 FIRST Robotics Competition)

(2015)

The 2015 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) season was themed 'Recycle Rush' and tasked teams with designing and building robots that could collect and sort recycling materials on a simulated landfill. The robots had to be able to pick up and stack totes, as well as place recycling cans and pool noodles on top of the stacks. The competition also included a coopertition element, where teams could earn extra points by working together to stack even higher. The 2015 FRC season had a total of 2,939 teams competing in events across the world. With the goal of increasing awareness of recycling and environmental conservation, the competition was designed to inspire students to pursue careers in STEM fields and to promote the ideals of gracious professionalism.

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME)
2017-2020

FANUC - Handling Tool Operation & Programming

(2022)

This course covers the Robot Operations outline intermixed with the tasks required to set up the HandlingTool application, test, run, and refine the program and production setup. The course outcomes include the following. Jogging the robot, executing teach pendant operations, setting Robot Payload, performing file and image backups, recovering program faults, creating TOOL, USER, and JOG Frames, executing production operations, editing programs, monitoring, forcing, and simulating input and output signals, programming branch instructions, programming position register instructions, and creating and executing Macros. 

Cognex Vision - Advanced Spreadsheet

(2021)

Cognex advanced training focuses on the depth of learning how to use the In-Sight Explorer spreadsheets interface. The outcomes of this course include the following. Configure PatMax (PatMax and PatMax RedLine) tools, execute edge and bead inspection tools to solve applications involving complex edges, analyze the results returned from the OCRMax tool, implement dialog boxes and wizards, audit messaging and test run functions into an application, identify applications for the flaw detection tools,  and explain how values are passed from a spreadsheet to a JavaScript program. 

Cognex Vision - Standard Spreadsheet

(2021)

In-Sight Spreadsheets Standard training provides an overview of the hardware and software used by In-Sight vision systems. With the focus on getting the most from the In-Sight Explorer Spreadsheets interface, users learn how to walk through the process of setting up a vision application using spreadsheet programming best practices. The outcomes of this course include identifying In-Sight hardware and software interface components, demonstrating skillful use of the spreadsheet interface and vision tools, building starter operator interfaces, and learning the fundamentals of lighting and optics.