Mechanical Design and Analysis Projects
Senior Design Project Manager - NASA RASC-AL Design Competition
For my university's senior design, my team was tasked with responding to a NASA RFP through the RASC-AL design competition. On this project, I serve as the Project Manager and Systems Specialist for a team of eight undergraduate seniors developing a Lunar Sample Return mission concept focused on surface operations and sample acquisition. I was nominated into this position by several Aerospace Engineering faculty at Cal Poly Pomona as one of seven project leads to guide multidisciplinary teams through advanced mission development. Our concept centers on designing a surface vehicle (and it's supporting vehicles) capable of traversing the lunar environment, collecting scientifically valuable samples, and supporting their return orbit for an Earth recovery.
In this role, I manage system-level requirements, interface definitions, and verification planning while coordinating mechanical, thermal, avionics, propulsion, and GNC subsystems to ensure consistency across the architecture. My responsibilities also include structuring design reviews, establishing and pushing for development milestones, and resolving integration challenges to keep the team aligned with RASC-AL guidelines and constraints.
This project has strengthened my technical leadership in complex aerospace systems, giving me hands-on experience with requirement flowdown, interface control documents (ICDs), risk management, and subsystem integration. It has also enhanced my ability to coordinate engineering teams, drive data informed decisions, and maintain system coherence as the design matures toward a viable lunar mission concept.
Above is a Solidworks assembly I created displaying our Lunar Ascender, Lander, and Orbiter on a SLS Block 1B's Payload Attach Fairing
Above is the Lunar Orbiter stacked with the Lunar Ascender for the return orbit.
FEMAP - Fuselage Modelling Study
I have developed structural analysis models in FEMAP/PATRAN (a pre-and-post processing software for NASTRAN) for several aircraft components, including fuselage sections, pressure bulkheads, floor structures, and nose sections. My work focused on evaluating how key modeling decisions, such as boundary fixity, element type, and load application impact load paths and overall stress distribution. I explored different combinations of CQUAD, CSHEAR, CBAR, and CROD elements to accurately represent skin panels, frames, and stringers while ensuring numerical convergence. These studies helped me develop a deeper understand of how structural behavior can be severely impacted with modeling assumptions and how to construct an efficient, yet reliable finite element model (FEM).
Among my more detailed analyses, I generated a moment diagram for an idealized aircraft fuselage (shown to the right) by modeling skin panels with CQUAD elements, stringers with CROD elements, and longitudinal members with CBAR elements. I also produced a shear diagram for the aircraft floor beam, validating FEMAP output against classical beam theory. Through this work, I gained a strong appreciation for NASTRAN (and it's associated pre-and-post processor's) value in structural analysis, but also reinforced the importance of hand calculations to verify and supplement the FEM's results, especially in areas of the software's limitations.
Moment diagram for aircraft fuselage
Shear diagram for aircraft floor structure
Tooling Design & Mandrel Cycle Analysis
I supported tooling development by assisting in the design and evaluation of forging mandrels at Carlton Forge Works, focusing on geometry, manufacturability, and material selection in a project aimed at improving mandrel cyclical lifetime. I performed basic cyclical analysis to estimate mandrel fatigue life under various configurations , and ensure that the tooling could withstand repeated high-temperature high-tonnage cycles. This involved reviewing historical tooling performance, analyzing failure trends, and applying fundamental stress and thermal considerations to improve tool reliability. Through iterative improvements, I contributed to design adjustments that increased mandrel lifespan by 12%. Through this work, I gained a strong foundation in tooling design principles and learned how iterative improvements in mandrel performance can reduce downtime, extend tool life, and improve forging consistency.
Manufacturing Improvement Projects
Lean Manufacturing & Value Stream Analysis
At Carlton Forge Works, I assisted Lean Manufacturing initiatives targeting cycle time reduction and waste elimination across high-value aerospace forging processes. Through value stream mapping analysis across the forging process, I identified process delays that accounted for 8% of total lead time in certain part families. Using time studies and root-cause analysis, I uncovered inefficiencies linked to tooling staging, nonconformance loops, and interdepartmental bottlenecks. These findings supported Kaizen actions that reduced average tool-exchange time by 11%, improvement material handoff, and decreased reworked parts by 4%. The improvements increased process stability and strengthened traceability for components ranging from $10,000 to $70,000 per forging. This work solidified my ability to evaluate complex manufacturing workflows and apply Lean principles in a precision aerospace manufacturing environment.
To achieve these improvements, I developed structured tooling ID and tracking systems that increased traceability between operations, enabling faster identification of delays and mismatches. I worked closely with production operators to reorganize tool-exchange processes, creating cleaner staging layouts and standardized sequences that minimized motion and setup variation.
Discrete Event Simulation & Data Automation
I developed an SQL-based discrete event simulator at Carlton Forge Works to forecast completion dates for heat treat operations, directly supporting scheduling decisions for over $2 million in weekly WIP inventory. The tool aggregated historical timing data from Oracle, and modeled process variability to generate real time estimated completion dates (ECDs) with a 92% accuracy rate with respect to actual completion dates. By eliminating manual tracking and introducing automated forecasts, the tool reduced planner workload by 5 labor hours per week and improved on time scheduling reliability for critical part families.
I additionally built automation scripts to clean, restructure, and validate data streams, enabling continuous statistical process monitoring. This project demonstrated how data-driven tools can significantly enhance decision-making within a traditional aerospace manufacturing setting.
Machine Shop Scheduling & ESH Optimization
At Carlton Forge Works, I designed a machine shop scheduling tool that optimized job assignments to maximize Earned Standard Hours (ESH) across critical machining processes. Pulling real time data from Oracle, including router requirements, standard times, and machine capabilities, the system scheduled over $1.2 million worth of machining work per week.
By evaluating job priority, due date risk, and machine loading, the tool helped supervisors increase weekly ESH output by 14% while reducing machine idle time by 7%. It also cut setup frequency on bottleneck equipment by 12%, improving CNC utilization and throughput overall. This project strengthened my understanding of machining operations, production control, and digital scheduling systems, and demonstrated the operation benefits of combining manufacturing engineering principles with data automation.
Material Retention Classification System
To improve the traceability and reduce manual review time, I developed an automated material retention classification system at Carlton Forge Works in collaboration with Quality Engineering. By integrating engineering drawings requirements directly with Oracle part data, the tool replaced a manual process that previously required 20 minutes per remnant sample. The automated system cut classification time by 85% and reduced documentation errors dramatically, and ensured full compliance with customer and internal retention specifications for components.
The tool also standardized workflows across inspectors and engineers, improving audit readiness and significantly reduced the risk of misclassified high-value part samples. This project highlighted the importance of digital transformation and data integrity within an aerospace manufacturing environment.
Testing, Integration, & Aerospace Systems
CubeSTEP NASA JPL Collaboration - Payload and Testing Member
As part of the CubeSTEP program, I worked as a Payload Integration and Testing member, supporting the development and verification of thermal management payloads for CubeSat-type missions. My work took place primarily in an ISO Level 3 cleanroom, where I executed contamination-controlled handling, configuration tracking, and verification procedures for developmental heat pipe technologies developed in collaboration with NASA JPL. I authored standardized test data sheets to formalize performance, configuration, and environmental verification processes. These activities ensured consistent documentation and traceability throughout the integration workflow.
I performed thermal interface testing, gathering and validating data on heat pipe behavior under controlled boundary conditions to confirm compliance with NASA's CubeSat thermal and mechanical interface requirements (about 2% deviation allowable). I also supported mechanical fit checks, connector verification, and payload configuration reviews to ensure compatibility across the spacecraft structure and mission requirements. Working with JPL engineers, I gained hands-on experience in spacecraft testing disciplines such as contamination control, functional verification, configuration management, and test-to-fly methodology.
My involvement in this project has strengthened my understanding of spacecraft integration, cleanroom operations, and hardware-level verification, while giving me exposure to the rigor and precision demanded by working with flight hardware in a professional aerospace environment.
CE-MARC GNC and Simulation Engineer
As a GNC Engineer for the CE-MARC Modular Autonomous Recovery Capsule, I developed flight dynamics models and control architectures to evaluate vehicle performance during descent and recovery. Using MATLAB and Simulink, I created state-space representations of the capsule and simulated it's response to statistical disturbances, as well as other perturbances. I also included an adaptive rate-scaling algorithm that maintained actuator authority during aggressive maneuvers by adjusting commanded rates to preserve stability and prevent control saturation.
To support our flight testing team, I created a post-processing tool that animated flight trajectories from a live GPS datalink through CSV files. The tool highlighted key flight dynamic metrics such as attitude, velocity, and landing accuracy, which allowed the team to analyze test data more efficiently from a time standpoint and get more vehicle iterations done.
It is through this project that I gained practical experience in autonomous systems, flight dynamics, and controls implementation while contributing to a multidisciplinary effort to design and test an experimental recovery vehicle.
Postprocessor showing vehicle velocity history and velocity trend
Simulink model produced for vehicle attitude simulation