This is an overview of my professional experience, these are the details I wish I could include on my resume but don’t have space for.
Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and not the views of my employers.
Black Lab Sports -
Incubator Intern
(Summer 2019)
The picture on the left shows me and JP O’Brien, my former lacrosse coach, and the CEO of Black Lab Sports. JP is a successful entrepreneur whose core purpose in life is “To unleash the greatness in those around him”. He started Black Lab Sports to create an ecosystem of purpose driven entrepreneurs and a venture capital fund focused on advancing human performance.
This picture was taken after the first ever Human Performance Summit hosted at CU Boulder on May 14th, 2019 in partnership with the University of Colorado and NSIN (The Pentagon’s Technology Accelerator). The summit brought together technologists, operators, and investors to collaborate on the future of human performance, specifically Cognitive Performance, Performance Technologies and Human Recovery.
My goal for this summer was to first bring value to Black Lab Sports, and second, understand the financial aspects of businesses and more specifically start ups. I helped increase deal flow through identifying and analyzing companies within human performance improvement industry and then identifying potential Venture Capitalist and Angel Investors.
This internship was guided and hence sharpened my ability to prioritize important tasks, set my own timelines, and deliver value based projects. It’s also provided me a better perspective of where technology industries are headed on a large scale.
My market research has spanned neuro-technology, wearable measurable technologies, flow, meditation/mindfulness, psilocybin, and artificial intelligence applications. The growth of these technologies will extend human potential and help us build a brighter future.
Tesla - Battery Module Design Intern (Fall 2018)
In 2018, Tesla was all about the aggressive Model 3 ramp. As a Battery Module Design Intern, I was focused on design for manufacturing of Battery Modules. I worked on 4 main projects. Re-manufacturing Non conforming Material parts, designing a tool for in house production of structural cells, a design of experiment to test and characterize printed circuit board (PCB) to a plastic interface for improved manufacturability, and lastly I built a test battery module rigged with thermocouples to test the time delay between cell temperature change and our actual reading.
The last project was easily the most challenging as it included mechanical assembly & manufacturing (fluid pumps, test rigs, machining modifications), electrical set up (NIDAQ, LabVIEW, thermocouples, calibration), and software aspects (Python data logging and developing a cell temperature prediction algorithm). The engineering at Tesla was next level innovative and challenged my technical abilities which helped me grow but also highlighted how much more there is to learn!
In 2017, I read Elon Musk’s biography and Tim Urban’s Waitbutwhy articles on Tesla and decided that I would work for Tesla one way or another because I wanted to address climate change. The 8 months were hectic but I absolutely loved it.
Tesla Gigafactory 1 - Drive Systems Manufacturing Intern (Summer 2018)
2018 Tesla was all about the Model 3 ramp so my manufacturing work focused around data driven improvements to overall equipment effectiveness (rate of production * % of quality parts * total machine uptime). I designed a handful of upgrades immediately implemented on the line, and communicated with suppliers to build an electrical tester. In addition, I installed manufacturing equipment and upgrades, improved manufacturing processes with data driven root cause analysis, and got exposure to PLC logic, pneumatics, and fast paced manufacturing environments.
The highlight of my internship was presenting a prototyped solution to one of the biggest causes of stator failures. At the time, electrical failures was the biggest cause of stator failures and mis-routed wires was the largest cause of electrical failures. My prototype incorporated a vision system into the wire cutting system that enabled misroute detection before lug welding, allowing us to save scrap.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Spacecraft Mechanical Integration Co-op (Summer & Fall 2017)
At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratoyr (JPL), I was a Spacecraft Mechanical Integration intern and focused on designing integration and testing equipment for the Mars 2020 Rover’s Corer. The scope of my work included mechanical design, data analysis/scripting, test design, and testing. My most significant lesson from JPL was the ability to and experience of identifying a problem, designing a solution, iterating through improvements, and then delivering a useful product. The scope of JPL’s work, that is expanding humanity’s knowledge of the universe, demanded innovated, calculated risks that emphasized failing early and often. I was challenged to embrace the fast paced and high expectations and I thrived in doing so.
I absolutely cherished my time at JPL for the work, the people, and the mission. A couple of other interns and I made it our goal to meet with as many JPLers as we could. We started with grabbing lunch with our bosses, then their bosses, and we moved up and around the org chart. In the end, we got to meet the Laboratory Director, Deputy Director, Associate Director, Former Director, Director for Business Operations, Director for Mars Exploration, Director for Solar System Exploration, Director for Astronomy and Physics, Chief Engineer, the NASA Mohawk Guy, and many more. In fact, I loved my experience at JPL so much that I extended my summer internship to an 8 month long co-op.
Read about my entire experience from JPL’s linkedin - here.
GTRI-ATAS - Mechanical Design Intern (Spring 2017 Part Time)
At GTRI, I worked a part time Mechanical Design Intern focusing on design and testing for an environmental control system within a DoD funded project. This was my first exposure to professional CAD assemblies and I spent a great deal of time CADing, making drawings, and searching for cost reducing parts in our Bill of Materials (BOM). In addition, I conducted environmental performance verification tests for the valves in our thermal control system.
École des ponts ParisTech - Research Intern (Summer 2016)
In the spring of my freshman year (2016), I was a research assistant to Dr. Chloe Arson at Georgia Tech in part of the Geothermal Energy Systems Lab. Dr. Arson was trying to create a partnership with her Alma Mata, École des ponts ParisTech and created a research exchange program as part of that effort.
I applied since I was doing research for her already and got a NSF grant to do research with Dr. Ahmad Pouya. My research was an extension of one of their PhD students, Cheng Zhu’s work.
When we extract salt from salt mines, we create caverns large enough to fit the Effiel Tower inside. To prevent their collapse, these caverns can be used a hydrocarbon storage facilities, however when the hydocarbons (natural gas mostly) are removed for usage, the pressure change exerts a stress on the walls and can cause fractures. I modified and use a Finite Element Analysis software to account for damage accumulation from cyclical pressure change. In addition, I related various cavern geometries to the concentration of stress within the salt cavern walls.
Spending a summer in Paris, France, traveling on the weekends and doing research was a unique and amazing growing experience. Adapting to french culture was difficult at first and I was unfamiliar with a lot of the research which was challenging, however with the support of Dr. Pouya, Dr. Arson, and Cheng, I learned a lot and was able to model the damage accumulation in salt caverns based off different geometries, temperature gradients, and cycling frequencies.
My favorite cities in Europe were Interlaken, Berlin, and Amsterdam!