Blue Origin

Intern

At Blue Origin, I developed a rocket engine handler for one of Blue Origin’s engines. This tool will be used for long-term storage and transport of the engine. I took the project through the entire design process over the summer, starting with defining requirements for the project through fabrication and test. I used Creo and Ansys to design the handler and conduct structural analysis on the handler.

No project photos are available due to confidential and proprietary information restrictions. 

Creare Inc.

 Intern

Passive Computer Cooling Project

On a team with another engineer and one technician, I helped develop a passive computer cooling system that took advantage of the variation in solubility with temperature of carbon dioxide in water to drive cooling water past the mock CPU. I built some components of the testing apparatus by doing basic machining, wiring, setting up of a pressurized gas system, and caulking and sealing the heating components. I was in charge of testing and data analysis, and I worked with the engineer to develop optimal testing plans for the system.

Image-Guided Endoscopic Kidney Surgery Project

On team of three other engineers and one technician, I worked on an endoscope with laser scanning capabilities that would make it possible for surgeons to do image-guided surgery when removing tumors, reducing complications and increasing efficacy of the surgery. I wrote MATLAB code to evaluate the accuracy of the system, created part of a GUI to enable faster testing, analyzed results of scans on kidney analogues, and contributed to a paper that was ultimately accepted into the SPIE Medical Imaging 2013 conference.

Helicopter Pilot Helmet Project

On a team of two other engineers and a technician, I worked on an early-stage project intending to design a helicopter pilot helmet with improved acoustic protection. For this project, I conducted sound room tests on head phantom to characterize earplug behavior. I also tested the responses of commercial earplugs and earmuffs to high temperatures and analyzed their durability at different temperatures. Lastly, I worked with external contractors to get 3D scans of commercial helmets to that we could explore state-of-the-art helmets in our CAD software.

No project photos are available due to confidential and proprietary information restrictions. 

Lunar and Planetary Science Academy at NASA-Goddard SpaceFlight Center

Student Research Associate

As a researcher with the Lunar and Planetary Science Academy I used NASCAP-2k to simulate solar wind flow past polar lunar craters. Craters were constructed using a MATLAB code that I wrote. I also wrote MATLAB code that took Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter altimeter data (LOLA) and created a finite element mesh of the surface of the moon so large scale simulations of the actual moon surface could be conducted to understand the electrical environment of possible future landing sites.

Weidlinger Associates Inc.

Intern

As an intern with Weidlinger Associates Inc. I analyzed the accuracy of two finite element software packages in development by comparing their results to real blast tests done on a variety of reinforced concrete columns.