Mechanical Engineer
Builder
CAD specialist
Jill of all Trades
I am always up for a challenge. I love to learn new things. And I love to design complex machines whose function is integral to their form. My breadth of experience helps me approach problems from outside perspectives and carry them from early conceptual design and prototyping through DFM and optimization.
Resume is available on request.
Keep going for my portfolio, experiences, and more
ICON Technologies
ICON is an Austin-based construction technologies company that is using proprietary 3D printing robotics, software and advanced materials to revolutionize the contemporary building industry.
Throughout my time at ICON I moved from Junior Engineer to ME2 to Project Engineer, and supported the design, manufacture, and deployment of the ICON print system into the field on over a dozen projects. As an early member of the hardware team I had the opportunity to grow and expand my skills as ICON itself grew into a fully fledged technology company.
Early Days - Jill of all Trades
Early Printer Prototyping and Assembly
Printer Operation
Heavy Equipment Operation and Training
Job Site Logistics and Planning
Construction Architectural Review
On Site Project Lead
Printer Deployment and Setup
Field Printer Maintenance and Repair
Operational Process Development and Definition
Mechanical Engineering and Design
Conceptual Design → Early Development →Testing and Iteration → Design for Manufacturing → Ongoing Development and Change Control
Extreme Subsystem Owner responsible for Vulcan Printhead and Extruder subsystems
Concept/mechanism design and development
Component level design and detailing
Complete CAD development of complex interconnected assemblies (electrical, mechanical, material management)
Prototype assembly and testing
Complete manufacturing drawing set for subsystem components
Complete manufacturing assembly documentation for subsystem
Emphasis on modular, serviceable, and future-proofed design
Collaboration with manufacturing, electrical, controls, and industrial design teams
Ongoing management and implementation of engineering improvements into fielded and new systems
Experience with multiple design paradigms to optimize manufacturability
Sheet metal
Weldment
Flat cut tab-and-slot
5-axis CNC
All this is in addition to the mechanical engineering work I accomplished during my tenure. As the company grew our mechanical engineering was brought more fully in house and I had the opportunity to not simply implement one-off solutions to emergent problems, as had previously been my focus, but to address systematic issues from a focused design perspective.
Although my early work as an engineer focused on organizing our concrete mixing hardware into discrete subsystems and taking steps to improve their site deployment and logistics, I began work on the printer when our team had the opportunity to redesign the printer from scratch. I had the opportunity to be integrally involved in the conceptual design and prototyping stage of the Vulcan 2.4 and 2.5. Ultimately I because the subsystem owner for everything at the print head of the gantry, including the drive system, extruder system, and secondary axes of movement such as yaw (rotation around the nozzle). As the subsystem owner I was responsible for all the CAD and system documentation, as well as filtering and implementing any design improvements required. I was also the single point of contact for any system failures and generated a significant quantity of documentation to guide both manufacturing assembly and field service.
December 2018 - January 2023
I began at ICON in Dec 2018 as a junior engineer. At that time the company was very small, so I supported nearly every effort in a multitude of roles including but not limited to assembling and servicing the printers, moving and mixing concrete, operating heavy machinery, and developing and implementing project deployment BOMs, packing lists, and logistics for every project ICON completed between December 2018 and May 2021.
I acted as on-site team lead for a six-home projects at a local non-profit tiny home community called Community First! Village. In that role I organized operations team members and managed on site supplies ordering and inventory. For later projects I was deployed to local and international job sites to provide technical support, implement field repairs, and manage on site failures and crises as they develop. I also developed standard operating procedures, field guides, and daily operational checklists in collaboration with operations and testing teams as the engineering team was able to offload more of these support roles to other groups within the company.
Project Engineering
Liaison between engineering, architecture, and logistics teams
Process Gap Definition across departments
Problem identification and management to identify unaddressed issues and improve response
During my time as a mechanical engineer I also often acted as a liason between engineering and the architecture and logistics teams in order to ensure that proposed projects were both feasible and optimized to the specifics of our print system. As a relatively senior member of the engineering team I was able to speak to the on-site realities of deploying our print system, and generated site requirement documentation, created project-specific hardware, and reviewed structural and architectural drawings.
In September 2022 new leadership at ICON requested that I make this support work my full time position and I moved into a newly created Project Engineer role. In this role I acted as the single point of contact for all non-engineering teams to use a resource for technical questions through project planning and deployment. I created documentation and processes to reduce required engineering interventions and to systematize the passage of information from project planning and execution to engineering and manufacturing teams. Because I operated independently within the technology operations team, I was also empowered to identify cross functional gaps and redundancies and mitigate them.
Timberhomes LLC
TimberHomes is a design/build construction company in central Vermont specializing in hand-cut timber frames for barns, pavilions and cabins around New England.
Carpenter
General carpentry and construction
Heavy equipment and trailering
Project logistics and planning
Project BOM and planning support
Volunteer management and direction
September 2017 - August 2018
I first met TimberHomes VT through two week-long hand-timberframing workshops they hosted for Dartmouth College to build new bunkhouses at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. During each workshop volunteers laid-out and hand-cut all the joinery under the guidance of some master timberframers, then raised the frame and began siding and roofing the building.
After I graduated, I joined their team as a general carpenter. The majority of my time was spent on the work sites doing anything from insulation to window installation to trim work, and learning a lot about both the design and construction processes required for house building. I also spent several months of the winter working in the the shop preparing components for future projects and building, packaging, and shipping timberframed kiosks.
Pessary Design Capstone Project
The capstone project was a two-term, intensive team project completed as part of the Bachelors of Engineering degree. My team successfully designed and built a first prototype of an improved pessary, a medical device that non-surgically treats Pelvic Organ Prolapse. As our prototype is currently being patented by our project sponsors I cannot share specific details of the project, only methods.
My personal contributions to the project were in SolidWorks design and prototype fabrication, as well as managing the organization of both our physical and electronic work space.
Project Work
SolidWorks and Research project lead
Conducted doctor and patient interviews
Full development cycle from concept through prototype delivery
Designed and fabricated dozens of silicone prototypes using 3d printed molds, inserts, and embedded (living) hinges
Flexible structure modeling and analysis
Human centered and ergonomic design
Testing methodology
Failure Mode Analysis
Dartmouth Society of Engineers Prize for Outstanding Project Performance
Continued development of product ongoing at reiahealth.com
Fall 2016 - Winter 2017
Prototyping
Prototypes for this project included several models that analyzed specific aspects of the design - such as silicone thickness or force response - and a number of full scale prototypes used to evaluate overall effectiveness and usability.
As basic characteristics of the design were determined through rapid prototyping methods, the specifics of our design were iterated and tested within SolidWorks. Our manufacturing method was squish-molding (using liquid-cast silicone in interlocking, 3D printed molds). Over the course of the project I produced dozens of such molds with interlocking features that supported floating, 3D-printed, hard plastic supports and minimized material usage.
Testing
In order to validate our design we tested it rigorously against our design requirements. Although we performed FEA analysis, we quickly discovered that the fundamentally foldable and deformable nature of a pessary made it near impossible to accurately model. As a result, the only truly reliable method of prototyping was building full scale versions and testing them. To do this we designed and built a series of testing rigs, including one validated by gynecologists as a model pelvic environment. This testing rig included components imitating the form and function of the pelvic organs, and could be pressurized with a pessary inside the vaginal canal to recreate prolapse conditions.
Our other testing rigs and methods demonstrated our design’s compliance with our requirements for success, such as durability, contamination resistance, and intuitiveness.
Research
The project began with a deep dive into Pelvic Organ Prolapse research. After an exhaustive literature review, we then interviewed more and a dozen women and doctors, and eventually reached out to the medical school's gross anatomy lab and the hospital's birthing simulation lab for additional input. Using these resources we designed and built a validated testing rig we could use to test our prototypes against our design requirements.
Brainstorming and Design Process
Our brainstorming process was founded on human-centered design techniques and combined individual and group brainstorming sessions. The most promising ideas were immediately roughly prototyped, refined, reanalyzed, and repeated until we had a selection of potentially viable options. From there we quantified their viability in relation to our design metrics, and chose a path to move forward with.
Athlete
I have been an athlete all my life, and although it is certainly an incredible cliché, that is the framework I use to understand myself and my life most effectively. The coaches and sports teams I have been on have had the greatest impact on my confidence, ability to work under pressure and deal with injury and trauma.
Over the years I have player, captained, and coached a number of different sports, but my current obsession is competitive rowing. As an incredibly technical sport I love the focus and discipline it requires, and I love the people who are crazy enough to do it with me.
Walking Monster
The walking monster was the final project of ENGS 146: Computer-Aided Mechanical Engineering Design. In this course teams of students designed, built, and competed walking “monsters,” pedal-powered machines intended to be driven across a course to “joust” with each other.
Every aspect of the monster was designed, and iterated upon in SolidWorks, making heavy use of large assembly features, parametric design, motion analysis, and FEA. Time and material constraints only allowed for one full build so every aspect of the design had to be considered before manufacturing began.
Large assembly design and mechatronics
Complete SolidWorks drawing set and review with fabrication specialists
SolidWorks Motion Analysis
SolidWorks FEA
Prototype assembly and fine-tuning
Spring 2017
The design included bearing, braking, and drive components adapted from abandoned bicycles, a custom built differential, and a combination of manufacturing processes including CNC, plasma cutting, and CNC milling to optimize performance.
This was our first attempt, but certainly not our last:
ENGS 146 Mini Projects
In addition to the walking monster project that took over most of the second half of the term, this course included weekly mini projects to emphasize different aspects of engineering design.
Multi-material projects
Tolerance stacks and tightness of fit
Design for injection molding
CNC and CAM design and fabrication
Spring 2017
Tiltmaze
This mini-project emphasized tolerancing for different manufacturing methods and materials, HSMWorks, and material properties. Each double sided maze was milled from delrin, and had a snap-fit laser-cut lid acrylic lid to capture the small ball bearing that was manipulated through the maze. To achieve a successful (and tactilely satisfying) snap fit, the tolerancing of the milled undercut and the laser-cut lid was tested and calibrated for the specific tooling in use. Points were given for the tolerance tightness, quality manufacturing, and the engaging-ness of the tilt maze.
Injection Molded Yoyo
For this mini project each person was required to design and fabricate an injection molded yoyo. Points were given for mechanical design, coolness, and yo-yo effectivity. This project required advanced HSMWorks programming and allowed the class to internalize the design implications of injection molding. The molds were milled from aluminum blocks and included locking features, runners, and other standard injection molding features.
Scuttle Bot
The scuttle bot was the final project of ENGS 76: Machine Engineering. In this course, teams of students designed, built, and competed small walking robots in a soccer-like competition in which the teams of two robots collected, passed, and scored goals with a tennis ball.
Rapid Prototyping and Design principles
Acrylic, laser cut, tab and slot construction
Multi-stage gear box
Vibration management
Fall 2016
The project emphasized prototyping, rapid manufacturing methods, and SolidWorks skills.
Several aspects of the design were particularly important to our project's success:
First, the claws on the bot were designed to work quickly, hold the ball securely as the robot moves across the field, to reach all the way into corners, and to integrate into the ball kicking mechanism. To achieve this we optimized the geometry of the claws and machined them out of aluminum to lend weight (and therefore power) to the kicker arm.
Next, when the walking mechanism caused so much vibration that the robot was shaking itself apart, we designed a leg that integrated a shock absorber that effectively smoothed out the ride.
And finally, for speed of manufacturing and ease of iteration we fully integrated a t-nut slot system into the chassis and gear box.
The entire bot was modeled, iterated upon, and analyzed in SolidWorks before it was built. No more need be said about the design of our bot than that it crushed the competition by having the fastest, most agile walking system in the class.
Bike Mechanic
At Dartmouth, the Sustainability Office ran a bike repair and reclamation program called Dartmouth Bikes that aimed to reduce bicycle waste on campus and increase campus awareness of sustainability issues at large. I was a mechanic in this program for several years.
Ran repair appointments
Supported and organized Pop-Up-Bike-Shops to give rapid support to a maximum number of student
Collected and triaged abandoned bicycles
Rebuilt abandoned bicycles for use in rental fleet
Built shop work benches and infrastructure
Supported expansion of rental fleet website and support
2014 - 2016
Program Expansion and Fleet Development
The Dartmouth Bikes program collects and refurbishes abandoned bicycles, then rents or resells them back to the student body. I spent my there here both in long nights spent in the shop pulling apart (and putting together) bikes and working directly with customers at pop-up bike shops and repair appointments. Many of these bikes were badly damaged from prolonged exposure to winter elements and neglect and had to be stripped for parts, or fully disassembled and cleaned before they could be returned to service.
While I was there, the Bikes team expanded dramatically and I was able to help expand the shops physical and digital infrastructure to allow up to dramatically increase the number of students we could serve out of our limited workshop.
Student Support and Bike Maintenance
Greencube Rocket
Internship with the Dartmouth Physics Department
As a freshman I worked with in a physics lab studying ion densities in the aurora borealis. I worked on a number of projects towards this goal. My first project was building payloads for the weather balloon tests that were balanced and protected for landing.
SolidWorks effort to rebuild a cohesive documentation set
Design and analysis of mini-rocket internal scaffolding
3Dimensional data analysis of ion densities
Cube satellite assembly and preparation
2013 - 2014
I also designed and built the internal scaffolding of a small sub-orbital rocket to support the sensor and electronics. My structure was successful in allowing the instrument and data to be recovered, although the scaffolding itself did not survive impact. I also spent a significant amount of time prepping and assembling circuit boards for the lab’s prototype cube satellite.
Despite that, my most significant contribution was building up a complete set of documentation from the project. Both by recreating old documentation, and by building complete SolidWorks models and assemblies to reflect the work being done.
I was lucky enough to present my work at the Wetterhahn Science Symposium amongst other undergraduate research projects.
