Portfolio

Education, Work Experience, and Activites

Overview:

I am a computer engineering and computer science student at the University of Kentucky. I aim to have a career in software engineering, but I am also interested in aerospace engineering, business management, journalism, and politics. I am passionate about innovation and technology, particularly in the areas of education, space exploration, and transportation. I have experience in programming, project management, and business model development. For more information, download the resume below, or continue reading. To view some of my writing, checkout the home page, or go here to contact me.

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Education

University of Kentucky, Lexington KY

Majors: Computer Engineering, Computer Science
Minor: Mathematics
Anticipated Graduation: 2021
Current GPA: 3.91
Achievements
  • Dean's List Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019
Organizations

Trinity Christian Academy, Lexington KY

Graduation: May 2016
Cumulative GPA: 4.0
Achievements
  • Salutatorian
  • National Merit Finalist
  • ACT: 34
  • 2015 KY Governor's Scholars Program
  • 2014 KY Governor's School for Entrepreneurs
Organizations
  • Student Government- Treasurer
  • Math and Science Club- Member
  • School Newspaper- Writer and Editor
  • Literary Journal- Production Manager
  • Athletics- Swimming, Cross Country, and Track

Work

NASA Johnson Space Center

Date: Spring 2020
Role: Pathways Intern
Skills: C++, Python, basic GN&C concepts

In the spring semester of 2020, I worked with in the Autonomous Guidance, Navigation, and Control branch at JSC. The branch provides the analysis behind the guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) techniques used across NASA projects. I worked independently on a project for the Rendezvous, Proximity Operations, and Docking (RPOD) group, where I integrated a motion capture truth system with a 6 degree-of-freedom robotic testbed. The completed system will allow predefined trajectories to be followed with closed-loop feedback from the mo-cap camera, enabling repeatable test runs.

Date: Summer 2019
Role: Pathways Intern
Skills: C++, Test-driven development

I spent the summer of 2019 developing a comprehensive set of tests for the math utility library used by the Orion Backup Flight Software. Orion is NASA's next generation crewed vehicle, and the aim of the Backup Flight Software is to provide save crew return in the case of a software defect in the primary flight software which renders all four primary flight computers simultaneously unavailable. This role dictates that the goal of the Backup Flight Software is to remain highly available in all cases, which is achieved by driving down complexity as much as possible while maintaining core capabilities. In order to support this, each logic path through the software must be comprehensively tested. Along with two other interns, we developed a suite of tests for the math library underlying the flight software. This required us to study the operations in order to generate our own truth data, and become familiar with an automated testing framework. Our testing campaign achieved 100% coverage, enabled us to independently discover potential flaws and provide solutions that were merged into the codebase.

Date: Fall 2018
Role: Pathways Intern
Skills: Systems engineering, communication, electrical/computer engineering concepts, and teaching

In the fall of 2018 I started my first rotation of a cooperative education experience at NASA Johnson Space Center as a Pathways Intern. I worked in Electrical, Mechanical, and External Thermal Systems group within the Flight Operations Directorate to develop telemetry displays for Orion and ISS (International Space Station) power systems, receive introductory training for flight controllers including ISS command training, and gain certification to teach a crew lesson on ISS Power Connectivity.

University of Kentucky Unmanned Systems Lab

Date: Summer 2018
Role: Research Assistant
Skills:C/C++, Raspberry Pi, Arduino

Starting part-time at the end of the Spring 2018 semester and full-time throughout the summer, I programmed data collection systems onboard unmanned aerial vehicles used for turbulence research. I wrote code to sample a wide variety of sensors and rapidly save data so it could be analyzed for research. I also supported the 2018 ISSARA Flight Week in San Luis Valley, Colorado by assisting with flight operations, technical assistance, and logistics support.

Some of code I wrote for this project can be found on Github under the ukyuav organization.

Date: Summer 2020
Role: Research Assistant
Skills: Python, xarray, Fortran, high-performance computing, numerical weather prediction, JavaScript

In the summer of 2020, I worked with a group of undergraduate students from the University of Kentucky, the University of Montana, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Idaho to study the atmospheric response to total solar eclipses.

There were two main components to this project. One was to gain proficiency in collecting data using systems that included weather balloons with radiosonde payloads and mobile weather stations. Because of my prior experience in ballooning, I developed the procedures for preparing and launching the radiosondes and trained the other Kentucky students to use them. This was done with the expectation that we would be using these techniques to gather data over a period of a few days in Chile or Argentina surrounding the December 2020 total solar eclipse there.

The second component of this was to create tools to better enable both data collection and analysis. To this end, I developed a helium fill calculator to ensure that our radiosonde soundings were consistent in their rise rate. I also worked on investigating the behavior of the WRF model, a numerical weather prediction model developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, during total solar eclipses. Using modifications made by another researcher to account for eclipses in the radiation modeling, I compared the simulated output to actual data collected in Kentucky during the 2017 solar eclipse. This work aimed to replicate the work presented by Carl Spangrude of the University of Montana at the IGU Fall 2019 meeting, but with a different set of meteorological observations. In completing this work, I spearheaded the effort to install WRF on Kentucky's Lipscomb Computing Cluster, and documented a workflow to help onboard new users to the software. Continued work on this will help improve knowledge on the shortcomings of such models and possibly guide future development on it.

I gave presentations on both of these tasks. The brief helium fill calculator presentation is here, and the numerical weather prediction presentation is here.

UK Transformative Learning

Date: Fall 2017 - Current
Role: Calculus Tutor
Skills: Mathematics, teaching, and student leadership

In the fall of 2017 I began as a peer tutor at The Study, a program under the University of Kentucky's Transformative Learning department. I tutor 6-10 hours a week for the MA 113 and MA 114 Calculus classes, helping students master content and providing guidance on assignments. The role helps me to continually re-assess my own knowledge of course content, and challenges me to find new ways to communicate material. The peer tutoring model thrives on using the Socratic Method to guide students, where the tutor asks probing questions to find the knowledge gap and lead the student to discover the solutions on their own. This approach has greatly imporved my communication and leadership skills, as it forces me to change my perspective in order to convey information appropriately.

Anonymous Tutee Feedback:

  • “He could explain a wide variety of topics to Calc 1 & 2 students in a way that actually made sense. Super friendly.” - Calculus 1 Student
  • “Explains everything in great detail.” - Calculus 1 Student
  • “Thank you for taking your time with me and being so “happy” about teaching the 101s” - Calculus Student

Job Description:s Peer Tutors assist fellow undergraduates in UK courses through Transformative Learnings Peer Tutoring Program at The Study. There are no appointments and tutoring is offered in small, informal groups. Peer Tutors help tutees fully understand concepts, complete assignments, and study for exams. Peer Tutors are responsible for greeting tutees and making them feel welcome and included, providing guidance in course content, and helping tutees hone study skills and strategies. Peer Tutors guide tutees to deeper understandings of course material and are never expected to give answers or replace course instructors. Peer Tutors receive extensive training in preparation for being effective peer tutors. Because the Peer Tutor position is a professional position, it includes responsibilities beyond working regular shifts, including professional development sessions, performance evaluations, regular team meetings, and promotional activities.

NASA Kentucky

Date: Fall 2016 - Summer 2017
Role: Eclipse Team Co-Lead (Paid Undergraduate Assistant)
Skills: Arduino and Raspberry Pi Programming

In the year leading up the the August 2017 total solar eclipse over North America, I participated in a NASA Space Grant funded project to transmit high-definition video from high altitude balloons, with the ultimate goal of live-streaming the event from near-space. I began the project as a student volunteer, but obtained a paid position as part of the team leadership.

My role was co-leader for ground stations, where I was responsible for the computer systems, both hardware and software, used to track the balloons and receive both video and photo data while in-flight. This required close work with the payloads sub-team, and I was also responsible for maintaining the systems for transmitting data aboard the balloon payloads. The systems were comprised of radio-frequency modems, Arduino microcontrollers, and Raspberry Pi embedded computers. Because there was such a small window of time to operate during the eclipse and no option for retries, our team performed a number of test flights in various conditions and adapted our designs after each attempt. To do this, we learned to assess risks, make corresponding process and design decisions, create multiple backup systems, and document everything.

Throughout this, the role required management of other undergraduate students from both the University of Kentucky and universities across the nation, and communication with both faculty and the community. Since the project was undertaken by over 50 university teams, we strove to share our progress in order to support other teams with technical issues and educate other teams on our process. We also learned quite a bit and evolved our processes and designs as we collaborated with other schools. On eclipse day, we came prepared with tested equipment and action plans for a wide variety of issues. Due to our hard work, we were able to accomplish things that few other teams were able to do, including simultaneously launch two different balloons, operate their corresponding ground stations, and successfully broadcast live footage from a portion of the eclipse.

Awesome Inc

Date: 2014- 2016
Role: Development Intern
Skills: Programming, Teaching, Entrepreneurship, Project Management

Awesome Inc is a high-tech startup incubator that hosts community events, leads technology education courses and offers a shared workspace environment.

As development intern, I created websites for various initiatives such as UK150.com and AwesomeIncU.com. I also worked as a teaching assistant and web instructor at Awesome Inc U's summer programming classes.

I also assisted in events such as monthly pitch contest and Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Won Startup Weekend Lexington 2015 with my pitch for JobTrack.

Projects

Awesome Inc U (2015)

Role: Lead Developer
Skills: HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, Git, Jekyll, Project development

Project Link: AwesomeIncU.com

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deMYSTIFIED (2016)

Role: Writer and host
Skills: Writing, Researching, Storyboarding

Project Link: deMYSTIFIED on YouTube

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JobTrack (2015)

Role: Founder and CEO
Skills: Entrepreneurship, business management, prototyping, team-building public speaking

Project Link: Pitch video, Blog Post

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