Every bit of electricity that goes into a computer chip turns into heat. This project served to analyze the impact that different computational and thermal loads have on the thermal expansion and physical strain on a computer chip.

3D printing is a great technology but produces a lot of waste material. For my senior design capstone project, my team and I created a shredder to recycle this waste at the University of Arizona Engineering Design Center. Our project is open source and designed to be replicable by other makerspaces. I served as the procurement lead for the team, in charge of the budget and all purchasing. I also worked on both mechanical and electrical design.

This was my final project for my senior year mechatronics technical elective. I created a simple device that warns drivers of hard braking events. The device served to help reduce my car insurance bill, as my insurance at the time used a tracking device that dings users for hard braking.

This project served as a proof of concept for a self-sifting automatic cat litter box. Using scrap wood and coroplast, I made this mechanical prototype to test my design before adding electronic controls. The drum rotates manually to sift the litter and dispense droppings into the waste basket below.

Working at the Tucson Children's Museum as an exhibit technician meant completing all kinds of different projects. One project involved refurbishing this tractor exhibit. It was once covered in paint of all different colors from the reavers kiddos, but now shines in its bright orange oil-based tractor paint.

S.K.E.L.E.T.O.N. was a design project hosted by and for my college club, the Theme Park Entertainment Group. The project centered on revamping a local themed attraction. I participated as a team leader and worked on the roller coaster simulation for our park.

I created a jungle gym for my cat with every element attached to the wall above my bed. This project was a fun way to utilize some wall space in my bedroom and provide enrichment for Sadie.

Flying squirrels glide through the air using their wing-like patagium to control their fall. As part of my college coursework, I conducted a study on this animal using both real world and computational fluid simulations.

For my AME 211 course, I reverse engineered a simple ball valve as a final project. It might seem simple at first, but remaking this valve involved use of many uncommon design tools in Solidworks. This served as a great challenge and I am very happy with the results.

I restored a used pool table from the wood frame to the slate playing surface, including new felt, refurbished hardware, and a custom replacement coin mechanism. The full restoration took about three weeks.

I built several Guitar Hero controllers for playing various rhythm games on PC. Using an existing design, I printed the parts and assembled the electronics from scratch.

I converted a mountain bike into a custom electric bike, including a lithium-ion cell I made myself. The 1,500-watt, 48-volt motor has plenty of acceleration and a top speed of over 30 mph.

At the time, I was working a night shift job and typically did not get home until 2 or 3 AM. This automatic curtain rod concept turned my window into an alarm clock, opening the blinds automatically so I could wake to natural light without the blaring of a typical alarm. I made this as a final project for my Engineering Design Thinking course.

This custom PC build features a rigid-tube water-cooling loop. Bending and shaping the tubing adds an artistic flair to something typically mundane. This PC is powerful enough for graphically intense gaming and engineering workflows.

I turned a gumball machine into a reptile habitat, adapting its dispenser and coin mechanism and designing a 3D-printed base to separate and seal the enclosure.

This is a project that I have wanted to make for quite some time. I turned a thrift store find, a mini gumball machine, into a functional aquarium fit for a small fish.