About
I'm an electromechanical systems integrator who works the boundaries where mechanical, electrical, controls, firmware, and manufacturing meet — de-risking system buildability and integration, and carrying field-deployable autonomous platforms from concept through live-water test. My work is hands-on across mechanical design, custom PCB development, and embedded controls.
Today I do that work professionally on autonomous maritime systems, teach CAD and mechatronics as adjunct faculty, and volunteer in FIRST Robotics Competition leadership. I'm a published co-author (IEEE/RSJ IROS, ICUAS) — building the hardware and running the experimental testing behind the data.
Open work. Closed boundaries
I believe in building and sharing in public when the work is mine to share. My personal projects, educational resources, and independent engineering tools are often developed openly because documentation and reuse make them more useful.
Professional work has its own information boundaries. Proprietary, customer-sensitive, export-controlled, classified, NDA-covered, and otherwise restricted information stays separate from this site. I am comfortable with professional work remaining entirely closed indefinitely; open source is not an expectation I place on an employer's work.
Everything shown here is independently developed work, educational material, or other technical information I am authorized to share publicly. Documentation should reach the right audience — sometimes the entire Internet, sometimes only the people authorized to work on the program. Knowing what should never leave the program is part of engineering judgment.
Professional Experience
Senior Electromechanical Systems Engineer — BlackSea Technologies
Baltimore, MD · 2025–Present
- Cross-portfolio electromechanical systems integrator — reviewing designs across mechanical, electrical, controls, firmware, and manufacturing boundaries, and evaluating new projects at concept and mid-development for electromechanical feasibility.
- Led all integration on an experimental autonomous hydrofoil under a 2-month sprint, delivering on schedule and passing sea trials; currently leading integration of a payload-release add-on for an autonomous surface vessel on a one-quarter timeline.
- Make and defend cross-domain design decisions — release mechanisms, sealing architecture, connector selection, power distribution — under schedule and procurement constraints.
Industry Expert, Independent Consultant (Contract) — Tegus by AlphaSense
Remote · 2026–Present
- Paid industry expert for client research engagements spanning engineering, manufacturing, autonomous systems, defense technology, and PCB development — including screened engagements on the unmanned-maritime market outlook and on PCB design services and AI-assisted PCB tools.
- Translate hands-on integration and manufacturing experience into decision-useful insight while maintaining strict boundaries around proprietary, confidential, controlled, and non-public information.
AI Training Expert, Fusion CAM (Contract) — Micro1
Remote · 2026–Present
- Lead beta-testing trainer generating expert training data for AI manufacturing models — developing Fusion CAM strategies while recording real-time reasoning around workholding, setup planning, tool selection, tolerances, and verification.
- Help define the workflows, rubrics, and quality standards used by the broader expert team, and advise the client on practical limitations and capability gaps as a technical expert.
Electronics Technician (Engineering) — U.S. Naval Academy
Weapons, Robotics & Controls Engineering Department · Annapolis, MD · 2023–2026
- Designed and deployed 30+ custom PCBs for sensor integration, motion control, power distribution, and embedded processing across autonomous marine and robotics platforms — the custom-PCB evidence appendix lists the publicly documented boards and the institutional work behind the count.
- Architected and deployed SURFER, a 20-vessel fleet of autonomous surface vessels for swarm and multi-agent research, using a dual–Raspberry Pi control architecture and standardized sensor-payload interfaces, across repeated live-water deployments.
- Designed the electromechanical and PCB architecture for SENTRY, an open-source pan-tilt turret platform later released publicly by the institution.
- Integrated sensors, actuators, embedded controllers, communications, and power electronics into field-deployable platforms; improved reliability through iterative field testing, fault isolation, and redundancy planning.
Adjunct Professor, Engineering Design — Anne Arundel Community College
Arnold, MD · 2024–Present
- Teach SolidWorks and advanced CAD for mechatronics and manufacturable part development — assemblies, drawings, tolerancing, and design-for-manufacturing. Students achieve a ~75% pass rate on the Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA) exam.
- Course design and outcomes are detailed in the Teaching Portfolio.
Mentor, Lead Mentor & Event Manager — FIRST Robotics Competition
Maryland · 2006–Present
- Two decades of volunteer leadership — founding student to lead mentor, judge, and district event manager, securing $250,000 in annual Maryland robotics funding through work with Former Delegate Kirill Reznik and student advocacy. The full story is on the FIRST Robotics page.
Engineering Teacher & Program Lead — Various High Schools
MD / PA · 2012–2022
- Designed and built engineering fabrication labs (additive manufacturing, CNC, laser cutting, PCB/electronics prototyping) and the project-based curricula that ran in them.
- Guided student teams through full mechanical/embedded design cycles — CAD, fabrication, assembly, test, and troubleshooting.
Selected Professional Integration Work
Sanitized summaries of current work — process and outcomes only, no customer or system specifics.
Autonomous hydrofoil integration. Led all integration on an experimental autonomous hydrofoil under a 2-month sprint — coordinating mechanical, electrical, controls, and firmware interfaces — delivering on schedule and passing sea trials.
ASV payload-release integration. Leading integration of a payload-release add-on for an autonomous surface vessel on a one-quarter timeline: requirements clarification, electromechanical boundaries, and testability worked together rather than sequentially.
Design-risk review. In a controls design review, identified an oversized power-distribution unit, GPIO margin shortfalls, and reliability-tier mismatches — driving corrections before fabrication instead of after.
Education
- M.Eng., Engineering Management — Old Dominion University (in progress)
- M.Ed., Instructional Technology — University of Maryland Global Campus
- B.S., Technology & Engineering Education — Millersville University
Certifications
- Certified SolidWorks Professional (CSWP)
Technical Skills
- Systems architecture & integration: cross-domain electromechanical integration; interface definition and ownership in ambiguous system boundaries; integration-risk identification and mitigation; requirements traceability; verification & validation; configuration management
- Electrical / PCB: multi-layer PCB design (Altium, KiCad, Fusion Electronics); power distribution and regulation; EMI mitigation; connector selection; signal integrity; electronics bring-up
- Embedded / controls: STM32 (ARM Cortex-M), ESP32, RP2040/RP2350, AVR/ATtiny; C/C++, MicroPython; CAN, RS-485 / Modbus RTU, I²C, SPI, UART; motor control; ABZ encoders; sensor and actuator integration
- Mechanical / CAD: SolidWorks (CSWP), Fusion 360; GD&T and tolerance stack-ups; enclosure architecture for harsh environments; electromechanical packaging; thermal considerations; sealing (O-ring / U-cup)
- Prototyping, fabrication & DFM: additive (FDM/SLA) and subtractive (CNC) manufacturing; DFM/DFA; rapid hardware development; prototype-to-field transition; lab and test infrastructure; technical data packages
Publications & Speaking
Peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations are collected on Scholarship & Speaking.
Résumé: Extended résumé (PDF)