Work Experience

SpaceX Satellite Development intern

The summer after my sophomore year at the University of Maryland, I worked as a Satellite Development Intern at SpaceX in Redmond, WA. While my title was Satellite Development Intern, I began my internship supporting the Crew Dragon program. Some of my tasks included creating finite element models of the vehicle’s tubing systems in FEMAP and calculating safety margins to be included in documentation to be reviewed by NASA.

The second half of my internship consisted on work dedicated to the SpaceX Starlink Satellite Constellation Project. I primarily served as the Responsible Mechanical Engineer for the satellite’s magnetometer. In this role, I improved upon previous mechanical enclosure designs for the PCB and assembly procedures. I also created drawings for the parts and test fixtures to be used for development testing, all of which was done using Siemens NX and Teamcenter. This role required me to interface with mechanical, test, and electrical engineers as well as project planners and buyers.

I also designed test fixtures and planned functional tests for GPS antennas. I subjected the components to vibration, shock, and thermal tests to qualify them for flight.

Boeing Structural Analysis Intern

After my junior year at the University of Maryland, I worked at Boeing as a Structural Analysis Intern on the Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage 2 in Huntsville, AL. I created finite element models in Abaqus/CAE of the liquid oxygen tank fill and drain line flex joints as well as the liquid hydrogen bleed duct. This work required modeling bolted joints as well as contact between two surfaces which were subjected to multiple different load cases. I completed hand calculations and documented safety margins for each of the critical components to pass them for flight.

I also assisted qual testing of the system tunnel by creating finite element models of test fixture components in Abaqus/CAE. I calculated margins for these components as well.