As a versatile and innovative engineer with 5+ years of experience in research and development, I excel in creating concepts and turning them into revolutionary products. Known for my quick development pace and pragmatic approach, my work has fueled scientific publications, patent applications, and medical devices that are excelling in the field today.
Experience
Senior Mechatronics Engineer
Innovative Design Labs - Minneapolis, Minnesota
December 2022 - Present
Lead research and development on cutting-edge mechatronic and robotic products through NIH-funded SBIR grants as the team's primary mechanical and control systems expert.
Independently invented a novel electromechanical ankle actuator for an adaptive-terrain version of Ekso Bionics' EksoNR exoskeleton. Created dynamic control system simulations in Python and MATLAB to investigate system stability and inform design requirements. Created detailed CAD models in Solidworks, manufactured prototypes, and evaluated them in a laboratory setting.
Designed anatomically accurate simulators of human joints for training physical therapists and combat medics in musculoskeletal injury diagnosis. Created the most physiologically accurate model of robotically-driven human joints on the market, capable of simulating injuries with great accuracy.
Independently designed a mechanical heart that generates pulsatile flow for use in combat training simulators. Designed a novel centrifugal pump that can achieve physiologically accurate flow rate and blood pressure waveforms, as well as an anatomically accurate pulse.
Senior Research and Development Engineer
Abbott Laboratories - St. Paul, Minnesota
July 2020 - December 2022
Worked in a startup-like environment to develop Cephea - one of the world's first transcatheter and transseptal mitral valve replacements. Major contributor in prototyping preclinical prosthetic valve designs to optimize for durability, anchoring, hydrodynamic performance, and manufacturability.
Invented novel solutions to drastically lower strain on nitinol and fabric components, resolving critical fatigue-based failure modes. Devices using these designs were proven very successful in animal studies and EFS human clinical trials, leading to two patent applications.
Led investigation into inherent issues in mitral valve fluid dynamic evaluation. Wrote Monte Carlo simulation in MATLAB to characterize the problem and published the results with my colleagues in Cardiovascular Engineering Technology, which has been cited in a textbook on heart valve design.
Heavily utilized MATLAB to solve difficult problems in heart valve research and development. Created image processing pipelines to analyze high-speed video of heart valve prototypes, allowing for data-driven decision making in durability and performance. Developed 3D device deployment simulations in MATLAB to predict optimal catheter trajectories. Techniques that were invented with these learnings have been adopted by interventional cardiologists during implantation.
Engineering Consultant
Floersch Engineering LLC - Minneapolis, Minnesota
August 2019 - Present
Collaborated with researchers in pediatrics at the U of MN to increase equity in healthcare access by inventing innovative low-cost medical devices for use in low-to-middle income countries.
Created a low-cost humidifier that is 10 times cheaper than the gold-standard device, using ultrasonic agitation to humidify oxygen without need for a heating element - a method that has never been used commercially. Lead the mechanical, electrical, and firmware design of the device. Managed team of three undergraduate research assistants during the design and evaluation of prototypes.
Graduate Researcher
Dr. Perry Li Lab - University of Minnesota, Department of Mechanical Engineering
August 2019 - May 2020
Developed a glove-mounted device to intuitively control a robotic arm through the use of point-and-follow control, utilizing an in-palm accelerometer and computer vision system. Derived a novel pose estimation algorithm using a fusion of information from these two sensors to control robotic arms. Implemented algorithm on a Raspberry Pi Zero W using OpenCV for image processing, presented results at the IFAC Modeling, Estimation, and Control Conference in 2021.
Education
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities - GPA: 4.0
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities - GPA: 3.5
Skills
Tools: SolidWorks, OnShape, ANSYS, KiCad, Python, C/C++, MATLAB, 3D Printing, CNC, Machining Design: Medical Devices, Mechanisms, Circuits, Control Systems, Algorithms, Embedded Systems Industries: Medical Devices, Cardiovascular Implants, Exoskeletons, Robotics, Computer Vision
