A task during my time at Rivian was to work to introduce new materials that were more sustainable than the current counterparts in the interior. This led me to work with many suppliers currently in automotive applications and many not in automotive at all to learn about the sustainable materials they offer. Promising materials were then put through to testing and trialing to determine possible applicability in future programs. I specifically had to work regularly with designers and suppliers that had no experience meeting automotive specifications to develop materials that met our sustainability targets while still being able to pass all test criteria. NOTE: The image is just representative and does not contain the material discussed herewithin.

My final school project was my senior design project. For this project, my team set out to create a simple solution for salons that allowed them to control and set the temperature of the water in a shampoo bowl using an electronic interface. The system would maintain a steady state temperature that was preset by the stylist. It also allowed for the stylist and the client to make incremental temperature changes without drastic changes to the system. The biggest innovation to this design was that it coupled directly to an existing faucet handle with the simple removal of 1 set screw. This made it incredibly versatile and easy to install for anyone and does not require any alterations to the plumbing. This device ended up working really well. In the poster linked below, you are able to see how it met all of our customer requirements and even see a video of the device in action. We took second place in the Malott Innovation and Design Competion at Purdue amongst all ME Undergrad senior design projects.

In my second to last semester, I was tasked with creating a MatLab script that would determine many fundamental values of a 6 Bar Linkage. This project focused on two variations of the simple machine: A Chebychev linkage and a Watt II Machine. We were provided the input angles and velocity and had to calculate the forces, input posture of each link, the speed of each link, and the position of various instantaneous points on the machine. Please review the report for background and the overall findings including all calculations, charts, and equations.

One of my most recent project was in Heat and Mass Transfer Lab. In that lab, we were placed on small teams and were tasked with creating an experiment to demonstrate multiple topics that we had learned in the process of the course. My team designed an experiment to see how free convection and material properties of a frying pan affects the maximum temperature, time to heat, and time to cool. We designed the experiment and ran it using three different types of pans. For a full detail of the methods and results feel free to check out the report!

In my second internship with Rivian, I was tasked with managing the curtain airbag functionality testing. I managed this testing through coordination with the test house to ensure we were able to have time at their facility to test including using the environmental chambers, collaborated with the DRE's responsible for the parts to ensure the setup was correct, worked to get the Purchase Order's for the testing, and had to solve issues that appeared during testing on the fly including limited parts available to complete the testing as necessary. NOTE: The image is just representative and is not taken from my actual time of managing airbag deployments.

Another task furing my second internship was managing and collecting federal certification testing data for all interiors components. This testing included all interior components (over 500 total) to show successfull passing of FMVSS 302 as well as data for FMVSS 201 and others. I had to regularly work with DRE's and suppliers to gather this data and ensure that all of the provided data was within the federal specifications. NOTE: The image used is just representative of the Rivian R1T.

Another recent project of mine was through my CAD and Rapid Prototyping course in the spring of 2021. In this class, the primary goal was to create a new mechanical toy with a small team. My team drew our inspiration from Purdue Basketball, designing 'Mackey Mania' a 2 player baksetball themed pinball style game. Each player had 2 paddles and a goal to score on. The goal was to score on your opponents goal by hitting it into their slot while avoiding the spinning and sliding obstacles on the board. A full breakdown can be seen in the report!

When I first joined Rivian, they were still going through the process of developing all of the interiors testing methodologies for the R1T and future vehicles. I spent much of my first summer working on developing these specifications based on SAE, ISO, ASTM, and DIN standards to create robust testing methods for the interiors. I specifically wrote many of the material level tests for interiors that are required to receive material level approval. I also wrote multiple component level testing for the vehicle interior. NOTE: The image used is just representative of the interior.

In the spring on my sophomore year, I was first introduced to many of the mechanical engineering product design strategies through the sophomore design course. In this class, the goal was to develop a product that is currently not on the market that can make someone's life better. My team worked on designing a freezer lift shelf that would be intended for use by the elderly and disabled who own drawer freezers and struggle to access the items in it. While the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic halted the ability to prototype the device, a full CAD model and report were created to demonstrate its feasibitlity and design.

In my final semester before transitioning into mechanical engineering, I was on a team for the first year engineering course that had the task of building a small robot using a RaspberryPi, GrovePi, and BrickPi to navigate a maze, avoiding magnetic and infrared signals. The robot was also aimed at depositing cargo in a friendly manner. The overarching theme was for a small-version prototype of a robot that could be used in disaster areas to deliver needed supplies.

During my very first semester at Purdue, the first year enginering course I was in had the goal of using a Raspberry Pi, Grove Pi, and Brick Pi to build a small robot meant to follow a line, overcome obstacles and hills, and deliver cargo to a specified location. This robot was meant to represent a small scale martian rover for a possible future where food and other resource replenishment is necessary.