Notable Projects
Apereon Imaging - CamScope Adapter
The CamScope is a customizable monocular that permits the user convert their DSLR lenses into mini telescopes, offering full control over lens type, zoom, optical quality, and aperture adjustment, features that are not generally available on commercial monoculars. To design the CamScope, I used Fusion 360 and went from an idea to being available on Amazon in just under 3 months.
You can find out more about the CamScope at www.apereon.com or on its amazon page at www.amazon.com/dp/B0DVC9B5VQ
Apereon Imaging - StarSnap
The StarSnap is a telephoto camera that allows someone to use a standard DSLR camera lens as a telephoto lens for their cell phone camera. This project was developed over the past 6 months, and I formed a company around this and other products made for astrophotography.
The StarSnap magnifies traditional DSLR lenses 10x - so a 135mm lens, for example, would be 13.5x magnification. This product currently has working prototypes, is patent-pending, and is in the final stages of development to be used for all types of cell phones. See more at my company website, www.apereon.com.
2024 Master's Thesis in Engineering Design at the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia
My master's thesis focused on creating an optical system that passively increases light recieved by a camera or telescope eyepiece, resulting in increased brightness of stars or astronomical targets for astrophotography.
During the development of this project, I optically modeled light paths in Fusion 360 and MATLAB, created various prototypes and tested a prototype that was mostly 3D printed and with inexpensive optical components. The prototype showed an increase of 30% in overall brightness of the image when compared to a traditional camera lens.
The renders, photographs of the prototype, and resulting test images and results can be seen here. Design and model is Patent-Pending.
2023 Summer Internship in Optomechanical Engineering at Mettler-Toledo
I created this device for calibration of an interferometer while working for Mettler-Toledo Autochem in Columbia, MD, using PTC Creo for optical and mechancial design. It uses a linear actuator controled by Arduino to bring mirrors into place during calibration of a RAMAN Spectrometer using a polystyrene sample. The video shows the actuated version, and the photo below shows an earlier manual version for mirror testing and placement.
2020/2021 Yearlong internship for MIT Haystack Observatory - Conference paper
ICES-2021-149_1.pdfThe Mars Oxygen ISRU experiment (MOXIE) is a payload on the 2020 Mars rover Perseverance that tests the conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen for future Mars missions.
As an intern on the MOXIE project from 2020 to 2021, I worked with top MIT scientists to computationally model the expected dust loading rate on the MOXIE filter using COMSOL. This is important to know because dust clogs the filter and therefore can affect oxygen production.
With the help of my mentors, I published a paper detailing my results and presented it to the International Conference on Environmental Systems.
2021 Summer Internship at NASA JPL - Thermal analysis and modelization
In the summer of 2021, I participated in an internship for NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. There, I computationally modeled gas warming of carbon dioxide entering the MOXIE system. This is essential to understand because the increased temperature effects the density of the intake CO2, and therefore the total oxygen production level.
My model used Thermal Desktop and AutoCAD, and was controlled through a MATLAB program to allow automatic iterative simulations. The model predicts gas warming with a error rate of under 15% when compared to previous MOXIE runs.
Motorized Equatorial Mount for Astrophotography - Hobby project
Since the Fall of 2021, I've been working on a hobby project in my spare time. This is an equatorial mount that allows a camera to move slowly to counteract the motion of the earth when taking long-exposure photographs.
This project was entirely designed, printed, and built using 3D printing, standard hardware, waterjet parts and more! The current version even has a PCB to replace the breadboard and wires, and I'm always looking for more ways to improve it!
Telephoto lens - Hobby project
This is a telephoto lens I built for a DSLR camera. It features a mechanical iris aperture and was made of 3D printed parts and a PVC tube. I designed and printed everything using Solidworks and Cura. The lens is a f/1.8 convex lens, and I was able to get decent photos with my DSLR!
Wooden desk with planets and epoxy resin - Hobby project
This was a project I made using wood and epoxy resin! I laser etched the planets on using an Epilog laser cutter at Terrapin Works after processing real planetary images in photoshop and adobe illustrator. The desk is solid and you can see it used above in the telephoto lens project. :)
Motorized Telescope Mount with Image Processing - School project 2020
In 2020, I build an equatorial mount controlled by a potentiometer for a large 6" telescope. This was built entirely from scratch and I used a waterjet, laser cutter, 3D printer, and much more to create a stable design.
This was my final project for my electronics class, and included a rough MATLAB data analysis of stellar data. This is the precursor to the camera mount above.
Engineers Without Borders Technical Drawings Lead - Extracurricular
EWB_CAD.pdfFrom 2017 to 2022, I was an active member in the UMD Engineers Without Borders - Nicaragua team. For 2 years, I was the CAD subteam lead, and I traveled with the team to implement our designs.
In El Cacao, Nicaragua, a community has been struggling with water distribution and availability. Our team designed a system to help distribute water at an elementary school, and went to El Cacao in January of 2020. The project was an incredible experience and I learned a lot about Nicaraguan culture and engineering practices.
3D printed Egg Scrambler Without Breaking the Shell - (bored during lockdown)
The title pretty much says it all - I love making things, even if they maybe aren't the most necessary! This project used a ninja blender I already had, as well as a 3D printed insert consisting of 2 printed parts and a LOT of ball bearings! Designed entirely in SolidWorks and printed on an Ender 3 with Cura slicing.
The trick with this was that the blender actually spun too fast - A lot of the eggs exploded in testing due to the extreme centripetal force. That's why in the video, I have the egg in a plastic bag, and why I'm only tapping it instead of pressing down for the full time.
At the end of the video, I use a light to check if it scrambled. If it is unscrambled, more light would pass through the egg, so I can use it to tell if the scrambler was successful.
Astronomical Observations and MATLAB Analysis - Capstone Astronomy Project
Astrophotography - Just for fun!
I enjoy learning about science and the universe!
A hobby of mine is astrophotography, and I've been using an old Nikon D90 to take long exposure photos.
These photos were taken in a range of places, and processed by stacking together up to 600 images! I hope to continue with this passion and I enjoy looking to the stars!