Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technician Prototype Integration, CAD

JOSHUA GERARDO MEDEL

209-***-**** *************@*****.*** linkedin.com/in/jmedel209 View Portfolio ȧ PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Physics graduate with hands-on experience in mechanical design, FEA, CAD, electro-mechanical systems, and experimental fluid sys- tems. Developed and integrated a miniaturized redox-flow battery system, reusable rocket structural hardware, and motion-control projects using ANSYS Mechanical, Siemens NX, SolidWorks, Fusion 360, and MATLAB/Python. EDUCATION

University of California, Santa Barbara Graduation: June 2026 Bachelor of Science in Physics Santa Barbara, CA

Relevant Coursework: Advanced Mechanics, Thermodynamics & Statistical Physics, Electromagnetism, Analog & Digital Electronics, Experimental Physics, Advanced Laboratory, Vector Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability & Statistics TECHNICAL SKILLS

Engineering / Design: GD&T, CAD, Additive Manufacturing, FEA CAD: Siemens NX, Fusion 360, SolidWorks

FEA: ANSYS Mechanical

Programming / Software: MATLAB, Python, LATEX, C++, Excel Hardware Integration: Electromechanical Assembly, Soldering, Crimping, Microcontrollers, Motor Drivers, Encoders, Stepper Motors, Servo Motors

EXPERIENCE

Electro-Chemo-Mechanical Device Development Intern BioZen Batteries June 2024 – September 2024

• Designed and integrated a compact microcontroller-controlled peristaltic fluid-delivery system with high-resolution encoder feedback and a hybrid motor driver for precise, repeatable electrolyte flow control.

• Led mechanical packaging and prototype integration of a miniaturized redox-flow battery system, reducing its volumetric footprint by approximately 90% relative to legacy laboratory test hardware.

• Developed a precision sliding-rail assembly mechanism and multi-layer O-ring/gasket sealing interfaces, enabling rapid, repeatable component installation and leak-free operation with corrosive electrolyte fluids. PROJECTS

Reusable Rocket Frame Design Gaucho Rocket Project Sept 2025 – June 2026

• Collaborated on the primary structural frame for a reusable, vertically landing rocket; led the structural architecture, FEA, and material-selection effort for the load-bearing baseplate and rail system.

• Designed a four-rail 6061-T6 aluminum architecture and custom mounting plates to support the reaction control system, propulsion, and recovery subsystems while maintaining alignment and stiffness under thrust, shock, and lateral landing loads.

• Performed static structural and transient thermal FEA in ANSYS and SolidWorks, maintained stresses below 6061-T6 yield strength with a factor of safety of 4.

ISS Tracker Pedestal Integration Independent Project April 2025 – July 2025

• Built and programmed a two-axis ISS-tracking pedestal that used current two-line element (TLE) orbital data to calculate target azimuth and elevation.

• Integrated an Arduino-based control system with a 28BYJ-48 stepper motor and ULN2003 driver for repeatable azimuth positioning, plus an SG90 micro-servo for elevation control.

• Assembled and wired a 3D-printed electromechanical enclosure using a 5 V power input, motor-control hardware, slip-ring routing, and soldered/crimped connections for reliable moving-axis integration. Solar Table Engineers without Borders Jan 2024 – September 2025

• Contributed to the construction of a solar table project using CAD, enhancing campus sustainability and providing outdoor study spaces with integrated charging stations.

• Created detailed engineering drawings for manufactured parts to support precise fabrication and assembly of solar-powered charging stations.

GeckoRov Subsurface Exploration Robot Proposal NASA L’Space June 2023 – August 2023

• Developed a NASA L’Space proposal for GeckoRov, a wall-climbing, self-folding robot concept intended to expand Mars exploration into caves, cracks, and subsurface terrain.

• Evaluated microspine-gripper climbing and shape-memory-polymer folding concepts to enable mobility on rough terrain and passage through confined spaces.

• Defined system-level performance targets of 10 lb dry mass, a 32 12 6 in unfolded envelope, and a 2 in folded height. JOSHUA MEDEL

*************@*****.*** 209-***-****

This portfolio showcases selected engineering design, analysis, and prototyping projects completed during my undergraduate studies, including rocket structural design, CAD modeling, and experimental fluid systems.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA

B.S PHYSICS, CLASS OF 2026

WWW.L INKEDIN.COM/IN/JMEDEL209/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 - HALO ROCKET STRUCTURAL SUBSYSTEM Pg 3-5

2 - MINIATURIZED REDOX FLOW SYSTEM Pg 6-8

3 - 2-AXIS THRUST VECTOR CONTROL GIMBAL Pg 9-11

(In progress)

4 - SOLAR TABLE Pg 12-13

5 - CLASS WORK Pg 14-16

HALO

ROCKET

STRUCTURAL

SUBSYSTEM

GAUCHO ROCKET PROJECT

Engineered a lightweight, modular

aluminum airframe that met all mission-

critical requirements:

Sustaining a maximum thrust load

exceeding 2,300 N

Achieving a factor of safety above 1.5

Keeping total structural mass under 30

kg

After identifying critical shear and

thermal failure risks in an initial carbon-

fiber concept, I led the architectural pivot

to a robust four-rail aluminum design.

Overview

Design Engineer (Co-Lead)

Working with my design partner, I led the structural architecture, FEA, and material selection for the rocket's primary load-bearing baseplate and rail system.

Designed the four-rail aluminum architecture with

bulkhead load distribution, replacing an earlier

carbon-fiber concept.

Ran static & thermal FEA (SolidWorks, Ansys) under thrust, shock, and lateral loads.

Caught a critical bolt edge-distance (E/D) failure mode and corrected the bore sizing.

Selected 6061-T6 aluminum over composite after

evaluating modeling risk and thermal limits.

MY ROLE & Aluminum

APPROACH

GAUCHO ROCKET PROJECT

Transient Thermal FEA (Ansys) validating the thermal limits of the aluminum architecture against steel alternatives.

Steel

Static Structural FEA (Ansys)

revealing ~50 MPa maximum

shear stress concentrated at the

inner bolt holes, driving the E/D

ratio optimization and material

pivot from carbon fiber

TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION

Technical Design Report HALO Design Review Slides

GAUCHO ROCKET PROJECT

Led the end-to-end design of a miniaturized redox flow battery system, achieving a 90% reduction in volumetric footprint compared to legacy laboratory hardware.

Engineered a custom, mechatronically-controlled peristaltic fluid delivery system.

Maintained highly precise, leak-free fluid dynamics throughout rigorous operational cycles.

Drastically reduced the financial overhead and physical space required for advanced energy storage research.

MINIATURIZED

REDOX FLOW

SYSTEM

BIOZEN BATTERIES INC

Overview

Electro-Chemo-Mechanical Device Development Intern ROLE & ENGINEERING

RESPONSIBILITIES

BIOZEN BATTERIES INC

Fluid Implementation

Maintained optimal active

electrolyte dispersion

across the cell membrane

while working within the

new, highly constrained

physical footprint.

Stacking & Sealing

Compressed multi-layer stack

and Designed precision O-ring

grooves and gasket layers to

guarantee zero-leak

operation of highly corrosive

fluids.

Mechanical Packaging & DfA

Condensed the bulky legacy testbench.

Engineered a custom alignment feature

(a precision sliding rail mechanism) to

guarantee error-free, rapid insertion of

internal components without specialized

tooling.

Cross-Functional Integration

Finalized the mechanical and firmware

integration of the system’s custom

peristaltic pump, directly linking the

mechatronic fluid delivery to the battery

cell stack.

DOCUMENTATION BIOZEN BATTERIES INC

Concept sketches, Whiteboard

brainstorming, 3D-printed prototype Before After Developed a Closed-Loop PID Control,

integrating an MPU6050 6-DOF IMU

over an I2C pipeline

Engineered a concentric nesting-ring

structure with 3.2mm line-bored pivots to

guarantee zero-bind, orthogonal Pitch

and Yaw articulation.

2-AXIS THRUST

VECTOR CONTROL

GIMBAL

(IN PROGRESS)

Overview:

Develop an active Thrust Vector

Control (TVC) prototype to

dynamically stabilize an

aerospace vehicle against

physical disturbances.

INDEPENDENT

Aerospace-grade mechatronic stabilization

and closed-loop avionics.

The hardware actuates a simulated rocket engine nozzle across orthogonal Pitch and Yaw axes, generating an artificial torque moment that steers the airframe. This allows the vehicle to maintain directional stability and reject physical disturbances without relying on aerodynamic control surfaces.

Twin high-torque servos are completely decoupled

from the microcontroller and driven by a dedicated 5V/3A external power supply to prevent system

brownouts during heavy vector sweeps.

Actuator and Arduino logic grounds are physically

tied together, guaranteeing absolute PWM signal

integrity while protecting the flight computer from inductive motor kickback.

The MPU6050 IMU is powered directly by the

Arduino's clean 5V logic rail, maintaining an

uninterrupted I2C telemetry data pipeline.

MECHANICAL

ARCHITECTURE

Closed-Loop Avionics

INDEPENDENT

The first prototype focused on understanding the 2-axis gimbal concept and validating closed-loop PID control with an MPU6050. It successfully demonstrated real- time counter-steering on the benchtop.

The new design prioritizes practicality under a 90 mm rocket diameter constraint (In Progress).

DESIGN OPTIMIZATION

Improvements:

Fixed custom linear actuators

above the base plate

Pushrod + ball-joint linkage to

a real motor tube

Better packaging and load

path for flight use

Remaining work:

Finalize linear actuator mounting

Add ball joints at actuator tips

and motor-tube connections

Design a compact electronics

compartment for wiring and

flight computer

INDEPENDENT

SOLAR

TABLE

ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS

Overview

Contributed to the construction of a solar

table project using CAD, aimed at enhancing

campus sustainability. The system was

engineered to provide functional outdoor

study spaces equipped with integrated solar-

powered charging stations.

ROLE &

RESPONSIBILITY

Modeled parts of the structural

chassis in CAD, ensuring rigid

mounting requirements of the solar

array.

Created detailed engineering

drawings for custom manufactured

parts

ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS

CLASS WORK

AM Radio

This project built a custom circuit to generate,

optically transmit, and demodulate an AM

signal. It combined a 100 kHz carrier with a 5

kHz message, transmitted it wirelessly via an

LED and phototransistor, and successfully

recovered the original waveform using op-

amps and a low-pass filter.

Lab Paper

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA

CLASS WORK CONT.

Analog Calculator

This project used LM741 op-amps to

build a real-time analog calculator

capable of continuous signal

subtraction and integration. By

cascading a summing amplifier and an

inverter into an integrator stage, the

circuit successfully computed the

mathematical integral of the difference

between two input waveforms Lab Paper

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA

CLASS WORK CONT.

Characterization of He-Ne Laser

Properties

This experiment characterized a Helium-Neon laser

by measuring its degree of polarization, beam

waist, and beam divergence. Experimental data

revealed a strong 97.6% linear polarization, a 0.523 mm beam waist, and a 1.625 mrad divergence,

successfully validating the laser's manufacturer

specifications.

Laser Properties

Paper

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA

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