And now, the rest of the story:
As someone who was once heavily engaged as a scientist and engineer, I have a tremendous amount of experience in mechanical engineering, concept design, machining, and physics.
I worked for Motorola, Inc. iDEN Advanced Technology Group as a Mechanical Engineering Intern. During my time there, I became proficient in Pro/Engineer, machining techniques, 3D printing (circa 2006), and assembly techniques. I also was an inventor on US Patent No. 7416414.
During my time at the University of Florida, I worked in Professor Tarek Saab's Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Collaboration Lab. There I worked primarily on labview program development and redesigning the dry-dilution cryogenic refrigerator's gas-handling system. In my spare time, I had the opportunity to work with the machinists in the Physics Dept.'s machine shop, learning new skills and developing a few personal projects.
Find my Full CV here.
Here are some examples of my work as a researcher and engineer.
My first major engineering project was working on the iDEN Advanced Technology telepresence robot concept at Motorola. I worked on this project from May 2006 until April 2007 while I finished my final year of high school. My high school's FIRST Robotics Team, Team 108 the SigmaC@ts, was sponsored by Motorola, and after working with their engineers for three years on FRC robots, I was given a paid internship to work on this robot.
During my time at the CDMS@UF lab, I had the opportunity to redesign the Gas-Handling System for the cryogenic refrigerator. This was an exciting project full of unique challenges, mostly around the issues regarding the types of valves, sensors, and plumbing that were available.
While at UF, I also had the great opportunity to work one-on-one with the machinists in the UF Physics Department's machine shop. There, I was able to explore some of my own interests, including building a ski-bow! I designed the riser (handle) using Solidworks, and worked with the machinists to mill the part (primarily using a 3-axis CNC machine).
I am also capable in the following programs:
Pro/Engineer, Solidworks, Labview, Max/MSP, Finale, ProTools, and \LaTeX.