I grew up taking things apart and figuring out how they worked, and somewhere along the way that turned into a habit of building things from scratch. By the end of high school I knew I wanted to design hardware for a living — preferably something that has to perform under real conditions, not just sit on a desk.
What pulls me toward mechanical engineering is the loop. Design something in CAD, build it, test it, see exactly where the design fell short, redesign. That feedback cycle is what I show up for. I'm equally drawn to the side of the work where hands matter — machining, fabrication, fitting parts that didn't quite line up the first time. Theory and shop floor aren't separate things to me; they're two halves of the same problem.
Right now I'm gearbox lead for Michigan FSAE's MR27, designing an in-hub planetary gearbox and upright assembly. I'm also a project team member at BLiSS, where we build NASA X-Hab proposals — last year I owned the lower-half prototype for our entry, LATCH. This summer I'm joining Toyota R&D as a powertrain co-op, and I'm aiming at internships in aerospace or motorsports for summer 2027.