FSAE Design Engineer

In the fall of my first year at Cornell, I joined the Cornell FSAE team, drawn in by an interest to apply engineering skills and learn more about how automotive vehicles work. Since joining the team, I learned about analyzing, designing, and simulating electrical and mechanical system, as well as the importance of organized documentation of work. I was able to learn unique skills from the successes and failures of the leads of the team during my first year apply these to my work during the following two years. Although I learned almost everything I know about PCB design on the team, the most valuable skills I learned about were clearly communicating significant events, both positive and negative, as well as building people up. If stressful work is being done and it is unclear how something broke or if something is working properly, the environment will become more stressful. Additionally, if someone on a team feels unsupported and unrecognized, it is difficult for them to feel comfortable putting in more time to solve problems. Taking these ideas, I did my best to encourage younger members of the team to feel comfortable trying new things and being honest about making mistakes, something that I did not feel was actively encouraged.

Me in the automotive lab next to ARG22
Me in ARG22 at the FSAE EV Competition at Michigan International Speedway
ARG22 In Progress

CSSC President

I knew from the day I arrived at Cornell, I wanted to be part of the ski club. I did not know much beyond that, but I knew that I wanted to conquer mountains and chase fresh snow, so if work needed to be done to get there, I would be the first in line to help out. I attended social events and ski trips my first year, offering to help out with setting up and cleaning to make events run smoothly. At the end of the year, there was an election where I was encouraged to run and continue helping the club, so I took on the role of social media and website design chair. I had been using Instagram for years and in high school, I designed my own website as a school project, so I felt confident that I would know how to accomplish tasks or how to find the necessary resources to teach myself. During this year, I saw how important communication was for a group's success and the necessity of improvisation in unexpected situations.

As the end of my first year on the ski club executive board came to a close, the current co-presidents were set to graduate so I ran for co-president hoping to fill the boots of the previous presidents. I worked closely with the other co-president and the treasurer to make sure the club was financially on track as well as managing the website when our website manager had to step away from the club for personal reasons. My experience with the club in my early years at Cornell helped me understand what was needed to help the club run smoothly and overcome moguls along the way.

CSSC at Lake Louise
Me (Right) and Zach Marshall (Left), CSSC Co-Presidents 2023-2024
CSSC tabling at Cornell's bi-annual Club Fest

Eagle Scout

I started my journey as a scout in early elementary school when my parents had me join the local pack as a tiger scout. Initially, scouting was something that I had to do, mainly fun things like building pinewood derby cars, launching model rocket kits, baking cookies, and learning about morse code. Eventually, there was a crossover ceremony and I became a boy scout rather than a cub scout. I did not know what was significant about this besides a new uniform, a new handbook, and a new troop. Unbeknownst to me, things would be quite different. Rather than having weekly meetings with little dedication needed outside of scheduled times, boy scouts presented more opportunities for me to explore new topics more in depth as long as I was willing to put in the time and effort to learn. Within the first two years, I grew annoyed with how the troop was being run as within troop meetings, the same content was being presented over and over so I felt that there was not much to gain from the troop. I took a short break from scouting to realize that the program is larger than the troop and if I am interested in making a change in the local organization, I have the power and voice to do so. With this knowledge, I returned to scouting reinvigorated to explore, learn, and make positive changes. I followed through the necessary requirements for each rank, aiming to meet or exceed expectations and being fortunate enough to have the support of my family, friends, and scouting volunteers. Upon receiving the award of Eagle Scout, I was a Brotherhood member of the OA, the honor society of scouting, and had completed 41 merit badges, including lifesaving, cooking, and personal fitness.

My Eagle Scout project consisted of the design, fundraising, logistical organization, manufacture, and assembly of an outdoor classroom including a pea stone base safe for young children and a set of five benches for a full class to be hosted outdoors. Many thanks to Mr. Andrews - former fifth grade science teacher at the school and a dedicated advisor to the project; Mrs. Horton - my scout leader who I would have been unable to figure out all of the necessary paperwork without; Peter Wilcox - my father, who supplied his woodworking expertise and helped navigating the entire process from a simple idea to the final implementation; and finally, a big thanks to the many volunteers who dedicated their time to manufacturing wooden benches, clearing the area for pea stone, laying the pea stone, and transportation of all of the materials. This project would not have been a success without you.

My parents and I at my Eagle Scout recognition ceremony
The complete deliverable of my Eagle Scout project
My scoutmaster and I at my Eagle Scout recognition ceremony

SSCS Volunteer

As an electrical engineer who grew up surrounded by engineering opportunities such as high school robotics, math competitions, app development projects, and STEM fairs, I learned a variety of technical and organizational skills by solving unique problems with different groups of people. When I was asked to help SSCS run an Arduino competition, I was happy to help contribute as I had personal experience working with microcontrollers. During the first year of the competition, I promoted the competition to different schools across the United States and Canada through email and flyer handouts. Once all of the competition submissions were submitted, I judged each one using a rubric to determine how the submissions would be ranked. The contest was deemed a success and is expanding internationally this year with the theme of "Solutions to Climate Change." The contest website can be found here.

At the end of the first year, I was asked if I wanted to volunteer in helping run the competition again and I agreed. I enjoyed helping the first year, but was somewhat dissatified with my performance and decided to try expanding my work, reaching out to more schools and helping to update the website. Although the current year is not over, I am hoping that we will be able to reach a larger audience to further spread electrical engineering education with reduced financial or social barriers to entry.


EDAC Member

Starting in the Fall of my second year at Cornell, I was invited to join the Engineering Dean's Advisory Council due to my experience with tutoring, project teams, and grading on campus. These roles gave me a unqiue insight and connections with other students that allowed me to better represent my peers than I would be able to otherwise. Within these meetings, we would discuss topics including mental health, professional development, and Cornell's theme year "Freedom of Expression", in the contexts of: how these impact engineering students, are these things common knowledge or should more effort be put into promoting them, and are there any possible solutions or improvements that can be implemented? Serving on this council has given me an opportunity to make a positive difference within the engineering college and make my peers requests heard.


HKN President

I was recently elected the president of the Cornell chapter of Eta Kappa Nu. We are currently in a period of rebuilding the society from member loss following Covid-19, but have made progress in revising induction practices. Stay tuned for updates!