Huntsville, Alabama, United States
Mission: Drive cross-functional vehicle engineering projects, rigorously applying mechanical design principles to increase vehicle performance while reducing cost, complexity, and mass.
• Conducted research to assess feasibility, design, operation and performance of 2 new brake testing apparatuses. • Interacted with project leaders and stakeholders to define requirements, then generate technical documents, authoring 2 component specifications, revising 3 validation standards, and reviewing 2 additional specifications. • Prepared remedial action plans for problematic components and processes, authoring and leading 3 CAPA activities. • Led collaborative problem solving activities with 4 domestic and international suppliers.
• Investigated scope and assessed risk for 7 customer-facing quality and safety problems in ground-vehicle systems. • Dispositioned 4 years-worth of brakes warranty data, 15,000+ claims, using MS Power BI and MS Excel. • Controlled engineering activities to revise 3 procedures and to develop 1 new brake design work standard. • Identified and mitigated technical risks within managed projects using formal problem-solving tools such as Ishikawa, 5-Whys, Pioneered team usage of fault-tree analysis. • Planned and implemented large-scale design and manufacturing changes to achieve product objectives, including one project that revised 16 brake system designs across 3 product platforms.
• Applied mathematical skills and understanding of engineering principles to braking attributes of off-road ground vehicles, achieving compliance with regulations and specifications. • Spearheaded methods improvement in system design and in component characterization. • Oversaw layout, routing and integration of brake components, releasing 17 brake system projects into production. • Participated in formal internal design reviews of proposed systems and components, providing input on potential technical improvements. • Coordinated development and validation testing resources, including technicians, laboratories, suppliers, and vehicles. • Two patents awarded.
• Predicting vehicle and sub-system performance using calculations, code, CAE, and correlation tests. • Researching vehicle-industry best practices for virtual prediction of handling and durability. • Investigating test methods needed to obtain accurate setup of multi-body dynamics models. • Acquiring new CAE tools for the product-engineering group and deploying them for wider usage. • Generate virtual kinematics and compliance behavior using half-car CAD and MBD models. • Deriving load cases for chassis and suspension components via post-processing of test data. • Analyzing durability of vehicle components using FEA. • Presenting analysis results in project technical reviews. • Guiding project teams concerning effects of design changes on vehicle limit-dynamics. • Briefing new associates on suspension, brakes, and steering technologies. • Exploring future chassis, suspension, and braking options using systems engineering approach. • Preemptively mitigating design risks using rigorous DFMEA and early cross-function design involvement.
• Advance-development of handheld pneumatic tools for industrial customers.
• Development of handheld electric tools for high-end consumers.