PAX-1 Competition Rocket

Through my time at the University of Pittsburgh I've had the ability to pursue my rocketry passions at Pitt SOAR. I have now spent 2 years with the club serving as the Mechanical Lead, but as you'll see below the breadth of my responsibilities reaches far further than just the airframe. The picture above is of me representing our club on the international scale at the IREC competition holding the active control system which I developed.

Videos and Photos

CAD Modeling

In my role as Mechanical Team Lead for Pitt SOAR, I championed the integration of professional-grade 3D modeling workflows into our student-run rocketry club. The something the team had never formally implemented before. Over the past two years, I have:

• Built a full-scale digital twin: Modeled our competition rocket at 1:1 scale in SOLIDWORKS, enabling virtual assembly checks, interference analyses, and precise alignment of structural and payload interfaces.
  
  

• Streamlined procurement and manufacturing: Generated a comprehensive bill of materials directly from CAD assemblies, improving part traceability and reducing ordering errors by 30%.
  
  

• Developed custom tooling and fixtures: Designed and iterated on a suite of jigs, leveling tools, and subsystem prototypes (e.g., fin alignment tool, motor mount fixture), cutting fabrication time by 25% and ensuring repeatable tolerances.
  
  

• Produced industry-standard manufacturing drawings: Leveraged ASME Y14.5 GD&T and proven shop-floor drawing conventions to create detailed fabrication prints, facilitating clear communication with external machine shops and minimizing rework.
  
  

• Mentored and standardized: Trained incoming cohorts on CAD best practices, file-management conventions (PDM basics), and collaborative modeling techniques—fostering a culture of documentation, version control, and peer review.
  
  

By leading the adoption of these CAD-driven processes, I’ve not only elevated our club’s technical capabilities but also honed my ability to translate complex design requirements into manufacturable, optimized components—and to pass those skills on to the next generation of student engineers.

Leadership and Sponsor Outreach

• Strategic Partnership Development: Identified and secured sponsorships from industry leaders. This includes but isn't limited to, OSH Park for PCB discounts and part sourcing, Aquajet Services for precision water-jet carbon-fiber cutting, Fire Risk Alliance for composite lay-ups, and by crafting tailored proposals that aligned our technical needs with sponsor capabilities and branding goals.
  
  

• Cross-Functional Team Leadership: Coordinated a multidisciplinary team of 20+ students across mechanical, propulsion, avionics, and electronics sub teams; set clear milestones, delegated responsibilities, and facilitated weekly design reviews to keep the project on schedule and within budget.
  
  

• Sponsor Communications & Reporting: Maintained transparent, regular updates through status reports, technical presentations, and demo sessions; provided sponsors with detailed progress metrics, risk assessments, and ROI analyses, reinforcing trust and unlocking incremental funding for prototype iterations.
  
  

• Event & Conference Representation: Represented Pitt SOAR at regional rocketry symposiums and campus showcases—managing booth design, delivering technical talks, and networking with potential sponsors and academic partners to expand our support network.
  
  

• Budget Oversight & Resource Allocation: Developed and tracked a $40,000 project budget, prioritizing expenditures, negotiating in-kind contributions, and reallocating funds responsively. This ensured optimal use of sponsor investments and to maximize component quality and team capability.
  
  

Recovery and Pyro Management

• Dual-Stage Parachute Deployment: Engineered a redundant recovery architecture featuring both drogue and main canopies. Designed and manufactured a bulkhead‐mounted parachute compartment with shear‐pin retention, ensuring reliable deployment at programmed altitudes.
  
  

• Black Powder Pyro Charges: Developed and tested custom black-powder charges for parachute ejection. Optimized charge size (4-6g BP) and delay timing to achieve consistent canister pressure, validated through over 50 static firings on a calibrated test stand. Incorporated charge containment inserts and vent paths to direct gas flow and protect composite airframe walls.
  
  

• Flight Computer & Ejection Circuit Validation: Testing of all pyro channel outputs from our SRAD (student research and developed) flight computer to ensure a safe flight  and subsequent separation events. This was done directly in tandem with the Avionics team to resolve any bugs in the system.
  
  

• CO₂ Backup Charges: Designed a secondary CO₂-powered deployment system as a fail-safe. Modeled valve dynamics and calculated required 8g and 12g CO2 canisters to eject drogue chute if the primary pyro system fails. Validated cylinder sizing and valve response in a controlled lab setup, achieving reliable actuation on the first attempt in over 20 trials.
  
  

• Safety & Certification Protocols: Drafted SOPs for handling, storage, and transportation of pyrotechnic materials in compliance with NFPA 1122 guidelines. Led team-wide safety briefings for safety and awareness of all  potential hazards within the rocket.
  
  

Fabrication of PAX-1

• Precision Leveling & Alignment: Established a controlled assembly station using digital calibers and machinist’s levels to ensure rocket sections such as the airframe tubes, bulkheads, and fins, all were aligned to within 0.1 mm. Developed simple leveling fixtures so underclassmen could repeat the process reliably, minimizing cumulative misalignment during build-up.
  
  

• Hands-On Power-Tool Training: Led workshops on safe operation of band saws, drill presses, belt sanders, and CNC routers. Under my guidance, junior team members mastered proper fixturing, feed rates, and cutting speeds for both aluminum and carbon-fiber composites, building confidence and reducing scrap rates by 40%.
  
  

• Surface Finish Optimization: Defined sanding and priming protocols to achieve smooth, paint-ready surfaces on both metal and composite components. Introduced wet-sanding techniques (up to P800 grit) and adhesion-promoting primers, improving final surface roughness (Ra) from 12 μin to <4 μin and elevating aerodynamic performance.
  
  

• Modular Subsystem Assembly: Oversaw the step-by-step physical integration of avionics bay, recovery bulkhead, and motor mount. Taught students to use torque wrenches, alignment pins, and peel-ply release films to ensure repeatable mounting tolerances and clean demolding of bonded joints.
  
  

• Quality Assurance & Documentation: Instituted checklists for every fabrication stage including, material inspection, tool calibration, dimensional verification. This allowed each part’s fabrication history was traceable. This process not only caught errors early but also instilled disciplined workmanship across the team.