Headline

Principal Mechanical-Thermal Engineer | MIT | Apple | ex-HP | ex-Applied Materials

About

I am a Principal Mechanical Engineer with expertise in electro-mechanical product design, thermal management, concept prototyping, and production manufacturing. I have contributed to many successful products in the following categories and companies: * 1U/2U/3U rack-mount HPC servers/storage at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Apple, SGI (acquired by HPE) * fiber optics & photonics packages at Oclaro (acquired by Lumentum), Google (formerly Sierra Photonics) * life science biotech instruments at Applied Biosystems (acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific) * consumer electronics (workstations/laptops/displays) at HP, Apple * semiconductor wafer fab capital equipment at Applied Materials (PVD & Etch divisions) * automotive (self-driving car's cold plate CFD analysis via ECS consulting for GM Cruise, solar-electric vehicles through MIT Undergrad Research Opportunity Program [UROP], plant operations via Ford as undergrad internship) * communication satellites at Hughes Space & Comm (undergrad internship) and VPX chassis (SPI/Google) * IoT product (consumer plastics & industrial electronics) at View * silicon validation hardware (Apple) Key areas of contribution in thermal-mechanical systems engineering include: * rapid product development cycles (Pre-Proto, Proto, EVT, DVT) * product architecture feasibility study (power budget, cooling system selection) * 3D printed prototypes * mechanical product design iterations with Industrial Design (ID) team * 3D CAD & 2D (Solidworks, Creo, Wildfire, Pro/Engineer, UG NX, Teamcenter, PDM) * structural FEA (familiar with Ansys Mechanical, Solidworks Simulation Premium) * thermal CFD simulations (expert in Icepak & Flotherm from chip package power maps to 42U rack) * cooling technology (heatsinks, heat pipes, vapor chambers, TECs, cold plates, liquid cooling loops, TIM - thermal interface materials, fans / blowers) * advanced materials investigations * acoustics testing for consumer products * PMI project management (risk management, financial approval processes, product management) * competitive analysis & benchmarking * invention disclosures and technical papers for industry * teamwork, making decisions * presentation preparation for executives I am eager for career advancement opportunities in R&D or engineering management. I've been awarded 4 U.S. patents and earned a BS Mechanical Engineering degree from MIT as well as an Executive Certificate in Leadership & Management from MIT Sloan School of Management. I also acquired a professional Certificate with Distinction in Project Management from UC Berkeley.

Location

San Francisco Bay Area

AI stack

claude code

kilocode

llmapi

perplexity

Work experience

Sr. Mechanical Design Engineer (Thermal) at Apple, Aug 2020 - Present · 5 yrs 11 mos, Cupertino, CA, Full-time job. Silicon Engineering Group (SEG), Hardware Technologies (HWT), Silicon Validation Hardware (SEG SiVal HW), Hardware Systems Engineering: -Lead analysis of SoC (system on a chip) floorplans to create simplified thermal power maps for heatsink design. -Identified and tested advanced TIMs (thermal interface material) for sockets -Re-meshed inherited models to 10% of original cell count to solve in <2 hours and added parametric power tags in Icepak CFD (V19.2, 2021, 2022). -Created reference designs which were used by multiple socket solution development partners. Utilized Spaceclaim to convert CAD to CFD blocks. -Led development of closed loop socketed AIO (all-in-one). -Achieved thermal correlation for multiple SOC cooling hardware designs with Icepak CFD models, TTV heaters, and initial silicon with stress code. -Coordinated power measurements and trained co-workers in thermal/power test methodology. Identified discrepancies and patterns to drive cross-functional teams to fix issues with their code. -Mentored internal team and socket partners on thermal technologies (vapor chambers, heat pipes, machined parts, fan parameters, TIM selection). -Created detailed PCB and PMU models for chipset thermal management. -Presented thermal results to department of 25+ engineers and Mechanical Team in daily staff meetings. -Setup 2D beam bending models with force and constraints -Calculated acoustics for multi-fan systems by using fan laws. -Attended 2024 IEEE HIR Symposium. -Attended 2026 Semi-Therm conference (1 day).

Sr. Technical Program Manager (TPM) & Lead Mechanical Engineer at View, Inc, Aug 2019 - May 2020 · 10 mos, Milpitas, California, Full-time job. IoT Product Design. ViewSense Devices. -Led hardware engineering teams from concept through detailed design execution in areas of mechanical, thermal, ID, and hardware systems integration. -Collaborated with VP HW, Lead EE, and Lead Firmware Engineer on technical requirements in order to complete PRD and ERS. Updated top-level BOM during architecture. Coordinated meetings quickly to accelerate patent filing process and product development. -Identified, managed, and prioritized technical issues for multiple local product design engineering partners. -Initiated and ordered critical mechanical software and hardware for new department (Ansys Icepak CFD, Solidworks CAD, HP Z8 workstation, lab hand tools, measurement equipment, dev kits.) -Completed thermal feasibility analysis of new electronics packaging form factor with Icepak 2019-R2/R3 CFD software. Utilized Spaceclaim to transfer CAD to CFD. -Planned View's new Engineering Lab configuration by providing specifications and layout. -Identified miniaturized chip package technology for critical function in future product roadmap. -Conducted detailed design reviews of extruded parts with coating and provided mechanical guidelines to stakeholders. Wrote statements of work for mechanical analysis. Integrated results during product development. -Co-inventor of new product design. Listed in patent filing. -Completed product tear downs of 4 consumer products for mechanical plastic part insights and shared with team. *Note: Due to the pandemic, View was restructured by half and offered 5 months of furlough without pay; this job ended with a package. I returned to Apple with a significant upgrade in total compensation. View had its public IPO on 3-9-2021.

Senior Thermal Engineer at Electronic Cooling Solutions, Inc., Jun 2018 - Aug 2019 · 1 yr 3 mos, Santa Clara, California, United States, Full-time job. Role: Lead, manage, and perform thermal architecture case studies in Ansys Icepak CFD (V19.1, R1-2019) and Flotherm V12.1 CFD. Most air cooled and liquid cooled projects involve extremely high powered components and latest chipset packages designed for use in: - telecom networking module, - biotech sequencing instrument, - autonomous self-driving car chipset cooling, - chipset test fixture assembly, - telecom server chassis, - forced air convection gamer chassis, and - portable handheld consumer electronics. Achievements: * Utilized Solidworks CAD 2018, Ansys Spaceclaim, FloMCAD, and FloEDA to simplify CAD shapes and import board files for CFD analysis. * Initiated and wrote thermal reports for strategic clients. * Collaborated with team to optimize workflow and thermal solutions. * Implemented liquid cold plates for multiple clients in steady state and transient analysis in Icepak. * Researched new graphite thermal interface materials and presented to client. * Converted large Icepak file to Flotherm format with ECXML and re-meshed model in Flotherm until correlation was achieved with original Icepak. * Wrote thermal technology technical white paper and long abstract for EPTC-IEEE 2019 conference. Note: I was recruited away from ECS with a career opportunity in new product development at View, a pre-IPO start-up, as a Sr. Technical Program Manager. Before joining ECS, I was recruited by GM Cruise as a Thermal Engineer which later became referral of new business to ECS.

Sr. Mechanical Design Engineer at Applied Materials, Oct 2016 - Jun 2018 · 1 yr 9 mos, Sunnyvale, CA, Full-time job. Etch Advanced Technology, Silicon Systems Group (SSG), Semiconductor Product Group (SPG). (Full-time job.) Role: Designed machined parts, sheetmetal, and plastics with Siemens UG NX11 3D CAD and managed parts in TeamCenter 11 PLM softwate for Etch chambers from Concept to Customer Eval release. Supported lab tests. Achievements: * Led cross-functional system team meetings across multiple regions and internal AMAT business units (CSG, CAE, Etch, GPS). Organized and presented Concept Design Review with Senior Systems Project Manager to Applied Materials senior executives within two weeks to meet accelerated schedule. * Integrated DIN rail mounted electronics unit to chamber frame which enabled electrical communication. Structured BOM into kits for retrofit in field. * Designed ESC Lift Fixture. Completed 3D modeling in NX11 and all 2D drawings with BOM for custom retained bolt, plastic bumper, machined metal handle, sliding plastic shim, and protective skins. Calculated bolt thread stress and beam stress. Simulated beam in Ansys 18.0 FEA. Met 50% cost reduction and passed proof load test. *Updated gas lines for manufacturability, cost reductions, and process performance. Researched new materials and coatings. Identified high performance VCR gasket filters. *Managed critical new parts inside new Etch chambers with advanced features to address trace metal contamination, particles, bond protection. * Designed and constrained sheetmetal bracket with flanges to mount electronics box to frame. Moved electronics box to allow for cable clearance. Designed steel sheet metal bracket to protect emergency button on chamber frame. * Working knowledge of GD&T from 2 days of classroom training on ASME Y14.5-2009. Note: I quit to pursue a better career opportunity since the business climate for semiconductor equipment had changed.

Sr. Thermal Mechanical Engineer (Adecco at Google Contract) at Google, Jul 2015 - May 2016 · 11 mos, Livermore, CA, * Worked in Sierra Photonics division (formerly LLNL opto-electronics team) acquired by Google Access BU's Wireless Division of Alphabet Inc. Accomplishments: -Appointed as Lead of chassis product development which includes integration of system requirements, team collaboration, thermal data presentation, and management of schedule. -Generated and resolved thermal simulation models in ANSYS Icepak CFD R16.2 in order to meet aggressive environmental specifications for opto-electronics packages, board modules, and chassis systems. -Identified all components (fittings, tubing, cold plate, fluid, clamps, chiller) for a closed loop liquid cooling system for testing of prototype hardware. Sourced measurement instruments, temp sensors, and thermal interface material for prototype testing. -Researched new materials to improve thermal efficiency of designs. Note: This was a successful 10 month contract which led Google to initiate paperwork to convert me for full-time employment. However, the Access division at Google cut off all Air programs within 6 months after Alphabet Inc. was created through restructuring Google in October 2015, so contractors were let go and reqs were not filled. I moved on to AMAT as my next job.

Education

BS, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Executive Certificate, Management & Leadership, MIT Sloan School of Management