Materials Engineer/Physicist, here to break down problems and concepts with you! :)

Daniel's resume

Education
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign August 2015 - Present
Bachelor of Science, Materials Science and Engineering; Expected Date of Graduation: Aug 2020
Bachelor of Science, Engineering Physics GPA: 3.60/4.00

MSE 405: Microstructure Determination PHY 427: Statistical Mechanics PHY 460: Condensed Matter Physics
ECE 488: Semiconductors and Devices MSE 406: Thermal-Mech. Behavior ECE 481: Nanotechnology
MSE 402: Kinetics Processes in Materials PHY 498: Superconductivity for Quantum Devices MSE 466: Atomic Scale Simulations
Relevant Coursework:


Honors and Awards:
● Dean’s List Aug 2015 – May 2016
Top 20% in the Engineering Dept. UIUC
● Edmund J. James Scholar Aug 2016 – May 2018
Honors Program UIUC
● Earl J. Eckel Scholarship April 28th 2017
Outstanding Scholastic Achievement UIUC

Industry Experience:
Argonne National Lab Illinois, USA
Research Aide May 2019 – Aug 2019
● Designed and set up a thermal stage for MOKE microscopy, to study magnetic phases in thin film alloys
● Developed Micro-magnetic simulations using mumax3 to study skyrmion field interactions
● Created code to study the magnetic phase space of spin waves required to create skyrmions
● Grew thin film magnetic samples using magnetron sputtering

Touchlight Innovations Illinois, USA
Engineering Intern Jan 2017 – May 2017
● Designed sensor circuits to measure triboelectric and piezoelectric energy generation
● Developed an online system to gather information from sensors
● Collaborated with investors and engineers to develop engineering solutions towards product integration



Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
Engineering/Commercial Banking Intern June 2015 –July 2015
● Reviewed and catalogued new materials from construction companies
● Assisted and shadowed investment modelling
● Attended ADCB’s workshop on Conflict Management

Research Experience:
Lyding Group Illinois, USA Undergraduate Researcher May 2018 – Present
● Developed a novel dry-etch wet transfer technique for graphene surface reconstruction of Si
● Optimized quality of PS nanosphere assemblies by using Environmental SEM to study point defect concentrations created due different processing conditions
● Calculated the entropy of crystal formation due to equilibrium processes and used it to calculate environmental conditions required to minimize defect formation
● Built a LAMMPS simulation to study effects of colloid size and concentrations on quality of crystal formed

Small Things Considered (Huang Group) Illinois, USA
Undergraduate Researcher Aug 2016 – May 2018
● Developed Exfoliated Graphene samples and studied them under AFM and Raman
● Designed code to calculate the density of ligands bonded to the Gold Nano-rods
● Formulated code to create TEM tomography through simulations of single molecules of DNA
● Collaborated with Prof. Huang to build a stage for a high temperature vacuum furnace


Teaching Experience:
MSE 307: Materials Laboratory 1 Illinois, USA
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Aug – Dec 2018, 2019
i. Thermoelectric Energy Conversion
Theories explained: Seebeck Effect, Peltier Effect, p-n junction charge carriers
Lab Responsibilities: Explaining circuit design, along with testing, calibration and repairs of Peltier set up

ii. Absorption and Humidity
Theories Explained: Spin Coating Theory, Henry’s Law, Langmuir Theory, Flory Huggins Absorption and adsorption and QCM resonance
Lab Responsibilities: Spin Coating thin films, substrate preparation, Soft baking polymer films in Vacuum furnace, QCM set-up and calibration, N2 dry and wet gas flow meter control

iii. Thermal Stress and Strain
Theories Explained: Thermal dependence and connection to atomic potentials, Elastic modulus connection to acoustic resonance in solid geometries, Stress and strain microscopic origin
Lab Responsibilities: Explaining ASTM Standard E1876-09 measurement of Youngs modulus, Dilatometer furnace application to measure the thermal coefficient of expansion

iv. Pyrometry
Theories Explained: Blackbody Radiation- Plancks Law, Stefan Boltzman's Law, Wein's Displacement Law, Density of States, Bose-Einstein Statistics, Kirchoff's Laws of Emissivity and Absorptivity
Lab Responsibilities: Testing (LiTaO3) Pyroelectric detector Set Up, explaining data analysis methodology towards the calibration and study of different materials emissivities and thermal dependences

MSE 402: Kinetic Processes in Materials Illinois, USA
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Jan - May 2019, 2020
● Developed homework and quiz solutions on different kinetic processes such as diffusion, Chemical Reaction Kinetics, Phase transformations and Micro-structural Evolution
● Held office hours to encourage development of fundamental approaches towards tackling kinetic problems from a synthesis perspective
● Developed additional problems from research and lab experience to help prepare students for quizzes and midterms

Project Highlights:
ECE 481: Nanotechnology Jan 2018 – May 2018
● Optimized assembly of single crystal PS and Silica microspheres for plasmonic metal deposition
● Characterized Kinetic factors to develop an analytical solution to minimize the entropy of the system
● Developed a piezoelectric PVDF substrate for controlled plasmonic resonance
● Optimized synthesis using code and UV-vis to study relationship of homogeneity to ligand concentrations

MSE 395: Senior Design Jan 2019 – May 2019
● Synthesized tetrahedral gold nanoparticles and seed crystals using ligand exchange mechanism
● Developed code to detect gold tetrahedral nanoparticles in TEM images
● Tested code against ImageJ analysis using a 95% confidence t-test to find error in detection bellow a single particle

Creating Vision EOH Project Illinois, USA
Programmer/Engineer October 2015 – March 2016
● Designed and calibrated an EMG to read hand gestures.
● Programmed a virtual reality game using EMG and Live Camera feed inputs
● Integrated a live video feed of the user’s surroundings into the virtual reality

Technical Skills:
Programming Languages: C++, Python, MatLab, HTML
Applications: LAMMPS, Nano Hub, OOF2, Mumax3
Characterization Tools: AFM, SEM, XRD, Raman, UV-vis, NMR