Background and Experience

I am a curious, creative, technically savvy generalist with a strong understanding of foundations. I enjoy working hard with great teams to solve problems.

I have a BS in Mechanical Engineering (CS & IT minors). I’ve worked across the startup ecosystem in the Bay Area and internationally. Currently, I’m also a graduate student pursuing my research interests.

< 2015

In my youth, I spent most of my time outdoors—training animals, reading, and exploring. I’ve always been drawn to minds. Early on, I found my way into hacker spaces, bio-labs, and maker communities, where the ethos was simple: dream it → build it. That mindset has shaped how I approach everything since.

I led clubs like astronomy and robotics, organized community events like New Moon Nights, and competed in things like NASA’s Great Moonbuggy Race. Somewhere in there, I also started and ran a small Italian ice business.

2015 - 2020

I took the idea for a fixed-wing UAV platform from concept to flight-ready reality—building the team, forming the partnetships, leading development, and managing the project end-to-end for a firm supporting government work in surveillance and air quality. I identified the opportunity, secured the partnership, assembled the team, and guided the project from concept through to execution—including platform design, CAD, testing, and field validation. This effort resulted in the company’s first UAV platform and helped them secure additional contracts.

I worked as a manufacturing engineer and lead software developer at a Juniper Networks spinoff. I helped build out manufacturing operations, initiated and led modern cybersecurity efforts, and worked across engineering, quality, finance, and legal to develop infrastructure, data systems, and real-time data systems. These efforts enabled scalable growth, supported just-in-time production, and led to >50% reduction in operational cost and ultimatively over $1M in savings. The company was later acquired.

I co-founded a resource management company based in Haiti. We exceeded our funding goal by 20% and spent two years prototyping distributed micropower systems, including plastics reuse and biogas systems for rural communities. I built full-stack microserver systems in resource-constrained environments, worked with incubators like Banj, collaborated with universities, and spoke at events like Tech Beach in Jamaica on distributed energy and culturally grounded engineering. Operations ended in 2020 due to regional instability.

2020 - 2025

I spent the early COVID years volunteering, reading, and meditating. I worked freely on personally meaningful projects—often in underserved communities and systems that typically lack access to skilled engineering support. I focused on solving hard problems without commercial incentive, contributing where I could make a tangible difference (e.g. empathy dispatch network, non-violent communication AI mediator).

I spent a year on what I affectionately call an “intellectual walkabout”—reading research papers, primary source material, often old or unpopular philosophical works, and thinking deeply. This time offered me a deep reset that brought clarity about how I will use my skills and time moving forward.

I then returned to academia to pursue the big questions that have lived in me since childhood—about the nature of mind and the diversity of cognitive experience.

I’m currently a graduate student whose work and research are motivated by my own neurodivergent experiences and grounded in engineering systems where recognizing, communicating with, and supporting diverse forms of mind is integral.