Jaxton Willman - Engineer and Gator

Profile

To secure an interdisciplinary role as a System Engineer where I can use my experience in designing advanced systems and collaborating with cross-functional teams to contribute towards the growth and success of the organization

Resume

About me

Engineer. Since I was little, I knew I was going to be an engineer because I've always loved solving problems. I wanted to start with biomechatronics because I was inspired by Hugh Herr and his work in bionics. I chose to pursue mechanical engineering with a focus on biomechanics and a minor in computer science. I want to take an interdisciplinary approach to my work as I enjoy the integration of all aspects of engineering. It is this integration that interests me the most. I plan to continue learning electrical engineering to grow my skill set and ability to approach a problem from all angles.

Gator. I attended the University of Florida from 2018 to 2022 and enjoyed my time there. I am proud to be a part of that community. Whether going to football games or engineering events, I was there and proud to be a part of the Gator Nation. I was with the Solar Gators team at the Circuit of the Americas for the Formula Sun Grand Prix, and it was an amazing moment as our whole team got into our Gator chants. Even other colleges joined in! And I love giving back what I can to that community, especially as a mentor.

Innovator. This is what gets me up in the morning. I love coming up with interesting functional designs and introducing new ideas to my projects. In Solar Gators, I convinced the executive team to allocate team members to design and integrate an electronic steering wheel with buttons that could control all the functionality we had been wanting. Akin to a consumer car, the steering wheel would allow cruise control, various power efficiency driving modes, and conform to ASC regulations all over CAN bus. I was excited to oversee a new design that would improve driver comfort and effectiveness. In my senior capstone project class, the design constraints were challenging. But because one of my proposed designs incorporated a simple but functionally complex flower petal folding mechanism, our team was the only team that managed to follow the design constraints. Then the constraints were changed, and we adapted. I enjoy innovating and want to do more of it. Finding new ways to do things efficiently is the part of engineering that excites me most. I want to push the envelope to develop things for people they didn't know they wanted. The future is so exciting, there are crazy cool innovations in technology being developed today, whether it's battery tech or software and it's easily going to change how people live their lives. These are innovations I want to be a part of - I'm excited about them.

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Experiences

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems

Associate Pathways Systems Engineer

Apr 2023 - Present

Northrop Grumman Designed and maintained a netlist and mapping between a 15-slot SOSA-compliant 6U VPX chassis backplane, 21 LRUs, the backplane connectors, D38999s, and the rest of the system. Designed the chassis of the combined Master Oscillator (MO) and Master Generator Unit (MGU) and created a Source Control Drawing (SCD) and Interface Control Diagrams (ICDs) for all affected external IO of the NextGen transceiver initiative. Created multiple versions of ICDs to support the preliminary design review (PDR) with the Navy. Devised new solutions that simplified design requirements for other team members and made cabling more efficient and presented them to IPT leads and managers. Analyzed spectral leakage (sidelobes) interference with GPS signals to avoid problems during flight test maneuvers. Expanded a code base in MATLAB and created plots to summarize and demonstrate the multi-variable test analysis. Worked with a team of three mechanical engineers at Smith's Interconnects in Kansas City to identify failure modes of POGO pins for the antenna Power Logic Assemblies (PLAs). Successfully identified the issue as a quality failure in spin crimp and worked with the supplier on a Root Cause Corrective Action (RCCA) to find a path forward for a solution to a problem thought solved more than four years ago. Baltimore, MD

Education

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Minor in Computer Science and Information

Cum Laude Honors

May 2022 • GPA: 3.44

University of Florida We had a great well-rounded curriculum that pushed us to work collaboratively on group projects. During my time at UF, I pursued a minor in Computer Science and Information and was able to take several classes in biomechanics. I was very interested in the intersection of engineering and biology and wanted to pursue something akin to biomechatronics. I am interested in all aspects of engineering and am looking to be more interdisciplinary. I want to further my education in electrical engineering as well. I am excited to use my education to build things to improve people's lives. Gainesville, FL

Computer Science Study Abroad in Japan

Jun 2022 - Aug 2022

Kyoto University The course in cross cultural engineering allowed me to explore Japan and taught me how to design products for other cultures. As an official student of Kyoto University (すごい!), I had the opportunity to interact and work with the Japanese students on a research paper. In the other course I learned how to use Python in performance focused applications as a team. My experience in Japan was amazing and I was glad for the opportunity to do a trial run of living and working there. I really hope to return in the future! Kyoto, Japan | Study Abroad

International Bacalaureate Diploma

Aug 2014 - May 2018

High School - IB Program My higher-level courses (HL's) were in Physics, History, and Math. My extended essay (EE) was in history on the topic "To what extent did McCarthyism Influence the Verdict of the Rosenberg Trial". Palm Harbor University High School

Research

Saxena Lab for Neural Control

Feb 2021 - Jun 2022

System identification and control of anatomically accurate biomechanical human limb models • Applied controls theory to motor control of a biomechanically accurate human arm model • Investigated neurological disorders in a model of the sensorimotor control system • Developed scripts to automate data analysis and processing on the UF HiPerGator supercomputer • Presented my research to more than 400 other undergraduate researchers and professors at the UF Research Symposium and Nueromatch conference My Research | Saxena Lab for Neural Control | Research Video
University Scholars Program • 1 of 200 students out of 60 majors awarded the UF University Scholars Program scholarship for undergraduate research • Reached out to and worked with Dr. Saxena on a project to investigate neurological disorders in a model of the sensorimotor control system • Presented my research to more than 400 other undergraduate researchers and professors at the UF Research Symposium Center for Undergraduate Research Profile
Neuromatch Conference 4.0 • Selected to present my research on system identification and control of anatomically accurate biomechanical human limb models Neuromatch Conference 4.0 Flash Talk
UF NVIDIA AI for Science Bootcamp • Placed first out of 13 teams in both deep learning hyperparameter optimization challenges Event

Engineering

Thermal Sciences and Design Lab

Dec 2021 - May 2022

Teacher Assistant • Mentored students in the laboratory with experiments, data analysis, and report writing • Graded and provided feedback on student reports to improve engineering communication skills • Revised course documents and website weekly with the professor to improve the student experience • Trained faculty and students on Cummins diesel engine teardown sessions

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Feb 2021 - May 2022

Peer Advisor • Communicated with over 300 students to assist with college planning and career development • Conducted behavioral interviews to hire Advisor 1 candidates for the department

Mechanical Engineering Capstone Project

Aug 2021 - May 2022

ARX Thermal Team Member • Designed a heliostat capitalizing on small-size innovations under $100 to meet DOE guidelines to meet customer constraints for an industry partner as part of an eight-member team • Leveraged decision matrices and binary trade studies to choose an optimal design • Created drawings with GD&T according to ASME Y14.5 and manufactured heliostat • Achieved functional verification closures of the heliostat through rigorous performance and environmental testing and code reviews Interactive Project Page

UF Solar Gators

Feb 2018 - Jul 2020

Mechanical/Electrical/Systems • Integrated new solar car controls into an improved version of the steering wheel • Coordinated and managed the effort to enhance solar vehicle subsystem communications with CAN 2.0b and STM MCUs • Designed the chassis in SolidWorks weldments for manufacturing with VR3 • Reduced the weight of critical suspension components by 20% with topology optimization • Orchestrated new member retention program with custom mini-engineering projects Instagram

Design and Manufacturing Laboratory

Jan 2018 - May 2020

Competition Team • Designed concepts for a robot to manipulate balls from a tree into a bucket while navigating a course • Numerically compared team member concepts with decision matrices to validate design choices • Modeled robot subassemblies and off-the-shelf parts in SolidWorks to create a dynamically moving robot • Created drawings with proper dimensional tolerancing, GD&T and manufacturing notes • Manufactured and assembled a robot for a tennis ball competition Interactive Project Page

UF Gator Game Jam

Jul 2021

Programmer/Creative Director • Team had 39 hours to focus on the art, design, and development of a game • Designed core gameplay mechanics and implemented scripting and animations in Unity • Implemented project management and revision tracking with Trello and GitHub Event

Projects

WEBSITE ALERT: THIS SECTION IS CURRENTLY ONGOING DEVELOPMENT. The individualized project pages are not done and the captions for each project are not very informative.