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Alex Popov

3/2 Mechanical Engineering: Physics & Computer Science (Mathematics minor) — University of Redlands • Expected April 2026

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🎯 Summary

Hands-on student engineer leading the SEDS Redlands chapter as President and Project Lead. I have devoted my project and academic work to building, studying, testing, and advancing drone, HPR (rocketry), and UAV systems. I design and build systems end-to-end: CAD/composites, embedded control (ESP32/Microcontrollers), RF/LoRa communications, software data dashboards, and AI on Jetson Nano/Google Coral/Raspberry Pi. I’ve led multi-member rover, aerospace, rocketry programs, built a drone-data pipeline with the Redlands GIS department, and run a solar-powered crypto mining operation (Apop Mining). Along with engineering, aerospace, robotics, embedded s;ystems, and more, I have worked on several crypto and web3 projects and study the future of blockchain and smart contract tech. I believe that the direction of aerospace whether that's defense or commercial will heavily depend on autonomy in the future and therefore I'm very committed to advancing aerial systems in this field.

🏫 Education

💼 Experience

SEDS Redlands — Project Lead, President (Sep 2023 – Present)

  • Led CAD modeling and simulations for rovers and rockets (SolidWorks/Onshape, MATLAB/Simulink).
  • Coordinated 3+ cross-functional subteams; grew active membership to 20+.
  • Directed a multi-terrain rover with robotic arm; improved design iteration speed by ~30%.
  • Launched L1 rocketry certification track and composite/fiberglass build program.

FedEx — Administrative Assistant Intern (Jun 2024 – Aug 2024)

  • Supported compliance/reporting/KPI tracking; helped raise Santa Clarita CSAT by 20%.

🧪 Projects (Selected)

Custom Fiberglass Rockets (SEDS)

  • Avionics integration; stability & drag calculations; thrust-to-weight optimization.
  • OpenRocket + MATLAB; parachute deployment recovery systems; certification-ready L1 build workflow.

Multiterrain Rover (SEDS)

  • Fully customized chassis: jackshafts, bearing mounts, sprockets; custom frame; custom mounts, pillow-block bearings, drivetrain.
  • ESP32 motor control over LoRa; Jetson Nano video; planned Jetson-based computer vision based autonomy and telemetry dashboard.

Drone-Based Data Collection (with Redlands GIS)

  • Deployed drones for aerial imaging; Python pipeline processing; GIS integration for faculty projects.
  • Supported Professors and GIS graduate students in data collection and documentation.

Object-Avoiding Vehicle (PHYS310)

  • Autonomous obstacle avoidance using cameras, ultrasonic & IR sensors; custom Python dashboard.

Apop Mining

  • Solar-powered GPU/ASIC operation with automated control, HVAC, and remote monitoring.

🧰 Core Skills

Mechanical & CAD

SolidWorks CAD design, composite airframes (fiberglass/carbon), chassis design and integration, DFM/tolerancing.

Embedded & Control

ESP32/Jetson Nano/Google Coral, motor drivers, sensors, RF/LoRa, PCB layout design, circuitry, power systems.

Software & AI

Python, C/C++, Tensorflow, Pytorch, OpenCV, LLM (Gemini) Jetson/Coral/Raspberry Pi, software data dashboards, basic computer vision models, AWS, Docker.

Analysis & Simulation

MATLAB/Simulink, OpenRocket, stability & thrust/drag calculations, telemetry pipelines.