Adrian Lopez

About Adrian Lopez

Mechanical Engineering student at UC Riverside and FE Mechanical Certified (EIT Candidate) specializing in Aerospace Propulsion and High-Pressure Fluid Systems. As a Propulsion Structures Engineer for the Highlander Space Program, I bridge the gap between complex design and physical hardware by managing BOMs, releasing revision-controlled NX models via Teamcenter PLM, and troubleshooting assembly fit-up issues on the shop floor. I am a bilingual engineer (English/Spanish) with a deep technical foundation in GD & T, DFM, and structural analysis, dedicated to optimizing manufacturing workflows for mission-critical aerospace and mechanical systems.

Experience

1. Propulsion Engineer

   Highlander Space Program Ucr

   Jun 2024 — Present

   Led design of 8+ high-pressure assemblies, selecting Inconel to survive extreme thermal and structural loads.• Defined 15+ structural joints per NASA-STD-5001, owning bolt patterns, sealing, and alignment features.• Executed Simcenter Nastran FEA to verify structural margins across 3 operating regimes and vibration modes.• Released 20+ machinable NX models and fully-dimensioned drawings for first-article inspection.• Iterated hardware through rapid prototyping and static fire testing to validate seal integrity under pressure.• Developing a lbf LOX/Ethanol rocket engine; procured fluid system components (valves, fittings, tubing, seals) via supplier coordination within a 3-month build window• Routed cryogenic LOX/ethanol feed lines in NX, resolving conflicts with avionics packaging; validated routing via physical mock-ups before final tube bending and flaring• Designed regenerative cooling channels sustaining 9 psig ethanol and °F wall temperatures; routed heat flux through channel geometry to protect structural walls from thermal failure• Instrumented hot-fire tests with pressure transducers and thermal DAQ; correlated telemetry to simulation models across 3+ iterations, confirming combustion stability and thrust performance• Defined 15+ NASA-STD-5001 structural joints; released 20+ revision-controlled NX models through first-article inspection under Teamcenter PLM

Education

• University of California, Riverside

  Bachelor of Science - BS, Mechanical Engineering