Sebastian Bernal

About Sebastian Bernal

Undeterred and industrious undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) graduating in May 2022. Upon graduation, I’ll be pursuing a one-year MS program in Electrical Engineering. I specialize most in the areas of digital and analog design. I’ve immersed myself in the world of aerospace through internships at Northrop Grumman, and I\'m especially interested in flight hardware development. I\'ve been supporting the MoonRanger lunar rover program, since July 2020. The team is in the final stages of testing and integration before we close up the rover in June 2022. I\'ve held various leadership positions in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, SPIRIT buggy, and MoonRanger. I\'ve organized fulfilling community service events, led panels with experienced engineers, dragged other students to 6 a.m workouts with the buggy team, and I’m currently leading test platform upgrades in the MoonRanger workspaces. As a first-gen, low-income Hispanic student at CMU, I\'m always looking to serve as a role model and inspiration for those with similar upbringings.

Experience

1. Avionics Member

   Moonranger

   Jun 2020 — Present · Pittsburgh, PA, US

   Created a 50+ page design review and standards guide for PCB designers that outlines Altium documentation procedures, board revision schemes, best practices for schematic and PCB layout, and references standards such as and Designed, hand-assembled, and tested first revision, two-layer PCB using Altium that implements basic latch-up protection/power cycling using automotive load-switches and various passive components. Testing was conducted with an oscilloscope and programmable load. Iterated on a requirements document for a two-layer PCB meant to enable the rover’s perception in the dark while navigating on the Moon. Requirements were used to design the board in Altium, perform hand-assembly, and perform functional tests. Refined power system and interface requirements as rover continued to mature, referencing typical NASA standards such as the Ames Technical Standard ARC-STD-8070.1. Keeping track of rover energetics during various operation modes and solar panel lighting conditions to use a MATLAB script that estimates battery state-of-charge throughout the 14-day mission Coordinating with other subteams to ensure our 3 rover test platforms are ready for verification and validation activities before System Integration Review (SIR).

Education

• Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering

  Bachelor's degree, Electrical & Computer Engineering

  2018 — 2022