Hi There!
I’m Calvin Ward
Mechanical Engineering
Projects
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CA Unused Highspeed Rail
April 2019
As part of the California High-Speed Rail Delivery Service, our group was tasked with designing an automated freight delivery system using the existing California High-Speed Rail System located in California's Central Valley.
My role in this project was to lead the team. I also fully coded the Arduino unit, and assisted with building the unit. While I did submit a design idea for the hopper it was ultimately not used in the final design. In this project, we explored the use of mechanical and electronic systems including the integration and programming of Arduino components. We discussed our delivery vehicle design, Arduino programming, testing and results, and final design improvements and thoughts.
The Great Curl
January 2019
For this project, we were tasked with constructing not only one, but two vehicles to be used in an engineering curling competition. I lead the project and kept everyone on schedule. In addition I was to build one of the 2 vehicles and to assist with the report and presentation. The goal was to create a vehicle that, once released, would move a certain distance and then stop on a target. The option of how we wanted to have this vehicle powered remained up to us; with mousetraps, rubber bands, springs, and small motors all at our disposal.
In this project, we built, tested, and tweaked a number of vehicles before ending with our final two, and in this report we will explain what we learned, and how we landed on our final two vehicle designs.
ASME international competition
December 2020 - March 2021
Last year’s competition requires teams to design and build a vehicle capable of collecting solar and wind energy to extend the duration of operation while of a remotely controlled vehicle that navigates a course and transports weights to earn points. This design is to use only a single AAA battery.
Senior Project
January 2021 - December 2021
In this project, our team of four will identify and provide an indicator for dangerous situations depending on the positions of the vehicles behind motorcyclists. We will use LIDAR to detect the distances with respect to time snippets then predict the velocities, and acceleration given those distance snippets. Depending on those three factors, we will determine if the motorcyclist is unsafe and notify them of the situation using LED indicators. The uniqueness of this experiment will be its adaptability to any motorcycle. This project is important since there are many vehicles who are rear-ended due to distracted driving; when a motorcyclist is rear-ended, the consequences could be fatal. This project is important since it will save the lives of many motorcyclists.
Education
August 2019-Â December 2021
San Francisco State University
Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering
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Completed: Physics 3, Differential equations, Material science,Statics, Dynamics, Mechanics of solids, Thermodynamics
August 2017-May 2019
Completed: Physics 2, Calculus 3, Circuits ,Transgender studies, Engineering design,
City College San Francisco
August 2013-May 2015
San Antonio College
AA Liberal Arts
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Completed Physics 1, Calculus 1, AutoCAD, SolidWorks/Inventor design
My Skills
AutoCAD
I am proficient in AutoCAD and Inventor with the addition of Solidworks.
Team Leadership
I have Led many team projects Including the CA Highspeed Rail, and The Great Curl
LGBTQ connection and outreach
Throughout my years of volunteering with different Pride events and organizations I have learned how to to celebrate and empower many of my queer friends and allies.
