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Smit Kapadia

Smit Kapadia

Design Lead

location of Smit KapadiaComposites Manufacturing & Simulation Center

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  • Timeline

  • About me

    Aerospace Engineering Student @ Purdue University

  • Education

    • Purdue University

      2021 - 2025
      Bachelor of Engineering - BE Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering 3.81 / 4.0

      Activities and Societies: Purdue Space Program Liquids Team Purdue Outing Club 2021-22 Dean's List and Semester Honors

    • Lilavatibai Podar Sr Secondary School

      2010 - 2018

    • Millburn High School

      2019 - 2021
      High School Diploma 3.82 / 4.0

      Activities and Societies: NASA Space Exploration Club (worked on NASA challenges for high-school students)- Editor for Millburn High School's Key Club student chapter (promoted community service events, published Monthly newsletters and Weekly Agendas)

    • American School of Paris

      2018 - 2019
      General Studies 3.6 / 4.0

      Activities and Societies: INK Magazine Club (School Literary Magazine Club) - Interacted and collaborated with students from various backgrounds and nationalities in an International school, both in the classroom and the INK Magazine Club (where I edited and critiqued literary work)

  • Experience

    • Purdue University EPICS (Engineering Projects In Community Service)

      Aug 2021 - May 2022
      Design Lead

      • Led Drafting Team to create site plans sketches in AutoCAD for a tribal college in South Dakota, with objective of improving geospatial documentation of their campus infrastructure• Presented site plan sketches to industry professionals during Design Reviews and implemented constructive feedback to improve drawings• Updated Project Partner at the tribal college on a weekly basis to ensure our team met requirements

    • Purdue University

      Aug 2021 - May 2022
      Purdue Photography Club

      • Mentor peers in various photography techniques - lighting, compositions, post-processing• Participate in wide variety of photo shoot such as landscape (nature), portrait and urban photography

    • Purdue Space Program: A SEDS Chapter

      Mar 2022 - now

      • Owned design, analysis and integration of lower airframe struts and fins; worked closely with responsible engineers in Fluids and Avionics team to optimize strut dimensions for plumbing clearances and mounting of avionics equipment• Created CAD and engineering drawings of struts and fins in NX with GD&T principles• Machined 3 subscale fins to test feature alignment between operations; reduced machine time and ensured repeatability• Optimized strut mass through stress, flexural and torsional buckling analyses using hand calculations and Ansys FEA• Evaluated stress concentrations for various design iterations to meet Safety Margins and conducted FEA mesh convergence• Mentored peers in performing FEA mesh convergence studies, and results validation with hand calculations Show less

      • Manufacturing Engineer

        Jan 2024 - now

      • Lower Airframe/Fin Can Responsible Engineer

        Nov 2022 - Feb 2024

      • Simulations Team Co-Lead

        Mar 2022 - May 2023

    • School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University

      May 2022 - Jul 2023
      Undergraduate Research Assistant

      • Prepared CAM (Fusion 360) and machined steel 4340 engine shaft on CNC lathe, using tailstock• Conducted 40+ Customer Discovery interviews (virtual and at Drone and Energy Conference) to assess needs and challenges (flight time, safety concerns, etc.) of implementing micro-gas turbine engine in various industry sectors

    • (SURF: Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship)

      May 2023 - Jul 2023
      Undergraduate Student Researcher

      • Integrated 3-Axis accelerometers with Arduino to measure vibrations of Micro Gas Turbine engine during testing• Created CAM and machined engine mounting plate on HAAS 3-Axis CNC Mill• Created CAD and engineering drawing for test stand in SolidWorks• Procured test hardware (bolts, mounting brackets, and thermocouples)

    • Ansys

      Aug 2023 - Dec 2023
      Mesh Testing Intern

      • Developed Python script to reduce test runtime from 30 hours to 5 hours for Axisymmetric meshing of 1400+ CAD files.• Migrated 100+ JavaScript mesh regression tests to Python, leveraging regex, dictionaries and Ansys Mechanical APIs to enable faster test debugging • Improved node and element validation for contact regions, welds, and revolved bodies, increasing test success rate by 39%• Reported bugs related to APIs and Ansys Mechanical to Development team for 2024 R1 release

    • Bechtel Innovation Design Center

      Feb 2024 - now
      Manufacturing Teaching Assistant

      • Consulted students in Fusion 360 CAM (Computer Aided Machining), design modifications for improving part manufacturability, work holding and tool setup• Trained students in operating HAAS 3 and 5-Axis CNC mills and lathes, horizontal and vertical bandsaw, as well as hand tools

    • Composites Manufacturing & Simulation Center

      May 2024 - now
      Undergraduate Student Researcher

      • Designed and conducted test to measure heating coil temperature for different applied strains using thermal camera and thermocouple• Determined temperature of composite tooling based on coil length using 1D heat transfer hand calculations

  • Licenses & Certifications

    • Summer Undergraduate Research (SURF) 2023

      Engineering Undergraduate Research Office
      Aug 2023
      View certificate certificate

  • Honors & Awards

    • Awarded to Smit Kapadia
      NASA App Development Challenge Winner NASA's Office of STEM Engagement Feb 2021 Participated with fellow high school students to create an app that accurately visualizes the South Pole region of the Moon to assist NASA in future mission planning activities as part of the Artemis Program. Worked on the 3D Modeling of a realistic lunar rover in Blender, referencing the design of NASA's Perseverance Rover. Collaborated with my peers to integrate rover model in the app.
    • Awarded to Smit Kapadia
      American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: Certificate of Completion American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aug 2020 - Certificate of Completion awarded for the Design of Electrified Propulsion Aircraft Course offered by AIAA.- Gained basic understanding on recent developments in EP field, propulsion architectures and various design constraints (range performance, battery weight, takeoff power, etc.); - Exposure to aircraft design process (selecting conventional reference aircraft, evaluating design constraints, modeling data consisting emissions, efficiency and aircraft performance through graphs).
    • Awarded to Smit Kapadia
      International Student Exchange with Jan Van Brabant College, the Netherlands EUMIND (Europe Meets India) International Student Exchange Program May 2018 - A student exchange program between India and Europe.- Hosted a Dutch person and visited another Dutch family in the Netherlands. Explored and experienced Dutch culture and family dynamics from the perspective of my Dutch host student and family.- Conducted presentations, followed workshops and lectures at Jan Van Brabant College, Helmond, the Netherlands and also in my home country (India).
    • Awarded to Smit Kapadia
      Trinity College London: Graded Examination in Rock and Pop guitar Trinity College, London May 2018 - A Grade 3 level exam in Rock and Pop guitar, which involves playing 3 songs of intermediate difficulty on the electric guitar.
    • Awarded to Smit Kapadia
      Certificate of Honor Embassy of the Republic of Korea. Jan 2018 This certificate was awarded to me for my participation in the ALl India 5th Korea-India Friendship Essay Competition 2017.

  • Volunteer Experience

    • Editor for Millburn Key Club

      Issued by Key Club International on Sept 2019
      Key Club InternationalAssociated with Smit Kapadia

    • Student Orientation Program Team Leader

      Issued by Purdue University on Aug 2022
      Purdue UniversityAssociated with Smit Kapadia