Andrew McPherson

Experience

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  MESA program at American River College

  Aug 2011 - Jun 2013

  MESA Tutor for Math, Physics, Chemistry and C Programing
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  UC Davis - Center for Biophotonics Science and Technolog (CBST)

  Dec 2012 - Jan 2013

  Winter Intern

  Wet lab bio skills

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  UC Davis

  Jun 2013 - Aug 2013

  Plug-in Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center, Summer Intern

  - Designed hardware for an interactive energy usage display actuated by a series of servo motor to drive 3D graphical pillars displaying real time energy usage of a given building.

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  UC Berkeley College of Engineering

  May 2014 - Sept 2014

  CITRIS Invention Lab, Undergraduate Fellow

  - Research focused on simplifying the experience for disabled users to securely enter and exit their residence independently.- Developed physical circuitry and software infrastructure to connect with Bluetooth to an existing automatic door opener via smart phone for users with significant disabilities unable to use a conventional door opener.

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  EnableTech

  Jan 2015 - Sept 2017

  Co-founder and VP

  - Co-founded the student club EnableTech which is a project-based organization that designs and builds assistive technology for people with disabilities. The goal is for engineering students to collaborate with “Need-knowers”, who either have a disability or are very familiar with a disability to build custom solutions for daily challenges.- Secured financial sponsorship for materials, space, technical mentors, local “Need-knowers”, organizational leadership and guiding insight for engaging community members and students to create an ongoing infrastructure for collaboration for both in-club and in-class design projects. Show less

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  General Motors

  May 2015 - Aug 2015

  Active Safety and Interior Design (Design Release Engineering Intern)

  - Worked with suppliers to insure parts arrived on time and met requirements, designed, ran and performed data analysis on a customer clinic to investigate JD Power customer complaints and updated current horn manufacturing specifications.- Completed Design For Six Sigma Greenbelt certification (Data driven and value added strategies), performed numerous project presentations to upper management and ran meetings.

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  TOM: Tikkun Olam Makers

  Dec 2016 - Sept 2017

  Executive Director TOM:Berkeley, Lead Facilitator and TOM Fellow

  - Attended training in New York and Israel, secured corporate and campus sponsorship of more than $15,000, lead meeting and delegated to a team of 8 organizers, purchased materials and ensured all tasks were completed as expected. - Facilitated a TOM makeathon of more than 100 makers including students and corporate mentors working with 11 community members with disabilities as “Need-knowers” to guide assistive technology projects to address challenges of daily living.

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  AbilityHacks

  Feb 2017 - Jan 2024

  Cofounder and Board Chair

  We created a 501(c)3 non-profit that makes assistive tech more accessible by connecting makers to people with disabilities. By bringing volunteers with diverse skill sets together with individuals with disability-related challenges, we create unique solutions.

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  UC Berkeley

  Aug 2017 - May 2020

  - Research focuses on developing a fully passive, variable stiffness, upper extremity exoskeleton for human assistance of asymmetric strength loss. - My Role: Project Lead, Conceptual Design, Solid modeling and simulation, Fabrication and Testing, Data collection and analysis. -Developed and taught a course for undergraduate and graduate students at UC Berkeley on design methodology around human centered design specifically focusing on the disability community.- Taught design methodology, CAD modeling, 3D printing and rapid prototyping, soldering and basic electronics, microcontrollers and project management.

  • Student Researcher- Project lead, Human-Assistive Robotic Technologies (HART) Lab

    Jan 2015 - May 2020

  • EnableTech: Assistive Technology Design, Design Course Co-Instructor

    Aug 2017 - May 2018
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  DC Design LTD

  Dec 2017 - Jul 2018

  Design the Future UC Berkeley, Co-Director

  Design the Future is a week-long, fully immersive design thinking summer program for rising 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders in which students work to solve some of the biggest challenges facing our world today.During this intensive program, created by DC Design and developed in collaboration with the Institute of Design at Stanford (the d.school) and K12 Lab Network, students work to design solutions to real problems faced by individuals with physical disabilities. Through hands-on experiences students learn to employ the design thinking process by working to address real challenges using the steps of Empathy, Definition, Ideation, Prototyping, and Testing. Show less

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  UC Berkeley College of Engineering

  Aug 2018 - Jun 2020

  Mentored students on design/mechatronics projects, guest lectured, held office hours. Developed hardware, software, and instruction manuals for course activities. Updatedmechanical design and testing procedure for orthotic hand device. Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering 193/292, Upper-Extremity Prosthesis Design:Co-developed and taught a hand prosthesis design course focused on myoelectric prosthetics.Taught labs on mechatronics, design, motor control, haptics, Electromyography, and embedded programing.

  • Design Fellow, Jacobs Institute for Design Inovation

    Jan 2019 - Jun 2020

  • R&D Mechanical Engineer

    Jun 2018 - May 2020

  • University Lecturer

    Aug 2018 - Jan 2019
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  Nuro

  Jun 2020 - Sept 2020

  Mechanical Design Engineer

  - Perform early-stage product architecture research and component selection- CAD assemblies in Siemens NX using synchronous modeling -Spoke with vendors -Built functional, electro-mechanical prototype

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  SRI International

  Jun 2021 - Aug 2021

  Mechanical Engineering Robotics Intern

  • Worked in a team to design a next-generation inverted continually variable transmission prototype to demonstrate feasibility, leading to secured funding from Harmonic Drive for further R&D.• Explored early concept design for an active ACL support brace including prototype and testing ergonomics.

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  Cruise

  Jan 2023 - Dec 2023

  Autonomous Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle (WAV) Design Consultant

  • 1/23 – 6/23: Provided background, market research, and design feedback on vehicle usability/accessibility.• 7/23 – 12/23: Owned a design study including ideation, held brainstorming and design review sessions, engaged with stakeholders, wrote design study procedure, helped make prototypes and facilitate testing with users from the community, and produced a final report of findings with future design suggestions.