UCI Solar Car Project

I joined the UCI Solar Car Project in spring 2019 off the strength of the drone and fitbit builds from freshman year — those projects became the foundation of my application to the team. From day one I was on the low voltage subteam, primarily working on telemetry systems and a tkinter UI dashboard for real-time vehicle diagnostics.

Through consistent contribution and delivered results, I moved up to low voltage lead the following year, then took on the role of electrical lead by the end of my third year. The team kept moving forward even through COVID — we stayed dedicated when a lot of organizations stalled — and I was able to apply everything I'd been building toward in the internships and project work to actually push the car forward.

By the time I wrapped in winter 2022, I'd been part of the team for nearly three years — longer than most — and had touched nearly every part of the electrical system. The team has kept building since. Below are some snapshots from along the way.

During the pandemic, we held our annual design review virtually. I presented as one of three leads — responsible for telemetry and low voltage. This is the full team's design review video for Fall 2020.

The "Pegboard" was our electrical test platform — a full-scale mock-up of the car's low voltage system mounted on a physical board so the team could develop, test, and debug without needing the actual car. I was responsible for the dashboard integration: a Python tkinter UI synced in real-time with physical blinker switches, headlights, and LED strips representative of the actual vehicle lighting. The video below shows it in action.

I haven't been on the team since winter 2022, but I still follow what they're building. This is where they are in 2026 — and I couldn't be more proud of what the team has become.