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SAM·BURNSmechanical engineer

Experience

SpaceX

Incoming Avionics Mech. Eng. Intern · Starship Electronics
June 2027Hawthorne, CA

Joby Aviation

Mechanical Eng. Intern / Part-Time Mechanical Eng.
Sep 2025 – Oct 2026Santa Cruz, CA

8VC

Summer Fellow
Summer 2026San Francisco, CA

nTop

Modeling & Automation Intern
May – Aug 2025New York, NY

Terra Labs

Project Manager / Mechanical Engineer · COVE Arm
2026 – presentLos Angeles, CA

USC Viterbi

B.S. Mechanical Engineering
2023 – 2027Los Angeles, CA

Passive magnetic bearing · 3U CubeSat reaction wheel test rig · in progress

Lead mechanical designer, team of four. USC AME 441aL, Aug 2026 – present.

0Parts in the rig
0Custom parts, GD&T drawn
0.00mmStack-up fits
0µmFlywheel eccentricity budget
0.01N·m·sWheel momentum
0Drawing revisions
  1. Flywheel

    C360 brass, Ø70 mm, 422 g.

  2. Structure

    6061 aluminum on an 80/20 frame, 3D-printed fixtures. A camera tracks the rotor's orbit; a reaction torque sensor measures torque across the bearing.

  3. Air gaps

    2, 3 and 4 mm. Three magnet journals on one shaft, flywheel and housing.

  4. CAD

    15-parameter Siemens NX model. 11 drawings to ASME Y14.5-2018.

  5. Machining

    11 parts, CNC-turned and 4-axis milled at USC.

Test runs

ORBIT VIEW

Full runBalanced to 17 µm by our talented machinist. Yes, it is spinning. Pre torque sensor arrival.

Orbit viewPS3 Eye through the sapphire window, 187 fps. 1 mm grid set from the 29.5 mm bore; the marker tracks the ball centre.

Drawings

Exploded view drawing of the bearing test rig with a 35-item parts listG11-0000 Exploded view and parts listGD&T drawing of the 6061-T6 bearing housingG11-2100 HousingGD&T drawing of the magnet cartridgeG11-2120 Magnet cartridge

Build

Assembled test rig: 80/20 frame, aluminum plates, housing and motor
Machined brass flywheel and shaft, aluminum housing and magnet journal
Housing from above with the four magnet cartridges installed
Brass flywheel with the zirconia contact ball

Terra Labs · COVE 7-DOF robotic arm

Project manager and mechanical engineer, Terra Labs at USC. Feb 2026 – present.

presentation
presentation
first prints
machined parts
finished arm
load demo

Assembly and live demo

Assembly
Live demo

nTop
Designing an Automation Pipeline for High Fidelity Design Space Exploration

Modeling and automation intern, nTop New York. May – Aug 2025.

nTop wing CFD visualization
Read the technical brief

Custom 10 N thrust stand

USC AME 341b. Aug – Dec 2025.

The stand's 80/20 frame going together, with the motor mounted on the load cellThe finished stand inside its mesh guard, seen from above
Mechanical design
Table-clamped cantilever stand on a 1 kg binocular beam load cell, with custom motor and base adapters.
Electronics
Arduino, HX711 amplifier, TCRT5000 IR tachometer, 30 A ESC, 1000 kV BLDC. 3S LiPo, 11.1 V.
Calibration and procedure
Load cell and ESC calibrated, PWM mapped to RPM. Automated sweep logs steady-state thrust and RPM over 4 s windows.
Characterization
APC 9×6 and 9×4, five trials each across the RPM range. Thrust uncertainty under ±3%.
Analysis
C_T, C_P and figure of merit. C_T within 4.3% of the UIUC propeller database.

HR One · ultra-long-range business jet

CAD and geometry lead, USC AME 261. Jan – May 2025.

HR One business jet design
Read the design report

Photos

Contact

sam burns

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