Seven Roles.
One Throughline.

Rodrigo conducted undergraduate research on wire-laser Directed Energy Deposition of Inconel 718 in Northwestern’s FAST-AM Lab. He secured a $4,500 McCormick Summer Undergraduate Research Award through an independent research proposal and experimental plan, then completed fixture design, structural verification, multiphysics modeling, high-speed imaging analysis, and supporting software development.

Rodrigo characterized how substrate vibration at 50, 100, 200, and 300 Hz affected melt-pool oscillation during wire-laser directed energy deposition of Inconel 718. He used high-speed imaging to study melt-pool dynamics and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) to evaluate grain size and orientation, connecting the imposed vibration frequency to the resulting flow and grain structure.

He engineered a flexure-guided vibration stage and verified its structure in ANSYS Mechanical under operating loads including 5 g lateral acceleration. The analysis showed a maximum deformation of 0.66 µm and a factor of safety of 2.4. The fixture design balanced dynamic compliance, repeatable substrate clamping, and clearance from the laser process.

He developed a transient ANSYS Fluent Volume of Fluid model incorporating a moving laser heat source, wire feed, phase change, Marangoni flow, and variable-frequency forcing. Custom C user-defined functions supported the process and vibration inputs used to evaluate the effect of frequency on melt-pool flow.

Rodrigo investigated cavity and bubble formation in wire-laser DED through frame-by-frame high-speed image analysis. He developed a custom analysis tool with nearest-neighbor bubble tracking, polygon-based cavity-boundary tracing, contrast and region-of-interest controls, and a unified data export format. The tool made analysis sessions easier to resume, review, and share while studying cavity initiation, growth, collapse, and potential trapped porosity.

Through NASA L’SPACE Mission Concept Academy, Rodrigo led multidisciplinary development of a robotic lunar surface mission concept for exploration of permanently shadowed regions at the lunar south pole. His systems-engineering work spanned mechanical, electrical, thermal, and computer hardware disciplines.

He integrated subsystem interfaces, science payload requirements, and mission constraints into the vehicle architecture. Siemens NX supported CAD and configuration work, while JMARS supported lunar remote-sensing analysis. Technical trade studies and risk assessment informed hardware selection and system-level design decisions. The work developed a mission concept, rather than a built or flown vehicle.

Rodrigo designed, manufactured, integrated, and tested flight hardware with NUStars for NASA Student Launch 2025 and IREC 2026. His fiberglass composite airframe and Von Karman nose cone flew at IREC 2026. The vacuum-bagged E-glass structure achieved a 0.079-inch layup thickness within ±0.010 inch, with a factor of safety of 1.5 at 530 lbf peak thrust.

For NASA Student Launch 2025, he engineered a camera housing and integrated an onboard video system that recorded uninterrupted footage during test and competition flights. The design limited stability loss to below 0.1 caliber and was verified to a 1.5 factor of safety at maximum dynamic pressure. The footage provided visual confirmation of active drag-system actuation.

At Tackform, Rodrigo created 10+ vehicle-mounted components in SolidWorks, including device mounts and fairleads. He designed around automotive vibration, fastener load paths, and vehicle interfaces.

He built parametric CAD architectures to accommodate different device sizes and mounting configurations without rebuilding assemblies. Applying DFMA to components released for third-party manufacturing, he refined geometry, fastener interfaces, and assembly features to improve manufacturability and installation robustness.

At CertainTeed, Rodrigo supported the cold-end section of a fiberglass insulation production line generating over $300,000 per day in product value. He investigated mechanical and pneumatic failures, working with operators and maintenance technicians to restore production and maintain quality.

He diagnosed recurring date-coder failures and led a placement redesign supported by Onshape layout drawings. Implementation across four bagger lines reduced unplanned downtime by approximately 5% and recovered about $2,000 per day in output.

He also supported approximately $2.2 million in bagger-system upgrades by sourcing components in SAP, developing layouts, and comparing vendor quotations to improve safety and serviceability.

Rodrigo analyzed and consolidated hundreds of records across multiple data sources using SQL, Excel, and Qlik. He developed forecasting and cost models to identify trends and quantify operating drivers across a $16 billion bank.

His work connected data validation, workforce planning, and business intelligence reporting, translating operational questions into structured datasets and models that managers could use for decisions.

Rodrigo evaluated individual bank-branch performance and developed structured turnaround plans addressing operating costs, revenue, employee productivity, and efficiency against internal targets.

He used Excel to organize the analysis, distinguish underlying causes from performance symptoms, and present practical priorities for branch managers.