Hardware Subteam Overview

Aashmika Mali - Technical Lead

About Me
Hi! My name is Aashmika and I have been working on the Hardware team for Midnight Sun since September of 2018! I have been one of the Hardware leads for about a year now, and help make sure that the design and manufacturing of all our electrical systems is thought out and done in time for racing MS14 in the summer of 2021.

On midsun I have helped design a bunch of the boards (like DC-DC and Solar Sense) and ensure that our systems level architecture is suitable for the design of MS14. I have also conducted a bunch of the knowledge shares during the S20 term so you may hear my voice a lot LOL. This term I will be leading the development of the electrical mockup that will be used to conduct integration testing on our powertrain, battery management and driver controls systems.

I’ve co-oped at Magna and Apple for hardware positions. Feel free to reach out to me for looking over resumes and/or any questions about prepping for hardware interviews! I look forward to meeting all of you (virtually) and it should be a fun term.

Talk to Me About

• Any questions about systems and board level design, operation, validation, assembly/manufacturing

• Any questions about tasks you’re working on

• Any Altium or A365 related questions

• Any questions about the hardware team’s job

• Anything about EE/Hardware coops

Micah Black - Technical Lead

About Me
I’ve been on Midnight Sun since my 1A term in Sept. 2018. I am now in my 3A term of Mechatronics Engineering and have completed 4 coops at Aerial Vehicle Safety Solutions, Pegasus Aeronautics, and 2 at Tesla. On the hardware team I’m mostly responsible for the integration of all the boards and wires into the car, electrical architecture, hardware validation, and making sure good documentation exists for the car.

On Midnight Sun, I’m also the Battery Technical Lead, and will be continuing to manufacture MSXIV’s 11kWh battery box this term.

Fun facts

• I’ve never actually designed a board for Midnight Sun

• I broke one of MSXII’s brake rotors during dynamics testing

Talk to Me About

• Batteries - cell chemistry, module construction, testing, anything

• Electrical testing and using test equipment - how to prove your design works

• Writing good documentation / design decisions / testing plans

• Deciphering datasheets

• Arranging your own coops (or anything about coop / resume critiques)

• Spreadsheets - special formulas / macros / custom functions / VBA (I happen to be pretty good at them and seem to get annoyed when they are not done properly (just a pet peeve of mine) - but I’d love to help you do them better!)

• Most other engineering / manufacturing related topics

• Cross Country Running, Ultimate Frisbee, Biking, anything else!

Liam Hawkins - Technical Lead Liam Hawkins

About Me
I joined Midnight Sun in my 1A term and I’m in 3B of nano. I’ve worked on the BMS and solar system for MSXIV. I’ve completed co-op terms at DropLab, UntetherAI, and AMD.

Talk to Me About

• Anything

James Lin - Technical Lead James L

About Me
Hey, I joined the team back in Winter 2019 and just recently finished my 3A term in Mechatronics. My main focus and responsibilities on the team are with the motor systems and helping onboard new hardware members.

My work experience has been pretty diverse. I don’t have a ton of experience in getting a hardware position, but if you’re unsure about what you want to do, feel free to ask me about that.

Other non-academic stuff I enjoy includes history, philosophy, Formula 1, hip-hop/rap, and ofc video games : ).

Talk to Me About

• Motor systems

• New tasks / help with assignments

• General questions about the car/team

• Resumes and job hunting (although I’m not great either lmao)

• If you’re just feeling lonely

• Any of the above interests

Nita E - Technical Lead Nita E

About Me
Hi, I’m Nita and I have been on the hardware team since January of 2019. I am in ECE 3A. I somehow became a project lead by sticking around long enough and not breaking too much stuff, so that’s pretty cool.

I have worked on charger interface, power select, and all of the lights boards for MSXIV since joining. This term I will mostly focus on onboarding new members, so feel free to talk to me about anything! Especially if you have a stupid meme or something to show.

I look forward to meeting all of you this term!

Talk to Me About

• General questions (system overview, manufacturing, tasks etc.)

• Charging, charger interface, lighting

• Job hunting

• ECE stuff/electrical hardware theory

• Killer robots

Kristen Shiozaki - Project Manager Kristen S

About Me
Nice to meet you! I’m in my 3A school term in SYDE, with a background in UI/UX Design and QA. I joined back in Fall 2018 on the Business and Interiors teams. I’m currently the Operations Manager for Midnight sun and am helping lead the Strategy-UXD, Hardware and Business teams.

Talk to Me About
Just about anything non-technical for hardware (I’m in the same boat and learning like you guys - just joined Hardware in August ). You can ask me about the other subteams I’m a part of and I’m also in the job search realm for UI / UX Design. Also down to chat about sports and my weird music tastes (Cpop, Kpop, Jpop, Instrumental, Classical… yikes)