Polaron Posadas

polaronrp@gmail.com // (512) 938-9318

Education

Electrical Engineering for Music Technology (B.S.)
Aug 2020 - Dec 2024

COURSEWORK: Computer Systems, Digital Signal Processing, Linear Algebra, Imperative Programming, Digital Logic Design, Analog Circuit Design, Experimental Sound Synthesis

Skills

  • C/C++, Rust, Python, Assembly (x86+ARM), MATLAB, Java, SystemVerilog, HTML/CSS
  • Windows/Unix systems
  • KiCad + PCB design
  • DSP/filter design on embedded systems (Arduino, STM32)
  • Modeling (OnShape, Blender), CAD and laser cutting
  • Avid Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Max/MSP, audio synthesis
  • Unity Engine + real-time 3D animation and visualization
  • Amateur radio license, Technician-class

Experience

Engineering Intern
Jun 2023 - Aug 2023⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Pittsburgh, PA
  • Retrofitted retired London Underground train cars as part of a startup to build nation’s first fully battery-powered passenger trains
  • Improved power capacity and efficiency by revising mechanical/electrical control systems to modern standards

Projects

Robobuggy
2023 - 2024
Lightweight autonomous vehicle⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  • With team of 5 developed firmware stack for self-driving vehicle to be pushed by humans along planned path
  • Wrote a nonlinear Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) in C++ to estimate vehicle position and state by processing live sensor data (GPS, IMU) for a custom-built inertial navigation system
  • Implemented matrix square root in embedded C++ and tuned filter’s system covariance using real-world tests
  • Developed system for sending and receiving high-precision GPS-RTK packets on Teensy microcontroller through LoRa radio and ROS framework
Glitchwaves
Jan 2024 - May 2024
Digital-analog synthesizer modules⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  • Designed and built a desktop synthesizer instrument for creating complex ambient and drone textures using analog circuits and embedded systems
  • Built custom VCO and VCF circuits to perform various wavefolding and distortion operations using KiCad
Wikijump
2024 - present
Open-source wiki platform made with Rust⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  • Contributed to volunteer team of 20 to develop scalable and secure wiki software designed to replace the Wikidot platform, including an internal database backend and web server frontend
  • Gained experience with industry standard developer tools including issue-tracking with Jira and remote development with Docker and NodeJS
The Endless Mile
2023 - 2024
ML-driven audiovisualization system⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  • Digitally processed real-time audio signals and OSC messages with a combination of Max and Unity using mel-frequency cepstral coefficients in order to drive data controlling 3D animations
  • Used a neural network to classify sounds based on frequency features, training data on analog synthesizer outputs
  • Demonstrated system’s ability to control complex image sequences and transform/deform 3D models in real time performance
RISC240
Mar 2023 - May 2023
Simplified ISA and CPU in SystemVerilog⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  • Simulated and synthesized a simplified variant of the RISC-V ISA onto Altera FPGA for class project, including ALU, finite state machine, datapath, and register file
  • Studied and benchmarked performance of arithmetic operations via assembly program
  • Designed and implemented new instruction to perform 32-bit addition at greatly increased speed, modifying both FSM and datapath accordingly
Eurydice
Jan 2022 - Apr 2022
Experimental stage production⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  • Worked as lead sound designer and assistant sound engineer for college theater organization’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s play Eurydice
  • Created, synthesized and compiled over one hundred distinct effects and was responsible for designing and directing all aspects of the performance’s sonic identity and its implementation
  • Handled issues regarding wireless/RF microphones and room acoustics treatment and mixed audio live for audiences in the hundreds

Leadership

Public Relations Officer
Apr 2023 - Apr 2024
  • Handled campus recruitment and advertising for student-run maker/hackerspace of 100+ active members, through maintaining newsletter correspondence and in-person events
  • Helped organize Red Robot, the club's flagship beginner robotics hackathon, by designing promotional material, reaching out to potential participants, and devising game rules
  • Offered on-the-go assistance and tutoring to students during the competition on debugging code and using the tools in the space
  • Connected with corporate sponsors to negotiate partnerships, tech talks, and career events for club members
Internet & Community Outreach Team
2019 - present
  • Involved in scheduling, developing, and running writing contests on a regular schedule for collaborative fiction site of over 700,000 members, including themed team-based events and its high-profile SCP-x000 competitions
  • Proposed and designed new projects, such as new user interface and navigation layouts or rewrites of certain pages, directing volunteers to complete projects through a hierarchical staff structure
  • Managed public relations, oversaw SCP's official social media platforms such as Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) with followers in the hundreds of thousands
  • Involved in creation of content and resources to educate wider online community
Founder, Head Editor
2017 - 2021
  • Founded an online forum for budding writers to publish in-depth analyses, commentaries, and critiques of works of short fiction found on the SCP Wiki
  • Built community from the ground up through recruiting new writers regularly, curating the quality of analyses published, and overseeing growth from one-man operation to editorial board with guest writers + subscribed audience of 50,000+
  • Personally wrote a number of commentaries during this period (a total of 31)
Events Coordinator
Aug 2023 - May 2024
Furries@CMU
  • Helped start and cultivate first dedicated organization for supporting the student furry community at Carnegie Mellon University
  • Recruited new members through viral marketing tactics such as posters, fursuit walks, and street art
  • Maintained member interest through regularly organizing group events at museums, parks, and conventions, and through connecting with local Pittsburgh furry community