Adam Sardouk

Excited for the future. Determined to help shape it.
Engineering experience below (click).

Experience (anonymized for privacy, please see resume for quantitative impact)


Relativity Space

Tooling Engineering Intern  |  May 2024 - August 2024  |  Long Beach, CA

> Responsible engineer for tool that expands accessible interior surface of the rocket’s LOX and fuel tanks.
> Designed (NX) while adhering to tool requirements, emphasizing DFM, DFA, tolerance stackup, and other key design principles.
> Performed FEA using Ansys to ensure safety of technicians and flight hardware.
> Interfaced with M&P to ensure compliance for FOD, NVR, and LOX/fuel compatibility.
> Led all tool meetings/milestones, including CoDR, PDR, CDR, and buyoff meetings with M&P, flight REs, and integration team.
> Proactively interacted with flight REs and integration engineers to improve and refine tool requirements.
> Rapidly designed, purchased, and personally assembled a prototype tool and flight interface test rig to expedite design iteration.
> Gained experience in both communicating directly with vendors and through supply chain to procure custom parts.
> Collaborated frequently with technicians, incorporating end user feedback to improve tool usability and functionality.

 

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Systems Engineering Intern  |  June 2023 - August 2023  |  Pasadena, CA

> Decreased process time by creating a script to automate testbed initialization sequence using Bash on Linux.
> Solved flight hardware test issue by designing (NX), prototyping, and assembling ground support equipment (GSE) tools.
> Wrote and updated technical documentation, including design descriptions, flight procedures, and project reports.
> Developed and technically validated mission flight procedures for instrument operation on functional instrument testbed.
> Produced user manual for functional instrument testbed, trusted to personally teach engineers how to use testbed.
> Successfully utilized user manual as the exclusive training material for an engineer new to testbed operation.

 

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

Mechanical Design Intern  |  June 2022 - August 2022  |  Fort Worth, TX

> Eliminated component obstruction by designing new internal aircraft brackets using CATIA.
> Increased process efficiency on a large scale project by creating earned value management system to automatically calculate project progress in real-time using Jira, JQL, and the Agile framework.
> Reduced required harness length and eliminated potential obstruction points by optimizing electrical harness routes using CATIA.

Education and Skills


University of Florida

B.S. Aerospace Engineering  |  May 2025  |  3.74/4.00

> Minor in Electrical Engineering (Prog. 1 (OOP), Prog. 2 (DSA), Signals and Systems (Intro to DSP), Elements of EE (Circuits 1), and Physics of EE)
> Graduate Coursework: Aerospace Composites (Classical Laminate Theory), Compressible Flow
> CAD Platforms: Siemens NX, SOLIDWORKS (certified), CATIA V5, Autodesk Inventor (certified)
> Additional Skills: MATLAB, Python, C++, Systems Tool Kit (certified level 1)
> Summary of Involvement (see more below):    > Published author on 2 papers (one first author, one co-author) totaling 7 semesters of research across 2 labs.
    > Teaching Assistant for 8 semesters across 3 classes (Dynamics, Stability and Control of Aircraft, and Statics).
    > Held position of engineering leadership for 4 semesters in a large (50+ students) organization.
    > Engineering research panelist, engineering leadership panelist, official MAE department peer advisor, and volunteer physics tutor.

Research


Spacecraft Technology and Research (STAR) Laboratory

Under Dr. Christopher "Chrispy" Petersen  |  January 2023 - May 2025 (5 Semesters)  |  Gainesville, FL

> First Author: “Exploring the Feasibility of Electromagnetic Attitude Control Systems for Small Satellites” , 2024 AIAA SciTech https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-2276 
> Nominated and selected for fellowship funding from University of Florida to fund self-guided, faculty mentored research. Presented paper at American Astronautical Society at AIAA SciTech Forum 2024.
> Presented research at the University of Florida Spring Symposium.
> Wrote pathfinding algorithms for a satellite tracking system, then developed cost functions to compare the efficiency of algorithms.
> Designed a website for STAR Laboratory to showcase projects and researchers.

 

Florida Research in Applied Engineering (FLARE) Laboratory

Under Dr. David Bragg  |  August 2022 - May 2023 (2 Semesters)  |  Gainesville, FL

> Co-Author: “Results of the airlift challenge: a multi-agent AI planning competition” https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2664868 
> Constructed route optimization program using Python to integrate NVIDIA machine learning software (cuOpt) for the Air Force Research Laboratory. Co-Authored paper presented at International Society for Optics and Photonics conference.

Involvement


Teaching Assistant: Stability and Control of Aircraft

EAS4400  |  August 2024 - May 2025 (2 Semesters)  |  Gainesville, FL

> Independently hosted 96 office hours, communicating foundational concepts about aircraft stability at senior level.
> Graded 480 homework assignments, analyzing students' understanding of material.

 

Teaching Assistant: Dynamics

EGM3400  |  August 2024 - May 2025 (2 Semesters)  |  Gainesville, FL

> Independently hosted 24 hours of office hours total.
> Effectively communicated fundamental dynamics concepts and answered clarifying questions over 48 hours of class time.

 

Teaching Assistant: Statics

EGM2511  |  January 2022 - December 2023 (4 Semesters)  |  Gainesville, FL

> Organized and led 4 TAs through the most attended (20 participants) review session in class history.
> Successful pilot session resulted in the standardization of final review sessions in future semesters.
> Independently hosted 70 hours of office hours total.
> Effectively communicated fundamental statics concepts and answered clarifying questions over 140 hours of class time.
> Excelled by analyzing areas of confusion, and taking initiative to suggest curriculum changes to strengthen students' knowledge.

 

Department Peer Advisor

MAE Department  |  January 2024 - May 2024 (1 Semester)  |  Gainesville, FL

> 1 of 10 students offered a peer advisor position on behalf of the department (2000 student department).
> Hosted 27 hours total of office hours to advise a total of 24 students on their course load, degree plan, research and design team involvement opportunities, and how to become a more competitive internship applicant.
> Trained machine learning model to recommend internship opportunities based on keywords from previous applications. https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE61694.2024.10892948.

Leadership


Engineering Leadership Circle

Inductee  |  August 2024 - May 2025 (2 Semesters)  |  Gainesville, FL

> Interviewed and invited to join UF's Epsilon Lambda Chi honor society after demonstrated impactful engineering leadership.
> Membership count capped at 2% of the engineering student body.

 

Florida Engineering Society

Internal Vice President  |  May 2023 - May 2024 (2 Semesters)  |  Gainesville, FL

> Led 3 committees (9 members (chairs) total) contributing to the professional development of engineering students.
> Founded and led the FES Community Service Committee, generating opportunities for engineering focused community service.
> 400% increase in community service opportunities and 200% increase in total member attendance at volunteering events.
> Interviewed and selected multiple FES chairs, including the entire Community Service and Social Event Committees.

 

Florida Engineering Society

Mentorship Chair  |  August 2022 - May 2023 (2 Semesters)  |  Gainesville, FL

> Recruited industry engineers from Lockheed Martin, NASA, Cummins, GE, and other companies to mentor FES members.
> Demonstrated leadership by exceeding the chair position's responsibilities and personally mentoring members on professional and technical development, leading to election as Vice President.