My first research experience was at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the Transmitter Engineering Group, where I developed a klystron tube support cabinet and a humidity sensor. This experience served as a great introduction to applied engineering principles. The Transmitter Engineering Group supervised the maintenance of the equipment for the Deep Space Network antennas, which communicate with various satellites and spacecraft. They developed new instruments for the antennas and tested them in the facilities using water instead of high-power waves.

 

I designed, manufactured, and assembled a safety cabinet to properly to condition spare klystron tubes, heart of high-power antennas, to properly maintain them while they are kept in storage, and tested and integrated a humidity sensor into a band waveguide tube to monitor humidity in the waveguide transmit chain. This project supported the integration and delivery of a Ka band transmitter for the JUNO mission, and provided technique for monitoring the presence of water in high power waveguide circuits. In addition, this experience gave me a broader perspective of engineering, and taught me many valuable lessons that I later applied in other experiences.