< AEROSPACE ENGINEER / PROPULSION & SYSTEMS >

Hi, I'm Skyler Cao.
It's not rocket science or anything?

Aerospace Engineering student at UC Irvine solving hard problems in propulsion design, CFD/FEA validation, orbital mechanics, and avionics — from solid rocket motors to interplanetary transfer trajectories.

View Projects Contact Me Download Resume
B.S. Aerospace Engineering · UC Irvine · 2023 – 2028
MISSION TELEMETRY — LIVE

ALTITUDE

0 m

VELOCITY

0 m/s

STAGE

IGNITION

THRUST COEFF.

+4.0%

01 / ABOUT

What I Do

I'm an Aerospace Engineering student at UC Irvine (B.S., 2023–2028, GPA 3.4), focused on the intersection of propulsion, structures, and flight dynamics. As Club President / Propulsion Engineer of MAS Rocketry, I lead full-cycle development of custom solid propellant propulsion systems — from thermodynamic performance modeling to structural stress validation and avionics integration.

My work spans CFD/FEA validation in Ansys Fluent, CAD design in SolidWorks and Siemens NX, avionics/PCB development in Altium Designer, and orbital mechanics / astronautics / trajectory optimization in MATLAB & Simulink. I care about rigorous validation — every model I build gets checked against reference cases before it touches hardware.

Previously, as a Hardware Specialist with NASA's Community College Aerospace Scholars program, I collaborated within a multidisciplinary team of 12 engineers to design, prototype, and test a 12-wheeled lunar drilling rover capable of climbing 30° inclines while surviving a -330°C to 54°C thermal environment.

English — Native Vietnamese — Native Spanish — Elementary Japanese — Limited Working

+4%

Nozzle thrust coefficient improvement

+8%

Propellant burn efficiency gain

1.8

Min. safety factor @ 800 psi chamber pressure

16k

Transfer cases analyzed (Didymos mission)

02 / SKILLS

Technical Matrix

A categorized breakdown of the tools, software, and engineering disciplines I apply day to day.

CAD & SIMULATION SOFTWARE

SolidWorks Siemens NX Ansys Fluent Altium Designer MATLAB Simulink GD&T PCB Design

LANGUAGES & COMPUTATION

MATLAB C++ Java Data Acquisition Controls Systems

CORE ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES

CFD FEA Astronautics Propulsion System Design Orbital Mechanics Aerodynamics Thermodynamics Structural / Stress Analysis Trajectory Analysis Avionics

03 / PROJECTS

Featured Work

Selected engineering projects spanning propulsion, orbital mechanics, and propulsion-system CFD/FEA.

PROPULSION / STRUCTURES

Custom Solid Rocket Nozzle & Propulsion System

Led full-cycle design of a custom solid propellant propulsion system, improving predicted thrust coefficient by 4% and validating a motor casing to a minimum safety factor of 1.8 at 800 psi.

SolidWorks Ansys Fluent CFD/FEA MATLAB Altium

Architecture: Nozzle contour optimized over 6 mesh-refined CFD iterations in Ansys Fluent, cross-checked against FEA structural loads applied to the motor casing.

  • Thermodynamic performance analysis to drive motor selection
  • Stress analysis validating casing safety factor ≥ 1.8 @ 800 psi chamber pressure
  • Custom ESP32-based avionics PCB (Altium) for real-time flight telemetry during live launches
  • MATLAB grain-geometry modeling across 4+ configs → +8% burn efficiency
  • Full structural integration with rocket airframe
Full Technical Report
ORBITAL MECHANICS

Interplanetary Trajectory Design & Mission Analysis

Modeled 3D transfer trajectories to NEO 65803 Didymos, finding a local-minimum ΔV of 8.5 km/s across a 1,000-day launch window.

MATLAB Lambert's Problem Orbital Mechanics Porkchop Plots

Architecture: Preliminary mission-analysis pipeline built in MATLAB that solves Lambert's problem across a dense grid of departure/arrival dates.

  • 16,000 transfer cases swept across a 1,000-day launch window
  • Porkchop plot generation to visualize ΔV cost contours
  • Exact spatial coordinate mapping of Earth (departure) and Didymos (arrival)
  • Identified optimal 710-day transfer at minimum ΔV of 8.5 km/s
  • 3D trajectory visualization for mission design review
Full Technical Report
CAD / CFD

Turbofan Assembly CAD & Aerodynamic Flow Simulation

Modeled a high-bypass turbofan assembly across bypass ratios of 5:1–10:1, simulating up to a 12% pressure drop impact on propulsion efficiency.

SolidWorks Ansys Fluent CFD Propulsion

Architecture: Full high-bypass engine assembly modeled parametrically in SolidWorks to evaluate geometric constraints across varying bypass ratios.

  • Parametric CAD sweep across bypass ratios from 5:1 to 10:1
  • Internal CFD simulation (Ansys Fluent) of airflow behavior through the duct/core path
  • Pressure-drop and velocity-profile analysis across the bypass duct
  • Quantified up to 12% pressure-drop impact on overall propulsion efficiency
  • Findings used to inform geometric trade-off decisions for bypass ratio selection
Full Technical Report

Also check out: Drag Build-Up & Flight Performance Analysis of a Jet Aircraft — MATLAB component drag model for a 98,000 lb twin-engine jet, L/D max of 17.9 @ 610 ft/s.

04 / EXPERIENCE

Career & Academic Timeline

2023 — 2028

B.S. Aerospace Engineering — University of California, Irvine

Irvine, California · GPA 3.4/4.0

Coursework and independent projects spanning orbital mechanics, astronautics, aerodynamics, thermodynamics, structural analysis, CFD/FEA, and controls systems.

SEPT 2025 — PRESENT

Club President / Propulsion Engineer — MAS Rocketry

Orange County, California

  • Engineered optimized rocket nozzle (SolidWorks + Ansys Fluent, 6 mesh-refined CFD/FEA iterations) → +4% thrust coefficient
  • Led full-cycle solid propellant propulsion system design; validated motor casing to safety factor of 1.8 @ 800 psi
  • Developed custom ESP32 avionics PCB in Altium Designer for real-time flight telemetry during live launches
  • Modeled propellant grain geometries in MATLAB across 4+ configs → +8% burn efficiency

AUG 2024 — OCT 2024

Hardware Specialist — NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars

Remote

  • Designed a lunar drilling & ice-sampling rover in Siemens NX applying GD&T principles
  • Conducted systems-engineering analysis of lunar thermal environment (-330°C to 54°C) and surface topography
  • Engineered a custom 12-wheeled rover with 6 degrees of freedom, capable of climbing 30° inclines
  • Collaborated within a multidisciplinary team of 12 engineers to design, prototype, and test a functional lunar rover

SEPT 2022 — SEPT 2026

Partner — Starbucks

Laguna Niguel, California

  • Collaborated with team members to achieve store sales goals, demonstrating strong teamwork and self-initiative in mastering product knowledge and process improvement
  • Implemented sampling and upselling strategies, increasing sales opportunities by educating customers on product features and benefits
  • Collected and analyzed customer feedback to guide product recommendations, ensuring optimal solutions aligned with customer needs

05 / CERTIFICATIONS

Credentials

Formal certifications supporting my CAD, PCB, and structural analysis work.

SOLIDWORKS Certifications

Verified proficiency in parametric CAD modeling, assemblies, and GD&T-compliant drafting.

PCB Design Course

Formal training in schematic capture, layout, and signal routing — directly applied to the ESP32 avionics board for MAS Rocketry.

FEA — Analysis of the Finite Element Method

Grounded the structural/stress validation methodology used for motor casing safety-factor analysis.