Resume
Sam Tarr, starr@u.rochester.edu, (412) 961-6298
Education
University of Rochester
Class of 2029B.S., Mechanical Engineering; Minor, Electrical Engineering
- Relevant coursework: Engineering Statics, Intro to Aerospace, Logic Design, Physics Mechanics
- Dean’s List: Fall 2025, Spring 2026
Experience
Aurora Innovation, Pittsburgh, PA
Jun 2026 to Aug 2026Vehicle Integration Test & Evaluation Intern
- Validated on-track test results and updated 30+ test plans for the release of Aurora Driver 2.0
- Built internal tools to streamline post-test analysis, saving the team 20+ hours per testing cycle
- Moved a subset of track tests to an offline sim environment to reduce on-track testing burden
University of Rochester Baja SAE, Rochester, NY
May 2026 to presentElectronics & Data Acquisition Lead
- Developing a modular CAN Bus data acquisition system on custom STM32 hardware, built for vibration, mud, moisture, and EMI with IP67 enclosures
- Designed and manufactured custom steering wheel in NX with a 4.3″ live-data display and quick release; analyzed structure for driver and track loads
- Set up and helped lead testing with a Michigan Scientific Wheel Force Transducer to measure wheel loads over obstacles, cross-checked with four shock-mounted linear potentiometers
University of Rochester Baja SAE, General Member
Sep 2025 to May 2026- Took a CVT data acquisition system (Teensy 4.1, C++) from breadboard to a custom KiCad PCB over three design iterations; the final board ran for 2+ hours
- Built MATLAB tools to process telemetry and optimize the transmission shift curve, cutting 100m acceleration time by 0.200 s
Carnegie Mellon Biorobotics Lab, Pittsburgh, PA
Jun 2025 to Aug 2025Robotics Research Intern
- Integrated a third-party gripper into IK motion planning software using Python and ROS
Winchester Engineering Club, Pittsburgh, PA
Jan 2024 to May 2025Club Leader
- Led launch of a rocket that reached 1,500 feet apogee at Mach 0.6
- Calculated aerodynamic forces for stability; designed the fin can and nose cone in Fusion 360 and fabricated via 3D printing
- Designed and wired a fail-safe rocket launch controller and built a portable launch pad
Self-Balancing Inverted Pendulum Project, STEM Symposium
Apr 2025 to May 2025- Designed pendulum in Fusion 360 and implemented a C++ PID control algorithm to balance it
Skills
- Electrical
- PCB design (KiCad), CAN bus, STM32, Teensy, analog and digital circuits, soldering
- Programming
- C++, Python, MATLAB, C#, ROS / ROS2
- CAD
- Siemens NX, Fusion 360, Onshape
- Manufacturing
- 3D printing, laser cutting, hand tools