About Me

My name is Zaid and I'm currently a third-year electrical engineering student at the Schulich School of Engineering, at the University of Calgary. I am minoring in mechatronics and have a strong background in software development. I have a wide variety of interests in the fields of science and technology, such as space exploration, machine learning, robotics, and more.

Growing up, I displayed great interest in my math and science coursework at school. This continued throughout high school when I further explored my calculus and physics classes, which inspired me to pursue engineering. I also loved programming, so my initial plan was actually to pick software engineering as my major after my first year. My interest in electrical engineering ultimately emerged after realizing how much I enjoyed my physics and circuits courses in my first year, as well as seeing the applications of calculus and differential equations in electrical engineering.

I've been all over Canada, having lived in London, Halifax, Fort McMurray, and Calgary, in that exact order. I've been living in Calgary since I was 8 (12 years now), so it's been home for a while. Before my parents moved here, I was born in Hyderabad, India. In my free time, you can usually find me listening to music, lifting weights, playing video games or working on various personal projects here and there, such as this website. I also love to travel, so I'm always on the hunt for an international internship!

Experience

CalgaryToSpace

Electrical Subteam Member

CalgaryToSpace (January 2024 - present)

I have always had a deep-rooted passion for space exploration, being fascinated by NASA missions and the like since childhood. One of my most rewarding experiences in engineering has been joining CalgaryToSpace, a student team working on Calgary's first student-developed satellite, aiming to encourage and promote the aerospace industry in the community. At CalgaryToSpace, I have had the opportunity to design circuit boards, develop firmware, and test and troubleshoot various satellite components. I have also taken up a leadership role, helping onboard and mentor new members. These experiences have enabled me to directly contribute to furthering an initiative that engages my community in a field that I am passionate about.

Schulich School of Engineering

Robotics Research Intern

Schulich School of Engineering (May 2024 - August 2024)

This past summer, I had the opportunity to work as a research intern for Dr. Henry Leung at the Schulich School of Engineering, where I assisted with the development of an assistive robot for the City of Calgary that would greet and help citizens in City Hall. As a research intern, I used ROS 2 to interface the robot's laser scanner to allow for autonomous navigation and mapping. I also worked with an ESP32 microcontroller and gyroscope sensors, writing custom Arduino/C++ code to publish inertial measurement unit (IMU) data, which contributed to the robot's navigation and localization system.. This served as a great learning opportunity and also fostered a certain level of independence due to the often individual nature of working in academia.

Schulich Ignite

Programming Mentor

Schulich Ignite (October 2023 - April 2024)

Throughout high school, I found that it was very difficult to teach myself programming. The complexity of software development made it feel overwhelming to begin as a teenager. Thus, in my second year, I chose to join Schulich Ignite, an on-campus club that offers volunteering opportunities for undergraduate students to serve as mentors for high school students wishing to learn to code. Many students went on to showcase great interest and passion in programming and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to help them pursue their goals and potentially further careers in software development.

Projects

Basys3 Digital Signal Processing Module

Personal Portfolio Website

Exoplanet Detection

Retro Video Game Console

Automated Indoor Garden

Contact Me