Joshua Duarte

ABOUT ME

I'm a mechanical engineer, designer, and maker. Today I work as a Senior Mechanical Engineer on the Drive Unit team at Lucid Motors, where I lead design, integration, and validation across the Air, Gravity, and Sapphire electric powertrain programs. My work takes hardware from concept and CAD through prototype builds, testing, and production release. I earned my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and my M.Eng. from U.C. Berkeley, and along the way I had the privilege of interning at Boeing, ExxonMobil, and Northrop Grumman.

Outside of my day job, I believe in relentless learning and I love building things end to end. I've made an automated chessboard that moves its own pieces, a 3-axis camera gimbal, and a sign language interpreter, and I'm currently developing Aucosto, a full-stack personal operations platform. I also care deeply about community. I served as President of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, where I grew the chapter past 400 members, and today I serve as Vice President of Lucid's HOLA employee resource group.

SKILLS

SolidWorks Fusion 360 CATIA V6 Python C++ HTML CSS Arduino 3D Printing
GD&T DFM/DFA FEA Data Analysis Bilingual (English/Spanish)

Senior Mechanical Engineer, Drive Unit at Lucid Motors

January 2024 - Present

Leading cross-functional sustaining engineering across the Air, Gravity, and Sapphire drive unit programs, driving root-cause investigations, supplier and manufacturing improvements, design optimization, and data-driven tools that improve quality, reliability, cost, and efficiency.
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Boeing Test & Evaluation Flight Test Design/Build Intern

May 2021 - August 2021

Designed, prototyped, manufactured, and installed foreign object debris shields within the only 4 existing 777X aircrafts.

UIS Wells Digital Innovation & Automation Intern

May 2020 - August 2020

Developed and enhanced a SharePoint tool that captures and distributes learnings found during the Well construction process using Nintex Forms/Workflows, JavaScript, jQuery, HTML, CSS, along with VBA within Excel

Technical College Intern, Aerospace Systems

May 2019 - August 2019

Top-Secret Clearance

Constructed models, assemblies, and engineering drawings using 3D modeling and design software, CATIA V5, to fabricate solutions

TAMU SHPE President

May 2021 - May 2022

Led 8 board members to continuously impact members through professional, academic, technical, and social development which resulted in more than 400 members registered with the organization, a 74.7% increase in members from the previous year

TAMU SHPE Director of Technical Affairs

May 2020 - May 2021

Established a committee of 47 members, a 571% increase from the previous years, that assisted in the organization’s website development duties, point automation, and application development projects. Organized several initiatives that provided members with the opportunity to learn web development, JavaScript, and team skills

UC Berkeley MEng Ambassador

September 2022 - Present

Engagde with prospective students by representing the Master of Engineering program with an aim to recruit and inform. Oversaw the creation and execution of events for the 2022-2023 cohort to establish a greater sense of community and connection

Aucosto

A personal operating system that unifies time tracking, calendar, finance, tasks, habits, and projects into one context-aware workspace. Built with Next.js, React, Prisma, and Supabase.
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AucostoSoftware

Gambit

A completely automated chess set capable of challenging Grandmasters. I am leading the hardware design within the system, currently in the subsystem design and testing phase.
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GambitHardware

Ana & Joshua Wedding Site

A bilingual (EN/ES) wedding website for our September 2026 celebration in Monterey, California. It includes RSVP, an event schedule, and guest login. Built with Next.js and TypeScript.
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Ana & Joshua Wedding SiteSoftware

Blue Gogi: Omni Directional Treadmill

Developing a treadmill capable of allowing users to move endlessly in any direction while maintaining an immersive and safe experience within virtual reality.
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Blue Gogi TreadmillHardware

Vision Pro Packaging

Spent seven days following the design process to create packaging for the Apple Vision Pro.
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Vision Pro PackagingHardware

Nissan Design Challenge

Worked with two others to create an augmented reality platform that would help Nissan increase sustainability efforts on both the environmental and customer fronts, aiming to better the vehicle purchasing experience.

Nissan Design ChallengeHardware

HP: 'Phygitally' Connected

Used human-centered design methods to create a stand-alone product that enhances social interaction and the overall experience of virtual meetings.
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HP: 'Phygitally' ConnectedHardware

Sign Language Tracker

Using OpenCV, MediaPipe, and TensorFlow, this project detects hand gestures that resemble the sign language alphabet. The end goal is to measure a user's signing words-per-minute to encourage growth in the language.
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Sign Language TrackerSoftware

Ethnicity Prediction Neural Network

Explored how various neural network models can help predict ethnicity while weighing the ethical concerns pertaining to the test cases.
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Ethnicity Prediction NNSoftware

Gimbal

Built a multi-axis slider and gimbal for my webcam to easily manipulate camera angles during virtual meetings and events for better presentation.
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GimbalMaker

Walnut Chair

Hand made wooden walnut chair utilizing japanese pull saw, chisels, hand planes, and bit of grit.

Walnut ChairMaker

Key and Picture Holder

Key holder made out of walnut with 3D printed hooks and customizable mounting system.

Key and Picture HolderMaker

Patio Planters

Hand crafted patio planters made out of cedar to withstand the elements while minimizing cost with budget of $45

Patio PlantersMaker

Engagement Box

Custom walnut engagement box made utilizing a mill and laser engraver (she said yes!)

Engagement BoxMaker

Apron

First sewing project, a maker kitchen apron made from durable canvas and leather

ApronMaker

CW Morgan Bag

Reverse engineered $1000+ CW Morgan bag to learn about leather crafting and sewing techniques

CW Morgan BagMaker

Leather Journal Cover

Hand-cut, stitched, and finished leather journal cover for my daily carry journal. [Add a short description of a favorite piece here.]

Leather Journal CoverMaker

Machine learning study of boiling under gravity

Gravitational Effects on Boiling

Used machine learning to explore the interplay of gravity and Marangoni effects during boiling of a water/2-propanol mixture across a range of gravity conditions.
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Gravitational Effects on BoilingSoftware

Photovoltaic Solar Cell Neural Network

Modeled an artificial neural network to study the performance characteristics of solar photovoltaic cells.
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Solar Cell Neural NetworkSoftware

Boiler Modeling Neural Network

Using an artificial neural network to accurately model the electricity output of a boiler that captures incident solar rays via an array of heliostats.
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Boiler Modeling NNSoftware

Scissor Lift

A scissor lift built to practice additive and subtractive manufacturing, including 3D printing, lathe, and mill operations. Ultimately held 6 kg with less than 3 mm of deflection.
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Scissor LiftHardware

The Right Left

A sensor-based system built during a 24-hour hackathon that tackles the dreaded unprotected left-hand turn by tracking oncoming traffic speed and using pre-measured data to inform the driver.

The Right LeftHardware

Fermii

An iOS app that lets users find when and where classmates are studying the same material, encouraging people to work together and learn through teaching, with rewards along the way.

FermiiSoftware

Future Leaders Academy

Selected as 1 of 40 students to attend this leadership development convention hosted by ExxonMobil.

HSF Scholar and Entreprenuership Attendee

Recognized as a HSF Scholar by being a part of the 6% that applied and rewarded a scholarship.

Spectrum Scholar

Selected as 1 of 20 students to receive a scholarship for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Toyota Scholar

1 of 2 students to be receive a scholarship for their involvement in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

Designer | Maker | Mechanical Engineer