Santa Barbara Focalplane
Work Experience
Santa Barbara Focalplane started out as a small infrared detector startup that was then acquired by Lockheed Martin in 1993. The SBF site manufactures focalplane array detectors and designs and assembles camera systems on-site.
My internship at SBF started the summer after my junior year and continued throughout my senior year at UCSB. During my internship, I incorporated drawing updates, shadowed a full camera assembly in the clean room, and designed assembly tooling used in production assembly. My favorite project was automating a Helium Charge station using LabVIEW software. The system was designed to charge, bake, and purge cryo-motors (part of the Dewar package) to clean out all the unwanted molecules in the motor. The software I wrote operated the valves, read pressure transducers, read the Residual Gas Analyzer values, and set the oven baking time all in a sequenced process that operated for over 24 hours. The user interface I was tailored to the operator and designed included visual statuses of the operations. This automated system saved many hours of touch time and a few thousand dollars a month.
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After graduating, Lockheed Martin offered me a full-time position as a Mechanical Engineer Associate. Initially, I assisted senior engineers with R&D camera design and maintained production units. Soon after, I became the mechanical lead on new custom camera designs and managed a mechanical team. With a limited staff, all the engineers had responsibilities for multiple programs. My main role was camera component design (packaging and optical elements), analysis of internal camera system, and part/assembly drawings for new camera demo designs. I also maintained the He charge station for production and built, programmed, and did analysed data for a new vacuum bell jar test station for R&D. After shadowing multiple camera builds for one particular program, I conducted the build myself with some supervision and later trained a new technician to build the camera. I am so glad to have had this practical work experience at a great company.