Stanford · Mechanical Engineering & Computer Science

Eric Sun

Engineer. Tinkerer. Photographer. Building spacecraft structures, teaching code, and shipping hardware that thinks at the edge.

See work
  • Stanford Student Space Initiative
  • CS106A/B Section Leader
  • Stanford, CA

About

I work across mechanical design, embedded systems, and software— from satellite structures headed to orbit to autonomous systems that sense, decide, and act locally. I also care about how engineering shows up in images: I have shot and exhibited large-format campus work for Stanford Bioengineering.

Experience

  1. Satellite Structures & Mechanical Team Lead

    Stanford Student Space Initiative

    Mar 2026 – Present · Part-time · On-site

    Leading structures for spacecraft hardware. Continuing work on SAMWISE, a CubeSat targeting launch on a SpaceX Transporter mission from Vandenberg.

  2. Satellite Structures Engineer

    Stanford Student Space Initiative

    Oct 2024 – Present · Part-time · On-site

    Hands-on aerospace manufacturing and structural design for CubeSat assemblies; collaboration across disciplines for launch readiness.

  3. CS Course Teaching Assistant

    Stanford Computer Science

    Jan 2026 – Present · Part-time · On-site

    Section leader for CS106A (Programming Methodology) and CS106B (Programming Abstractions).

  4. Materials Science Researcher

    Dionne Lab, Stanford School of Engineering

    Apr 2025 – Dec 2025 · Part-time · On-site

    Nano-scale optical biosensors. Completed a paid summer research internship as part of the MatSci REU program.

  5. Department Photographer

    Stanford Bioengineering

    Jun 2023 – Aug 2023 · Part-time

    Official photographer for department events; commissioned series of 20 large-scale photographic works exhibited in BioE offices.

  6. Summer Research Intern

    Chemical Engineering — Bao Group (Prof. Zhenan Bao)

    Jun 2023 – Aug 2023 · Internship

    Self-healing, pressure-sensing artificial skin for surgical simulation training, mentored by Sam E. Root. Contributed to work published in Device (Cell Press).

Projects

Sprout 2×2 ft robotic microfarm with gantry, sensors, and grow bed
Sprout at TreeHacks — gantry, sensing, and on-device inference on Jetson Nano.
Demo video — open on YouTube

TreeHacks · NVIDIA Edge AI Track — Winner

Sprout

Autonomous robotic microfarm: soil moisture, pressure, and air-quality sensing; camera and water line on a custom 2-axis gantry; scanning and planning on an NVIDIA Jetson Nano with local edge inference for per-plant watering decisions. I led mechanical engineering—printed parts, sheet metal, riveted frames—on a hackathon timeline.

CubeSat satellite structure and hardware on a work surface
SAMWISE — structures, integration, and launch prep with Stanford SSI.

Stanford Student Space Initiative

SAMWISE CubeSat

Satellite structures and mechanical integration for SAMWISE, a CubeSat targeting launch in July 2026 aboard a SpaceX Transporter mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Work spans aerospace manufacturing, structural design, and cross-disciplinary collaboration for launch readiness.

Phone stand mechanical build
Phone stand — fabrication and finish.
Demo video — open on YouTube

Mechanical design · Fabrication

Phone stand

A compact stand built through machining, fitting, and assembly—focused on clean mechanics and a stable platform for daily use.

Education & credentials

Stanford University

  • B.S. Computer Science · Sep 2024 – Jun 2028
  • B.S. Mechanical Engineering · Sep 2024 – Jun 2028

Certifications

  • FAA TRUST (Recreational UAS) · Jul 2023
  • AWS — Generative AI with Diffusion Models · Aug 2025