Nick Spivak

GPA: 3.61 | Dean's List: Fall 2025 | Graduating one year early

Completed: Statics, Differential Equations, Multivariable Calculus, Calculus II, Analytical Physics IA and IB, General Chemistry I and II, Engineering Economics

In progress, Fall 2026: Dynamics, Mechatronics, Mechanics of Materials, Computer-Aided Design in MAE, Introduction to Aerospace Engineering, Analytical Physics IIA

Spring 2027: Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, MAE Measurements with Lab, Aerospace Structures, Design of Mechanical Components

• Read over forty papers on lunar habitats, lava tube structure, pressurization, and autonomous robotics to select a research direction.
• Proposed lava tubes as the research domain and had the direction accepted by my advisor.
• Narrowing toward characterizing whether a lava tube can hold pressure as a habitat, through rock mass strength, ceiling stability, seismic response, and meteoroid damage.
• Work aligns with NASA's Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate and its Moon Base program.

• Built and flew a solid-motor rocket across multiple flights, and built a reusable launch pad for it.
• Modeled the vehicle in OpenRocket to predict apogee and select motors across several flights.
• Lost the vehicle to a recovery failure, traced the root cause, and rebuilt the recovery and preflight process around it.
• Pursuing Tripoli Level 1 certification, attempt scheduled September 5, 2026, with ground ejection testing first.

• Designed a welded aluminum space frame in SolidWorks across five revisions, for a 215 kg single seat aircraft.
• Ran six static and buckling studies in SolidWorks Simulation, and enlarged the arm tubes after a member reached yield.
• Chose eight T-Motor V13L motors in coaxial pairs, and split the 24S battery into two independent packs to halve per-pack current.
• Built a 1:5 scale model, which showed the CAD cut lengths were not manufacturable as drawn.

Proficient: SolidWorks, OpenRocket, Java

Moderate: SolidWorks Simulation (FEA), MATLAB, Simulink, Python

Server's Assistant, Cracker Barrel, Mount Arlington, NJ, Aug. 2023 to June 2025.

Rocks & Ropes Facilitator, YMCA of the Rockies, Granby, CO, June 2025 to Aug. 2025.