Resume
General Info
| Full Name | Wilson Harper |
| Website | wilsonharper.net |
| hello@wilsonharper.net | |
| Wilson Harper | |
| Location | Houston, TX |
Education
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Class of 2029 B.S. Electrical Engineering; Minor in Entrepreneurship
Rice University — Houston, TX - Lillian Haynie Trustee Scholar; Martel College Outstanding New Student Award
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2021 - 2025 High School Diploma
Davis High School — Yakima, WA - Earned 3.99 GPA, IB Diploma, and Washington State Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish
Experience
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Summer 2026 Electrical Engineering Intern
RTX BBN Technologies - Informed system architecture and analysis for a low-cost mobile embedded system within an agile team
- Evaluated radar range and detection ability on small mobile platforms through rigorous field testing
- Executed trade studies to select COTS boards and positioning systems under tight SWaP-C constraints
- Developed rugged field deployment solutions for high-speed, FPGA-based fiber-optic hardware systems
- Integrated in-house PCBs and COTS power supplies into operator-centric custom rackmount enclosures
- Designed a 4-layer PCB in Altium for harsh environments, integrating high-speed ICs and a robust PDN
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2025 - Present Mission Control Lead, Rice Eclipse Rocketry
Rice Eclipse Rocketry - Leading development of electronics and software for Rice's liquid engine development program
- Executed the program's first successful liquid hotfire, enabling the transition to future liquid launches
- Integrating Raspberry Pi with custom PCBs, LabJack DAQ, and solenoids for critical control and data gathering
- Designed avionics architecture for an Active Flight Stabilization system intended for a spaceshot rocket
- Integrated RP2350 with I2C/UART/SPI sensors on a custom PCB to actuate servo canards in real-time
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Spring 2026 Undergraduate Researcher
Rice Experimental Pixels Lab - Engineered a compact, highly directional wind system to synchronize physical airflow with XR environments
- Designed and integrated remote blowers, ducting, and control circuitry within strict spatial constraints
- Implemented UDP with networked POE-powered ESP32s, servos, and PWM fans
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Spring 2026 Teaching Assistant, BUSI 361 (Communication for Entrepreneurs)
Rice University — Houston, TX - Facilitated instruction on communication, conflict resolution, networking, and workplace dynamics
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Summer 2025 Summer Camp Staff
Spokane, WA - Responsible for up to 65 guests at a remote location accessible only by boat
- Handled high-stakes logistics, guest relations, and conflict resolution for attendees
Technical Projects
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2026 Custom Rocket Flight Computer & Telemetry Stack
Personal Project - Designed, programmed, and integrated a custom RP2040-based flight computer in two weeks
- Engineered 1 Hz LoRa telemetry while logging altimeter, accelerometer, and GPS data at 20 Hz
- Built an accompanying ground station with custom antenna to display live data and Google Earth position
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2025 - 2026 ADS-B Flight Tracking Station & Data Pipeline
Personal Project - Built Pi-powered ADS-B tracker featuring a custom-soldered 1090 MHz ground plane spider antenna
- Created secure data pipelines using Cloudflare Tunnels, Tailscale, and GitHub Pages
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2022 - 2025 UAV with Position-Holding in GPS-Denied Environments
Technology Student Association - Led national-competition team in design of UAV with optical flow and LiDAR to navigate in tight environments
- Implemented EKF sensor fusion, remote telemetry, modular airframe, and servo-actuated gripper
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Summer 2024 Doppler & Synthetic Aperture Radar Researcher
MIT Lincoln Laboratory RISE - One of ~4% of applicants selected for DoD-sponsored free research experience
- Researched, built, and programmed Doppler and synthetic aperture radars, mentored by Lincoln Labs staff
Skills
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Certifications
- General Class Amateur Radio License, Tripoli Level 1 High Powered Rocketry Certification
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Hardware & Systems
- LiDAR, radar, sensor integration, UAVs, PCB design, microcontrollers, LoRa, telemetry
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Software
- Python, CAD (Fusion, Onshape), ArduPilot, Cloudflare, Tailscale, KiCad, Altium
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Tools
- oscilloscopes, soldering, 3D printing, hand tools, multimeters, breadboards, function generators