Samantha Koch

908-500-9687 | koch.s@northeastern.edu | www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-koch

Mechanical engineer with passion for marine biology, seeking to work in the field of ocean conservation and use engineering
principles to work on climate change issues.
EDUCATION
Northeastern University, Boston, MA May 2022
Candidate for Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Minor in Marine Studies
Honors: Dean’s List 2021
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Applications: SolidWorks, AutoCAD, ANSYS Fluent, Arduino, OpenMV, Raspberry Pi, LS DYNA
Programming: Python, C++, MATLAB, VBA
Other: Soldering, Hand and power tools, Set-up of lab experiments
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Running Tide Technologies, Portland, ME
Mechanical Engineering Coop January-June 2021
• Designed and implemented a conveyor belt skirt system to prevent the loss of juvenile shellfish during grading
• Created an encoder-Arduino system to monitor the speed of conveyor belt for machine vision in harsh environment
• Redesigned existing boat to reef cable system for powering underwater shellfish reefs
• Researched whale entanglement in the North Atlantic in collaboration with the kelp deployment team, made
recommendations for future development to protect native whale species
• Developed experiments to assist engineers in designing effective shellfish grading systems
• Supported machine shop team and engineers with construction of vessel systems using hand and power tools
Freight Farms, Boston, MA
Research and Development Engineer January-June 2020
• Designed and built a miniature farm system as a hardware-in the-loop test fixture for experimental electronics
• Self-taught many applications and programs to research and prototype various cameras (OpenMV, Raspberry Pi
Cam, Arduino Cam) for integration into farm system and for viability of machine learning
• Designed experiment using OpenMV camera that recorded plant growth through color identification and shape
recognition to test the efficacy of machine learning in a farming system
• Presented machine learning research (Google Teachable Machine model trained to identify plant disease) and
agriculture industry examples such as analysis of plant growth to company
• Collaborated with the business development and client services teams to organize and update Hubspot client records
• Seeded, transplanted, and harvested plants to assist Farm Manager
Senior Aerospace Metal Bellows, Sharon, MA
Project Engineering Coop January-June 2019
• Created 6 engineering report templates from scratch to improve efficiency and communication across teams
• Collaborated with a cross-functional Digital Transformation team to analyze potential technological opportunities
for automation and digital communication between machinery; presented recommendations to senior staff
• Designed and updated a weekly communication board to provide visibility to the manufacturing floor
• Created Excel calculators using VBA to streamline report calculations
• Collaborated with co-op team to model a floor plan in SolidWorks and passed to senior staff to facilitate building
expansion

ENGINEERING PROJECTS
NASA JPL EES Containment System, Northeastern University July 2021-Present
• Designed a containment system for the Earth Entry System, the last step in NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission
• Modelled the design in SolidWorks at 5 different scales for validation of scaled prototype
• Collaborated with Northeastern machine shop to fabricate 1/3 scale prototype of design
• Simulated drop tests using LS DYNA and SolidWorks and performed physical drop test to verify simulation results
• Modelled heat sterilization in SolidWorks Analysis to test insulation of thermal system and verified thermal resistance
of wire rope isolators with physical test
• Performed gas flow simulations in Ansys Fluent and designed an SOP for a physical gas flow test
• Synthesized recommendations for JPL team regarding materials, thermal sterilization, and manufacturing