Hey! Just a heads up, my portfolio is best viewed on a computer!
Hey! đź‘‹ I'm Hriday Unadkat!

I'm making aerospace simple and scalable!

And doing a lot, lot more ...
See me on:
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CURRENT

What I Do

At Princeton University, I'm majoring in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering,
and minoring in Robotics and Pre-Law (P*LAW), with skills in:

Engineering Design

Fusion 360, Inventor, Creo, Onshape

Dynamic Analysis

MatLab, RasAeroII, OpenRocket

Programming

Python, Java, R, Git, Bash

Manufacturing

Mills, Lathes, 3D Printers, Laser Cutters, CNCs

Data Analysis

Matplotlib, NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, Tensorflow, OpenCV; Excel

Graphic Design

Pinta, Canva, Wordpress, Webflow, Adobe Illustrator


List of All Experiences

Here are some of the projects or experiences I've been fortunate to have been a part of!

Aerospace Roles

Political Science Roles

Chief
🚀 Princeton SpaceShot
Aug. 2022 - Present
Senator
‍
đź’Ľ Princeton Undergraduate Student Government
‍Dec. 2024 - Present
Software Engineering Intern
‍
đź’» Stealth Startup
Aug. 2024 - Dec. 2024
Research Assistant
🇺🇳 Princeton Green-Riley International Politics Lab
‍Dec. 2022 - Present
Thermal Engineering Intern
🛰️ SpaceX
‍
May 2024 - Aug. 2024
Founder
⚖️ Policy Initiatives Institute
‍Mar. 2020 - Mar. 2023
Research Assistant
🦅 Princeton Bio-Inspired Adaptive Morphology Lab
Jan. 2024 - Present
Director
🏛 LexGen Virginia
‍May 2020 - Jun. 2022
Mechanical Engineering Intern
‍
⚙️ Beltways
Aug. 2023 - Mar. 2024
Refugee Research Analyst
📝
Harvard CVT
Jul. 2022 - Aug. 2022
Aerospace Engineering Intern
🛰️ Infinity Space
May 2023 - Aug. 2023
UNHCR Research Analyst
📝 Harvard CVT
‍Jul. 2020 - Aug. 2020
Aerospace Technology Developer
⚙️ NASA L'SPACE Academy
‍Jan. 2023 - May 2023
Space Genetics Fellow
🧬 NASA GeneLab
‍Jun. 2022 - Dec. 2022
Space Genetics Intern
🧬 NASA GeneLab
‍Jun. 2021 - Jul. 2021

Featured Projects

Autonomous Drone Control

2024 | Category: Aerospace Design Project

As part of the MAE 345 Robotics course, our team developed a trajectory planning and execution system for Crazyflie drones to autonomously navigate obstacle-laden environments and detect a target of interest (a book) before landing. The system combines video-based obstacle detection, PID stabilization, and precise motion control to ascend, maneuver through complex paths, center, and hover at targets, demonstrating robust autonomous navigation in dynamic scenarios.

Public Link

Stealth Startup Solver

2024 | Category: Aerospace Design Project

Coded an optimization Python-based script to reconstruct drone trajectories for given stealth startup use cases. Project highly confidential.





‍

Project Not Publicly Available

SpaceX Thermal Solver

2024 | Category: Aerospace Design Project

Created a Python script for conducting on-orbit temperature environment calculations for Generation 2 Starlink satellites. Designed custom algorithm for further engineering analysis and optimization of power inputs into critical satellite subsystems to prevent overheating, applicable across 6,000 Starlink satellites under inspection of steady-state and transient temperature variance conditions.
‍

Project Not Publicly Available

Aircraft Reconstruction

2025 | Category: Aerospace Design Project

As part of Princeton's MAE 331 Aircraft Flight Dynamics Course, this report presents a reverse engineering analysis of the Boeing 747-400 and aims to characterize its flight performance and examine stability across the entire flight envelope using Open Vehicle Sketch Pad (OpenVSP) and MATLAB.

Project Not Publicly Available

Wing Design

2024 | Category: Aerospace Design Project

As part of Princeton's MAE 321 Engineering Design Course, our team created an aluminum wing using Creo CAD software and manufactured the final assembly using a combination of CNC machines, milling machines, and 3D printers. The final wing withstood a load over 100 pounds, the constraint criteria for the project.

Public Link

Nose Cone Design

2024 | Category: Aerospace Design Project

As part of Princeton's MAE 224 Integrated Sophomore Design Lab, our team manufactured and studied nose cone shape profiles in an AeroLab wind tunnel. Modeled against angle of attack and speed, the resulting force distributions gave the team insights on how lift and drag varies across different nose cone profiles.

Public Link

Regolith Excavator Robot

2023 | Category: Aerospace Design Project

At NASA's L'SPACE academy, I was the project manager for a team designing a regolith excavator robot for Mars, projected to increase drilling depth by 300% & storage by 22% compared to its predecessor, RASSOR. The team placed in the Top 3 and filed a New Technology Report (NTR).

Project Not Publicly Available

Skin-in-Space Research

2023 | Category: Aerospace Design Project

With NASA's Analysis Working Group, I co-authored a meta-analysis published in the NIH's National Library of Medicine aimed at studying differential skin gene expression in space! I studied dozens of different papers and summarized findings for the meta-analysis, contributing to the write-up of skin-in-space research findings.

Public Link

Mice-in-Space Research

2021 | Category: Aerospace Design Project

With two fellow NASA interns, I analyzed gene expression changes in mice flown to the International Space Station, and wrote a proposal for further research of critical fibroblast skin cells that won 1st Place at NASA's GeneLab Intern Competition, and earned us the opportunity to present at the ASGSR conference.

Public Link

Algae Research Project

2022 | Category: Aerospace Design Project

As the team lead for my high school's Astronomy Club, I led the development of an algae regeneration research proposal, launched by NASA's Columbia Weather Balloon Science Facility into the upper atmosphere!

Public Link

Refugee Data Visualization

2022 | Category: Political Science Project

With Harvard University's CVT, I characterized trends in migrant movements and asylum acceptance ratios using Tableau, leading to a 1st Place Prize at the CVT Data Hackathon.

Public Link

UNHCR Review

2020 | Category: Political Science Project

With Harvard University's CVT, I critiqued/analyzed 26+ UNHCR sites in the MENA-AP region. Our team put together an 80+ page report, presented to the UN at the CollatedLab World Summit.

Public Link

📚Education

Princeton University (2022-2026)
‍BSE - Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Minor in Robotics & Intelligent Systems
Fellow in the Pre-Law Program (P*LAW)
‍

Independence High School (2019-2022)
HS - Advanced Studies Diploma

‍

✏️Courses

Engineering Courses
• MAE 433: Automatic Control Systems
• MAE 345: Introduction to Robotics
• MAE 335: Fluid Dynamics
• MAE 331: Aircraft Flight Dynamics
• MAE 321: Engineering Design
• MAE 206: Engineering Dynamics
• MAE 222: Fluid Mechanics
• MAE 223: Solid Mechanics
• MAE 221/224: Thermodynamics
• MEC 100/195: Special Topics in Engineering Technology

General Math and Science Courses
• MAE 305: Differential Equations
• MAT 202: Linear Algebra
• MAT 203: Advanced Vector Calculus
• MTH 265: Multivariate Calculus
• PHY 103: Physics - Mechanics
• PHY 104: Physics - Electricity & Magnetism
• COS 126: an Interdisciplinary Approach to Computer Science
• FRS 131: Sizing Up the Universe: Astro Programming
• EEB 330: Programming for Biology
• BIO 101/102: General Biology
• Udemy: Gene Expression Analysis

Politics Courses
• SPI 322: Public Policy Issues in Today's Middle East
• ENV 310: Environmental Law and Moot Court
• POL 301: Political Theory, Athens to Augustine
• POL 392: American Foreign Policy Analysis
• POL 319: Antidiscrimination Law
• WRI 111: A Tale of 2 Democracies: US & India
• ENG 111: Collegiate Composition
• HKS101A: U.S. Political Institutions‍
‍‍

🏆 Awards

STEM
• Zed Factor Fellow Finalist (2024)
• Nominee for Aviation Week 20 Twenties Class of 2025 (2024)
• Publication: Space genetics paper published in the NCBI (2023)
• Presentation:  GeneLab Proposal at the ASGSR conference (2021)
• 1st Place NASA GeneLab Proposal (2021)
• Induction: New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) Inductee (2021)
• 2nd Place NYAS Vaccine Distribution Contest (2021)
• Principle Investigator: Experiment on NASA Balloon Flight (2021)
• Induction: Virginia Aerospace Science & Technology Scholar (2021)
• Induction: Virginia Space Coast Scholar (2020)

Political Science/Debate
• $2,000 Eon Existential Risk Scholarship Winner (2023)
• Top 5 at the Stanford Eon Existential Risk Essay Contest (2022)
• 1st Place Harvard CVT Refugees Data Viz Paper (2021)
• Top 6 at NCFL High School PF Debate Nationals (2021)
• Chan-Zuckerberg PII GripTape Grant Awardee (2021)
• 1st Place Champion VHSL Debate Regionals & Supers (2021/22)
• 2nd Place VHSL Debate States (2021/22)
• Selected to be LCPS policy advisor (1 student per HS) (2021)

Academics
• High School Valedictorian (2022)
• National Merit Scholarship Winner (2022)
• Excellence in Education Awardee (top 5% of class) (2022)
• AP Scholar with Distinction (2021/22)
• Math Excellence Awardee (2022)
‍

đź“– Reading List

Technical Reads
• Design of Aerodynamically Stabilized Free Rockets - MIL HDBK 762
• A Physical Introduction to Fluid Mechanics - Alexander Smits
• Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach - Yunus Cengel et. al
• Engineering Dynamics - Jeremy Kasdin et. al
• Mechanics of Materials - R.C. Hibbeler
• Notes on Differential Equations - Howard Stone
• Hyperspace - Michio Kaku
• A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking

Politics Reads
• Politics - Aristotle
• Republic - Plato
• Nicomachean Ethics - Aristotle
• History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
• Roman Political Thought - Jed Atkins
• City of God - Augustine
• Environmental Law and Policy - James Salzman et. al
• Introduction to Advocacy - Harvard Law School

Non-Technical Reads
• Are We Being Watched? - Paul Kurdish
• The Martian - Andy Weir
• The Precipice - Toby Ord
• The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge - Amity Shlaes