My name is Rubén S. Marroquín. I am in the class of 2023 studying electrical engineering minoring in engineering design. I am also currently the president of the Rice Electric Vehicle team where we build an electric racecar to compete at an annual energy efficiency competition. I am also involved in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at Rice (SHPE).

Recently, I have been making many projects to improve my 1993 Ford F-150 Flarseide Mark III Conversion truck. One thing I did earlier in 2020 was install a rearview camera system that displays the live feed onto a 12″ 2k screen on my rearview mirror. I designed and 3d printed a mount for the camera and laser-cut a new license plate frame for the 3d printed mount. After a year in the field and elements, the 3d printed PLA has held up nicely, even if it is not meant to be out in the sun. I hope to be able to upgrade the license plate from the birch plywood I used to a new waterjet cut metal. I haven’t used the large machinery in the OEDK like the waterjet cutter before and I hope to learn how to do that during this class.

Another thing I wish to make soon (and that I have been planning for the last 5 years) is a backpack from scratch. I have all the materials but I am not confident enough with a sewing machine so I haven’t pierced the first hole yet and hope to gain more experience in that this semester.

The cover photo is my border collie, Apollo.