Daniel Casas
Electrical Engineering at Stanford
Embedded systems, firmware, and hardware-software integration, with a focus on sensing, instrumentation, and physical systems. I like projects where code, circuits, and hardware all have to work together under real constraints.
Embedded Systems
Bare-metal OS, RISC-V, drivers, interrupts
Hardware + Circuits
Power supply, audio amplifier, ECG, measurement
Mechatronics
Rubik's solver, motors, UI, fabrication
Sensors + Instrumentation
Sensor integration, calibration, RS-485/I²C, measurement & validation
About
I'm an Electrical Engineering student at Stanford focused on embedded systems, firmware, and hardware-software integration, with a strong interest in sensing and instrumentation. My work spans a field-deployed ESP32 groundwater sensing node, bare-metal embedded systems, MEMS accelerometer testing, motor-driven robotics, analog signal conditioning, and power/audio electronics. I'm especially interested in projects where software, circuits, and physical hardware have to work together under real constraints.
Projects
Low-Cost Groundwater Quality Monitoring System
Sole engineer on a 10-week Stanford EE research project building a solar-powered groundwater monitoring node that measures water quality and reports over LTE. Field-deployed in a monitoring well in Madera County, California.
- -Integrated pH, conductivity, optical dissolved oxygen, and temperature sensing on an ESP32 with power-gated sensor domains and deep-sleep scheduling
- -Delivered 43/43 measurement cycles over LTE at 1.088 Wh/day measured consumption, projecting a 141-day battery-only runtime
Mechanical Rubik's Cube Solver
Built a physical Rubik's Cube solver with six stepper-motor-driven faces, motor-control circuitry, and a mouse-driven graphical UI layered on a bare-metal embedded system.
- -Integrated a C-based solving algorithm with motor execution logic
- -Solved arbitrary UI-entered scrambles mechanically in under 3 seconds
- -Built on top of a custom embedded OS stack
Bare-Metal Embedded OS for Mango Pi
Built a bare-metal system stack for the Mango Pi MQ-Pro, implementing low-level drivers, memory management, console I/O, graphics, and input devices.
- -Implemented GPIO, timers, UART/console I/O, custom printf/string libraries, heap allocation, framebuffer graphics, and PS/2 drivers
- -Added interrupt-driven input, shell commands/history, and a mouse-controlled paint app
Power Supply and Audio Amplifier
Built and characterized a variable AC-DC power supply and speaker amplifier system across analog/power electronics labs.
- -Built a variable AC-DC supply using rectification, Zener regulation, and MOSFET source-follower buffering
- -Characterized a TPA3122D2 Class-D amplifier with THD, frequency response, and efficiency measurements
ECG Signal-Conditioning Circuit
Built an ECG signal-conditioning circuit to amplify millivolt-level heart signals while reducing DC offset and noise.
- -Used an INA126P instrumentation amplifier and active bandpass filtering
- -Digitized the conditioned signal through Arduino
MEMS Accelerometer Validation
Tested MEMS accelerometer prototypes for a wearable chest-vibration sensing patch intended to detect heart/lung vibration signals.
- -Used probe-station microscopy and LCR measurements to characterize sub-picofarad capacitance changes
- -Automated capacitance-difference calculations and helped debug plate-stiction issues
Medusai Robotic Sculpture Fabrication
Supported fabrication of Medusai, a large AI-driven robotic sculpture with sound, light, touch, and motion interaction.
- -Machined frame components and mounting hardware from CAD references
- -Performed MIG and flux-core steel welding
LED Matrix Game
Built and programmed an 8x8 LED matrix game with player movement, enemies, score tracking, timed bomb mechanics, and PWM-style brightness control.
- -Programmed game logic for movement, enemy behavior, scoring, and game-over states
- -Built on soldered PCB hardware with Arduino and transistor driver circuitry
Experience
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Stanford University, Department of Electrical Engineering - Stanford, CA
- -Sole engineer on a 10-week project taking a low-cost groundwater monitoring node from requirements and architecture through component selection, ESP32 firmware, sensor calibration, power characterization, mechanical packaging, and field deployment.
- -Integrated pH/conductivity (Atlas Scientific EZO over I²C), optical dissolved oxygen (isolated Modbus/RS-485), and DS18B20 temperature sensing with Blues Notecard LTE telemetry on a solar + LiFePO4 power system.
- -Field-deployed in a Madera County monitoring well with 43/43 cycles delivered over LTE, 1.088 Wh/day measured consumption, and pH agreement within 0.051 units in validation.
Med-Tech Engineering Intern
StethX Microsystems - Atlanta, GA
- -Tested MEMS accelerometer prototypes for a wearable chest-vibration sensing patch using probe-station microscopy and LCR measurements.
- -Automated capacitance-difference calculations in Excel and supported repeatability testing, drop testing, and plate-stiction debugging.
Engineering Intern
Georgia Tech Music Technology Lab - Atlanta, GA
- -Supported fabrication of Medusai, a large AI-driven robotic sculpture with sound, light, touch, and motion interaction.
- -Machined frame components, interpreted CAD references, performed MIG/flux-core welding, and assisted assembly/debugging.
Research Intern
CERN - Geneva, Switzerland
- -Assisted engineers with cryostat monitoring tasks including temperature, pressure, sensor, and visual checks.
- -Completed introductory ROOT/data-analysis training and shadowed engineering workflows across detector-support and cryogenic systems.
Coursework
Stanford University
B.S. Electrical Engineering, GPA 3.9/4.0
Completed
Lab Experience
Analog and power circuits
diode characterization, AC–DC conversion, Zener regulation, source followers, MOSFET amplifiers, Class-D audio
Embedded systems
bare-metal C, RISC-V assembly, device drivers, interrupts, graphics, PS/2 input, shell commands
Sensors and measurement
MEMS capacitance testing, ECG signal conditioning, LCR measurements, oscilloscope debugging
Mechatronics and fabrication
motor control, soldered PCB builds, LED matrix displays, welding, CAD-based assembly
Skills
Programming
Hardware / Lab
Systems
Beyond Engineering
Outside of engineering, I'm drawn to disciplines that reward consistency, precision, and visible progress.
Calisthenics
Planche, handstands, strength skills, bodyweight training
Piano
Music, practice, technical skill-building
Soccer
Stanford Club Soccer and team competition
Creative Work
Animation, visual projects, and interactive ideas