Notable Projects

About: As of writing (June 2026), Raytracer is the only optical analysis tool that can work natively in Fusion 360. 

How it works: This app calculates Snell's law at refractive surfaces, and reflects off of mirrors (ideal reflection) to perform sequential ray tracing through lenses or other optical surfaces. It has an intuitive interface that matches the rest of the Fusion environment, and it is mechanical engineers who need basic optical simulation for image plane placement, focal lengths, et cetera.

Results: Raytracer is released and sold on the official Autodesk website by Apereon Imaging: https://apps.autodesk.com/FUSION/en/Detail/Index?id=6116739023577696095&os=Win64&appLang=en

The Optical Bench: This is a DIY, stabilized optical bench that uses magnetism for the attachment connections to the kinematic mounts. There is sand in the bottom of the box which greatly reduces vibrations. 

The Kinematic Mounts: This project features various types of kinematic mounts that I designed and printed using and SLA 3D printer. It features the option to use rubber bands instead of springs, making assembly easier. It can achieve high precision and I tested it by creating an interferometer.

Results: The project is free and open source, and was featured on Instructables: https://www.instructables.com/DIY-Optical-Bench-With-Kinematic-Mounts-Michelson-

About: The StarSnap is a prototype camera that allows the user to optically align a standard DSLR camera lens to a cell phone.

How it works: This allows the user to access an image plane, where items such as coronagraphs could be placed (as you can see in the image). Its ability to achieve high magnification without a large telescope makes it useful even for handheld planetary astrophotography, as seen by the image of Jupiter's moons.

Results: This project has working prototypes and is currently patent-pending. It is being adjusted for mass-production with injection molding. I use it regularly for Astrophotography.

See more at www.apereon.com.

Objective: My master's thesis focused on creating an optical system that would passively increase light collection of a camera, approximating larger telescopes using multiple small telescopes.

How it was built: Optically modeled light paths in Fusion 360 and MATLAB, created various prototypes and tested a prototype that was mostly 3D printed and with inexpensive optical components. Performed image analysis using MATLAB to verify results.

Results: The system was shown to be a viable way to approximate a larger telescope in terms of light collected. Renders, photographs of the prototype, and resulting test images and results can be seen to the left. Full thesis available upon request.

About: Customizable monocular that permits the user convert their DSLR lenses into mini telescopes, offering full control over lens type, zoom, optical quality, and aperture adjustment, features that are not generally available on commercial monoculars. 

How it was built: Created using Fusion 360 and 3D printing, along with various hardware including springs, screws, and a telescope eyepiece.

Results: Working protoype is currently in use. You can find out more about the CamScope at www.apereon.com 

This is the final capstone project for my Astronomy degree. It was a group project that involved using telescopes to take astronomical images through H-alpha and O III filters before processing the data in MATLAB to draw our own conclusions. 

Performed MATLAB analysis and image processing to add false color back into the image determined by filter wavelengths.

About: As gas enters the MOXIE system, it warms up inside the rover affecting the density of the intake CO2 and therefore the total oxygen production level.

How it was made: Simulated model developed using thermal Desktop and AutoCAD, controlled through a MATLAB program to allow automatic iterative simulations. 

Status: The model predicted gas warming with a error rate of under 15% when compared to MOXIE runs.