Born and raised in Southern California, Brian had a fondness for mechanical systems at an early age. His childhood was filled with toy planes, trains and automobiles. Growing up within miles of Edwards Air Force Base and Plant 42 – home to aerospace companies such as Skunkworks, Boeing and Lockheed Martin – Brian was fascinated by the aircraft he saw flying overhead on a daily basis. Afternoons were spent watching aircraft such as the B-2 Bomber, SR-71 Blackbird and occasional space shuttle landings or piggyback flights. Seeing those amazing pieces of engineering drove Brian to learn as much as he could about them. Grade school reports consisted of various aircraft, motorcycles, trains and various automobiles.
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As he grew, so did his interest of vehicles. He spent weekends visiting museums, observing obscure trains, planes, automobiles and attending all kinds of automotive events. The more time he spent learning how theses machines worked, the more his curiosity grew. By the time he had reached middle school, his fascination of cars had blossomed into a passion. While in the 6th grade, his parents bought a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro project car. The car was completely disassembled and took several truckloads to get all of the pieces back home. With the guidance of his father and some friends, the Camaro slowly came together over the next several years. Along the way, Brian learned several things about cars and mechanical systems in general. Brian thrived on the seemingly overwhelming task and has since completed several other large projects.
During high school, Brian was captain of the Mathletes team and played on the varsity baseball team. These activities taught Brian invaluable time management skills. Between the projects at home, always seeming to grow in number, and the extra-curricular activities at school, Brian was always busy but managed to find time to have a fulfilling high school experience. Graduating at the top of his class, Brian continued his education at the University of California, Davis.
Mechanical Engineering was the perfect major for Brian, the intense academic curriculum mixed with multiple opportunities for hands on experience, this major combined all of Brian’s favorite things: fulfilling his natural curiosity and allowing him to work in a machine shop environment with tools he had often dreamed of having access to. The years at UC Davis saw several more personal projects mixed with tough academic challenges. As Brian worked his way through his undergraduate degree, he gained more and more hands on experience. During his Junior year he took classes on manufacturing processes and engine technology. These classes were two of Brian’s favorites and he has spent countless hours in the machine shop since. His upper division course often incorporated group projects that required building some device or reverse engineering something. Working in these groups Brian often found himself in a leadership role, utilizing his extensive hands on background to help translate academic theory into real life practice.
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These skills all culminated during his time as Chief Engineer on the UC Davis Baja SAE team and on his senior design project. The UC Davis Baja SAE was right up Brian’s alley. His love of offroad racing pushed him to pursue heavy involvement with the club during the 2013-2014 season. His role as Chief Engineer put him in charge of several small teams all working on different components of the car. He was involved in both the design and manufacture of the teams car and was the primary driver during competition in El Paso, TX. While working on the Baja SAE car, Brian was also working with his senior design team. This team was responsible for designing and building a supportive walking device. This device has the ability to support the users body weight while still allowing lateral and vertical movement. This project was created to help people with cerebral palsy maintain physical mobility. This project spanned six months and Brian’s group was solely responsible for designing, securing funding, and manufacturing the final product. These two projects required Brian to spend much of his free time in the UC Davis Engineering Fabrication Laboratory. This was great news for Brian who quickly picked up several machining skills. Brian became intimately acquainted with 3 axis Bridgeport mills, lathes, CNC plasma cutters and several other shop tools. Brian’s future plans include building offroad racecars and beginning a racing career.
Currently, Brian is employed as an Associate Field Engineer for LightRiver Technologies. LightRiver is an optical data transport services company and Brian works on constructing the physical network. Tasks include physically installing the optical shelves, routers and switches, running power & ground cabling, and fibering as well as software provisioning and turning up the network.
Brian’s Projects
Brian’s 1967 Chevy Camaro is pictured below during the engine rebuild process.
To see more pictures of this build, check out its build page here: 1967 Chevy Camaro RS/SS Build
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Brian’s 2003 Chevy 2500HD SAS is pictured below during a few photo shoots with CrooksLife Photography.
To see more pictures of this build, see its build page here: 2003 Chevy 2500HD SAS Build
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Brian’s Motorcycle Builds
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