Oakland, CA · elia.pacciolla@gmail.com ·
linkedin.com/in/elipacciolla
Summary
Prototyping and design engineer with an industrial-design degree and a fabricator's hands. Designs the form, lays out the PCB, writes the firmware, and fabricates the enclosure, whether that means 3D-printed PETG or TIG-welded stainless. Recent SFSU B.S. graduate with a full hardware capstone, a decade of self-directed making, and a professional shop background in metal fabrication. Trilingual: English, Italian, Spanish.
Skills
HardwareCustom PCB design (EasyEDA, JLCPCB), protected analog front ends, dual-processor embedded architectures (Raspberry Pi + ESP32), sensor integration, I²C / UART / SPI, LED driver design, Li-ion integration, structured bring-up and debugging.
Firmware / SWC++ (Arduino, ESP32), Python, Linux (Raspberry Pi OS), shell, SSH, Docker, Tailscale, state machines and node trees, local LLM inference (Ollama).
CAD / ToolsSolidWorks, Fusion 360 (surface + mechanical), Fusion CAM, Rhino, Grasshopper, Blender, EasyEDA, Adobe Creative Suite.
FabricationTIG welding (gas-tight stainless, exotic alloys), MIG, sheet-metal forming, FDM printing (PETG / TPU / PLA), laser cutting and etching, heat-set inserts, SMD and through-hole soldering.
AlsoDFM, basic GD&T, user research, brand identity, photography.
Selected Projects
2026
Artemis Nomad: Rugged Off-Grid Diagnostic Multitool
SFSU Industrial Design Capstone
- Designed a custom carrier PCB with a protected analog front end (fuse, TVS, precision divider feeding a 16-bit ADC), audio switching relay, and connectors for every peripheral.
- Architected a dual-processor split-brain system: Raspberry Pi 5 (UI, offline LLM) and an ESP32 sensor coprocessor reporting over UART at 10 Hz.
- Wrote ESP32 firmware in C++ and Pi-side software in Python; integrated an offline LLM assistant (Ollama) for voice-guided diagnosis.
- Modeled and 3D-printed the assembly-friendly PETG enclosure in Fusion 360; ran user research and structured incremental bring-up.
SFSU
Filtra: In-Bottle Microplastic Water Filter
Consumer product concept (EasyHealth)
- Designed a straw-format filter that threads into a standard store-bought bottle, preserving the original cap.
- Selected an activated-carbon element, stainless housing, and a non-shedding high-density polymer spout; developed the EasyHealth brand identity.
2026
Specimen Lamp (LPA-001): Custom-Electronics Toy Lamp
DES 360, SFSU
- Designed a custom LED driver: Li-ion with protection, constant-current regulation, PWM dimming, and an independent sound board.
- Combined laser-cut acrylic with an FDM-printed PLA shell; solved a print-bed constraint by sectioning the shell into gluable panels.
2025
Catena: Parametric Voronoi Ring
Rhino / Grasshopper coursework, SFSU
- Built a Grasshopper generator mapping a Voronoi pattern onto a curved surface; developed materials in Blender across a Rhino-to-Blender pipeline.
Experience
before 2018
Freelance Graphic Designer
Independent, Italy (prior to moving to the US)
- Adobe Creative Suite work (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) for a range of clients.
2022
Volunteer, Experience Design & Event Production
San Francisco Institute of Possibility
- Helped design and produce experience design for the 2022 Strawberry Moon Camp Out.
Education
2024–2026
B.S., Industrial & Product Design
San Francisco State University
2020–2023
Transfer coursework toward B.S.
Peralta Community College District · Berkeley City College (primary)
Additional
Self-directed apprenticeship in a professional metal-fabrication shop from childhood. Building with microcontrollers and small electronics since around age 12. Languages: English (native), Italian (native), Spanish (conversational).