MIGUEL FLORES: AN OVERVIEW
My Skills & Experience
As a skilled and experienced professional in my field, I know how much hard work and careful thought it takes to succeed. My CV site is my way of documenting everything I’ve done, everything I’ve learned and how I see myself developing in the future. If you’d like to learn more about me, browse through the site. If you see something you like, or you want to discuss what I can do for you, feel free to drop me a line.
MY BIO
Since I began my professional journey I’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity to collaborate on some exciting solo and collaborative projects.
I take pride in all that I do and in the long-term relationships I’ve fostered in the process.
My work ethic is forged through my experiences of selling mangoes in the streets of El Salvador from the age of 5 to the age of 8 years old.
Whenever I compare this experience to how far I've come, I remember my firm belief that hard work eventually pays off.
Explore my portfolio, and feel free to get in touch using the form at the bottom of the page.
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
Stephen R. Covey
SKILLS
Knowledge & Expertise
My skills have been built up over years of professional work experience as well as research and simple observation. I have a great balance between industry-specific skills and soft skills, which means I have what it takes to do brilliant work and make a contribution to any team. If you’re interested in getting to know more about me, and the skills I possess, get in touch. I’d love to discuss with you all the tools, skills, and more I can put to use for your company.
PUBLIC SPEAKING AND PRESENTATION
As an Executive Board Member for Los Ingenieros, I was in charge of hosting bi-weekly General Body meeting where I lead ice-breaking activities, MC'd for guest speakers and even give my own 45 minutes presentations at times.
COMPUTER LANGUAGES
HTML
CSS
JAVASCRIPT
PYTHON
REACTJS
REDUX
EXPRESSJS
NODEJS
FLASK-SQLALCHEMY
POSTGRESQL
SEQUELIZE
DOCKER
Languages: Native Level English & Spanish.
Other Computer Programs: Auto CAD, Solidworks, COMSOL Multiphysics, MATLAB, RSLogix
Machining: Lathe, Mill, Tapping Kit, Laser Cutter.
Miscellaneous: Previous CPR & AED, Previous Title 22 for medical professionals, Forklift Certification, some ARMY ROTC formation and combat training, 5+ years Lab Experience,
Hobbies: Basketball, writing songs, swimming, lifting weights.
Have any other questions? Send me an E-mail using the automated form at the bottom of the page
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
The animated pictures below showcase some of the features in the software applications that I have had the privilege of working on. Feel free to hover over one that catches your attention to read more about it, and click to access the applications first hand
R&D PROCESS ENGINEER, THE MORNING STAR INSTITUTE
Summer 2018, May 2020 - Dec. 2020
During my internship Morning Star, I naturally excelled in an environment of a company well-known for it's libertarian philosophy of individual self-management.
During my first year, I was given 7 projects to choose from to work on during my three months. While I was not expected to finish all of them, through a calculated process of working overtime (and double overtime) on a daily basis, I was able to finish, and turn in detailed reports of the 3 main projects and collect valuable data for the remaining 4 projects.
Two years later, I came back to Morning Star to further develop the Truck Serum Filtration Project which as of the beginning of 2020 was on the verge of becoming its very own department.. While the department was still in its early stages, I had the honor of being the very first full-time operator in order to be able to further develop the SOP's and CIP procedures which were for the most part experimental at the time of my return to the company.
See LinkedIn for a more detailed overview of this project.
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
R&D ENGINEERING: MEDTRONIC DIABETES
Sep 2018 - June 2019
I worked with Medtronic representatives and undergrad colleagues to substantiate a proof-of-concept for a real-time inline flow sensor that would accurately measure the flow rates from the Medtronic Mini-med 670g pump.
The scope of this project covered aspects that were potentially theoretically impossible due to the physical limitations of our third-dimensional world, we had to substantiate that:
1) It was theoretically possible within the boundaries of the physics laws of our universe
2) It was economically feasible to manufacture with the average diabetes patient as our intended client
This project was dubbed The Guardian Sensor by our team. During this project, our team decided to take a graduate-level COMSOL software class to familiarize ourselves with Finite Element Analysis Multi-physics software, as well as a free credit Medical Devices class to get acquainted with FDA medical device regulations and good manufacturing processes (GMP). We were able to use our newfound knowledge to model an accurate representation of our principal non-reactive component immersed in the flow of the insulin as it passed through the infusion set.
The final virtual reality physics model was derived after 500+ hours each of familiarizing ourselves with the program and lab testing to ensure that this model we created from scratch correlated with real-world physics phenomena.
It was ultimately concluded that although it is theoretically possible to create a device that measures flow in the range of 0.1-0.6 μL/h, our current era's nanoscale manufacturing capabilities are not where they need to be in order to make this type of product cost-effective on a mass-production scale.
With our current era's manufacturing technology, this would inevitably create a product that would simply cost too much to the diabetes customer. (about the price of a brand new low-end sedan).
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
Learning and Living
B.S. MECHANICAL ENGINEERING,
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA
August 2015 - June 2019
UCSB's intensive Engineering program where only one third of the initial accepted applicants make it to graduation while still pursuing a degree within the same college.
2019 CHAIRMAN, 2018 INTERNAL VP,
2017 SHPE LIAISON, 2016 FRESHMAN REP;
LOS INGENIEROS ORGANIZATION (EST. 1978)
September 2015- July 2019
The Los Ingenieros College experience for the most part ensured that I stayed in a highly productive path.
When I first joined the organization there was no more than a handful of members. Through a complete rewrite of our organization's by-laws to become a more inclusive STEM student experience, my team and I were able to increase the membership to 70+ by the end of my senior year.
Our executive board and executive committees did not stop at recruitment, we also nearly tripled our budget (and budget proposal) for our annual Science and Technology MESA Day in partnership with the K-12 MESA organization. In order to secure funding, we had to make separate budgeting proposals and presentations to 6 different governing student and faculty bodies within our University.
When it was all said and done, we were able to secure enough funding to expand our event to a two-day event as well as upgrade our food and entertainment amenities to host 500+ K-12 students, and 50+ teachers and parent liaisons from low-income under-represented communities in the surrounding Central Coast Area. Our previous expectations were a one day 300+ student event.
All our efforts in the first three years did not go unnoticed as we were nationally recognized as the "Outstanding Small Chapter of the Year" by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) during our 2019 annual convention in Cleveland, OH (a cross country trip for which we made separate budget proposals for in order to reduce the out of pocket costs for our members).
During my final year on what seemed to be "on top of the world" as far as University Organizations go. We experimented with a new way to receive funding. My fellow co-chair and I (who was also my fellow S&T MESA Day Chairman and Budgeting Lead) proposed an idea to the rest of the board to begin drafting corporate packages to be sent to BIG name tech companies so that they can pay us to come present to our pool of over 70+ eligible applicants.
My accomplishments with Los Ingenieros are by far the most relevant catalyst for professional growth in my Undergrad career. Perhaps what I'm most proud of is the work of my mentees. Just like me, they came to college with no knowledge of how to use even the most basic Microsoft Office software (outside of Word), and (just like me) were able to pick up right were their mentors (and by extension my mentors) left off.
I am proud to say that although COVID may have affected some of our recruitment numbers for 2019 and 2020 after my departure, Los Ingenieros is in a better place financially than it has ever been since our establishment in 1978, back when it was just 6 Engineering students coming together to reserve a study room.
The most valuable and long-lasting asset I gained from this experience is the ability to meet and collaborate with all sorts of different individuals nationwide from a list of over 11,00 SHPE members nationwide.
The individuals I had the opportunity to meet on a deeper level were added to my social media accounts which accounts for my 600+ LinkedIn connections
PHILANTHROPY
What I’ve Done...……….... so far!
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
RESIDENT SERVICES/ PROJECT DEVELOPMENT INTERN, THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF SANTA BARBARA
January 2019 - Dec 2019
Some people decide to take a year off after graduation to go backpacking in Europe, I decided to intern for the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara.
The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara is prestigious for its community outreach, K-12 after school education, Food Bank Distribution Center status, and beautiful and nationally recognized low-income Housing projects that blend right into the rest of Santa Barbara's Spanish Mission-esque fresco architecture.
I truly did everything under the sun in this internship, from proposing and debutting a MS/HS Summer Coding Camp, making outreach calls to our 200+ Senior citizen tenants to inform them of any changes in their Social Welfare benefits, mentoring children in the K-6 afterschool/summer school program, writing grant proposals to be sent to both the State of California and the federal Government to receive program funding, shadowing world renown architects, reviewing (not revising) construction site permits, coordinating weekly construction sitework orders (with supervision), handing out a storage container's worth of food to the community on a monthly event basis, all while creating lifetime connections along the way.
It felt great to give back to the community, and the kids reminded me of my young self growing up in less than preferable circumstances. I am sure I planted multiple seeds for growth in their futures, and their smiles made every sleepless night, long days volunteering in the weekends, and a 1-year setback in my professional career worth it.
My sweetest memory from the experience was the surprise farewell at the end of my internship, where our supervisor hosted our lunch at a local high-end Mexican Seafood joint.
In the end, I was offered a full time position. However, as much as I love social work, a career in tech is my true calling.