Karim Ray Mahdi
Electrical Engineering · Embedded Systems · Hardware Design
I design and build hardware systems that pull circuits, firmware, sensors, and software into one working unit. My work spans PCB design, embedded control, power electronics, robotics, and AI-enabled sensing, with a focus on systems I can test and measure on the bench, not just simulate.
About
I'm an Electrical Engineering graduate from Texas Tech University (Aug 2026) with a minor in Mathematics. My background is in embedded systems, power electronics, controls, robotics, and hardware-software integration.
I've always been drawn to systems where the electrical design, firmware, sensors, and mechanical behavior all have to work together. I take complex problems apart, work out the physics behind them, and build solutions I can put on a bench and measure.
I'm also the Co-Founder of Tech Innovation Labs at Texas Tech University, a student organization focused on AI entrepreneurship, technical projects, and edge-AI work, helping students turn engineering ideas into working prototypes.
Professional Experience
At the UN Development Program (Middle East & Africa), I supported solar PV and wind projects, covering load estimation, system sizing, LCOE analysis, grid-interconnection review, and preliminary schematics in Autodesk EAGLE.
As co-founder of Motonari Studio, I worked on a secure hardware wallet for crypto gaming, focused on embedded firmware, secure hardware design, system architecture, and real-time Solana/Ethereum monitoring.
Technical Focus
My technical work focuses on PCB design, circuit design, embedded systems, power electronics, robotics, and hardware-software integration. I design and test circuits, work with sensors and motor drivers, build electrical schematics, and write firmware for microcontroller-based systems.
Career Goals
I want to work on engineering systems that combine hardware, software, and automation. My interests are broad, but they center on electrical design, embedded systems, robotics, power systems, AI, and product development.
I'm looking for work where I keep building, testing, and debugging systems that have to hold up outside the lab.
Experience
Co-Founder
Built and led a 25-member student organization focused on AI, embedded systems, and computer vision. Coordinated IEEE technical sessions and ran activities for ECE students. Presented the org to the Texas Tech Board of Regents and the Dean of Engineering, secured project funding, and prepared teams for the Microsoft Imagine Cup and NVIDIA AI City Challenge.
Co-Founder
Helped design the 4-layer board around the STM32 and secure element, laying it out to make probing the secure element harder and keeping the ground plane, USB pair, and power rails clean. Taught myself PCB fundamentals and ran 7 board revisions, debugging noise and signal-integrity issues on the scope and spectrum analyzer until the board met spec.
Sustainable Energy Research Intern
Researched clean energy access and grid resilience in crisis-affected regions, analyzing technical reports, generation data, and energy-policy documents to surface load and capacity trends for the team's briefings. Built Python and Pandas workflows to clean and consolidate fragmented energy datasets, reconciling inconsistent units and gaps into the summary tables used in project reporting.
University Project Experience
Led multiple hardware–software integration projects as part of coursework and independent research. Built an autonomous minesweeper rover with omnidirectional drive and beacon homing that detects metal washers with inductive sensors and retrieves them with a rail-mounted electromagnet, all in embedded C on the MSP430FR6989. Developed an OCR-based AI mail sorting machine that combined YOLO object detection, EasyOCR, and Jetson Orin GPU acceleration for real-time letter detection and sorting.
Selected Projects
Hardware-software systems across embedded electronics, computer vision, power, and AI.
Autonomous Minesweeper Rover
An autonomous rover with omnidirectional drive that homes on a beacon while avoiding obstacles, detects metal washers with inductive proximity sensors, and retrieves them with a rail-mounted electromagnet driven by a stepper. Runs in embedded C on the MSP430FR6989, with separate 12 V, 5 V, and 3.3 V rails for the actuators, controller, and sensors.
OCR-Based AI Mail Sorting Machine
A hardware-accelerated mail sorter that reads handwritten addresses in real time. I trained two custom models for it: a YOLO model that detects and localizes the address text, and a fine-tuned LLaMA model that corrects misread words and cleans up the OCR output. Everything runs on an NVIDIA Jetson Orin, with post-processing designed for deterministic integration with motor control.
Smart 40V DC Protection & Monitoring System
A 40 V DC fault-detection and protection system that monitors for reverse polarity, over-voltage, and over-current in real time, automatically isolates and restores the load on fault, and shows live voltage, current, and status on an integrated display.
Wearable EMG Neural Interface
A wearable EMG interface that turns muscle activity into control signals. I designed the board's power electronics in Altium and ran several rounds of board-level PCBA validation. I also built the validation pipeline: OCR reads the user's handwriting on a tablet as a reference, cross-checked against the arm's signal output to measure model accuracy and guide fine-tuning. Built through Tech Innovation Labs.
Secure Cryptographic Monitoring System
Designed secure cryptographic systems in C++ and MATLAB to reduce key-exposure risk, with AWS-based real-time monitoring and version-controlled, reproducible workflows. Presented to VCs and senior tech leaders.
Senior Capstone Project
A predictive failure monitor for a 24 V brushless DC motor. A custom STM32G474 board reads vibration, three-phase current, bus voltage, and temperature, then grades bearing and drive faults by severity before they take the motor down. It supervises an external BLD-510B driver and holds an independent, hardware-level safe shutdown that works even if the firmware hangs. In development at Texas Tech, targeted for completion in August 2026.
Technical Skills
Core competencies in electrical engineering, from circuit design to embedded programming and simulation tools.
Programming
Hardware & Design
Embedded & Systems
Power Electronics
ML & Data
Tools & OS
Core Expertise
Letters of Recommendation
References from professors and colleagues I've worked with.
Available upon request.