Victor Mello

Graduando em Engenharia Mecânica pela PUC-Rio, intercambista de 1 ano na UC Berkeley, ex-capitão da Equipe Reptiles BAJA. Apaixonado por engenharia, resolução de problemas, e inovação.

Team Captain (Dec 2022 – Aug 2023) at Reptiles BAJA SAE team. BAJA is a competition organized by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) in which university engineering teams design and manufacture an off-road vehicle, competing against each other nationally and internationally for speed, traction, maneuverability, and endurance.
- Led a team of 24 students of several majors such as engineering, visual design, and marketing.
- Coordinated the design and manufacture of the team’s new off-road vehicle prototype. Developed problem- solving skills to adequate the project’s schedule to students’ technical and personal limitations, implementing Agile Engineering methods to set the pace in a dynamic environment.
- Conducted the team in the 2023 National Competition, achieving 18th place overall and 11th in the Endurance Test (out of 64), making it a record result, at the time with the fewest members (13) in history. Achieved 1st place in the 2023 State Competition.
- Such results and a robust business plan created room to negotiate the largest cash inflow ($40,000.00 / R$ 100.000,00) in the team’s history, which made possible superior material selection and manufacturing techniques for the new prototype.

Structural Analysis Researcher at UC Berkeley (Mar 2024 – May 2024)
- Conducted a Structural Analysis real case-study under professorial orientation of a patient’s leg prosthetic device that underwent catastrophic failure.
- Developed an ANSYS Static-Structural model of the device, defining boundary and loading conditions based on biomechanics literature.
- Evaluated the device’s factor of safety, analyzing a design flaw that did not account for the patient’s limitations that generated an additional loading.

ASME Social Impact Award at UC Berkeley (Aug 2023 - Dec 2023)
- Worked in a multi-cultural team with 2 students to design, manufacture, and code an automatic trash- sorting device.
- Awarded (out of 31 groups) with the ASME Social Impact Award for Mechatronics Design (ME102B) class project.

Audience Team member at Brazil at Silicon Valley (BSV) 2024 -  (Mar 2024 – Apr 2024)
- BSV is a Silicon Valley-based annual conference organized by Brazilian Berkeley and Stanford students that aims to improve Brazil’s competitiveness through innovation and technology.
- Composed the audience team, selected the most influential Brazilian executives, entrepreneurs, experts, policymakers, and students to discuss topics that are relevant to the country's technological development.

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Student
Home University: PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (4th year / 8º período) 

GPA: 9.1/10.0

2-semesters as exchange student at University of California, Berkeley (Aug 2023 – May 2024) 

GPA: 3.98/4.0