Aerospace Engineering

John Francis

Graduating May 2027

I am currently a Senior at the University of Notre Dame studying Aerospace Engineering.

Scroll below to see what I have been creating — from rocket components, to metal artwork and much more!

View projects Get in touch
CAD render of Gulfstream G650 cabin seating and oval window — Flexjet Project LXi

Projects

From CAD to finished hardware — flight hardware, mechanisms, analysis, CNC machining, welding, and casting.

Assembled 3D-printed four-bar beam engine with green links and piston
Design · Build

Beam Engine | Control Arms & TPU Piston

ME 478 four-bar beam engine (four-person team) · my control arms and TPU piston.
Integrated ACS CAD and as-built hardware
Design · Build · Test

Notre Dame Rocketry | ACS | NASA USLI

Apogee Control System flaps — stopped within 5 ft of predicted apogee.
CAD payload design cutaway for NASA USLI
Design · Analysis

UAB Rocketry Club | Payload | NASA USLI

Founded UAB’s first USLI team · payload, TPU nose cone, CFD.
ANSYS plot of an aluminum billet barreling between steel dies
Analysis

FEA Forging Simulation | ANSYS

Showed that die friction drives barreling in a forged billet.
G650 cabin CAD render
Design

Flexjet Project LXi

G650 cabin — designed in CAD, then rendered (not AI).
HDPE Earth Moon Mars fidget spinner
Design · Build

Earth / Moon / Mars spinner

SolidWorks → Haas CNC → hand-finished HDPE.
Square wood block with branded figure logo
Build

Custom branding iron

Designed, welded, forged, and used on wood.
Apollo-inspired aluminum casting
Build

Apollo aluminum casting

Cardboard prototype → mold → cast aluminum.
Finished welded metal N emblem trophy
Build

Welded trophy

Cardboard mockup → steel → weld / grind.

Flying Experience

Private pilot with 65+ flight hours and 200+ landings. 5+ solo flight hours.

  • Aircraft — Pipistrel Sinus Max, Cirrus SR20, Cessna 172, and L-23 Super Blaník (glider)
  • Hours — 65+ flight hours · 5+ solo
  • Landings — 200+ · 9 different airports
Pipistrel Sinus Max light-sport aircraft on the apron with the cabin door open
Pipistrel Sinus Max
Cirrus SR20 on the tarmac in lime green and silver paint
Cirrus SR20
Cessna 172 on the tarmac in white with blue and red accents
Cessna 172

Professional Experience

Tesla — Sales & Delivery Advisor II

Seasonal · Lisle & Schaumburg, IL · Fall 2023–Spring 2024

  • Delivered 85+ cars in the last 2 days of Q4, including a record 49 in a single 13-hour shift.
  • Cut delivery prep and transaction time from the 30-minute company average to ~5 minutes per car by 2024, building on Libertyville process improvements: document prep (saving 15–20 minutes) and a parking-orientation and hazard-light readiness signal (~5 minutes more).
  • Explained to customers how Cybertruck’s cold-rolled stainless steel provides superior strength, and how the material was developed alongside SpaceX’s Starship.

Tesla — Sales, Service & Delivery Advisor I

Full-time · Libertyville, IL · Fall 2022–Spring 2023

  • Engineered a rules-based delivery system that let two employees deliver 30+ cars in under 8 business hours.
  • Found a 45-second-per-photo upload bottleneck in newly adopted internal software (6 photos per car); contacted the owning software team directly and proposed storing high-resolution images locally with low-resolution placeholders. The fix was implemented within 48 hours.

Leadership & Activities

View the Aviation Association of Notre Dame officer board ↗

Aviation Association of Notre Dame — Director of Flight Simulation

Student organization · Spring 2026–Present

  • Coordinate and hire a Certified Flight Instructor, funded by $10k raised from Boeing, so students can log flight hours.
  • Safely demonstrate simulated Cessna 172 flight fundamentals before students begin formal, funded instructor training.

Aviation Association of Notre Dame — Head of Logistics

Student organization · Spring 2022–Spring 2024

  • Raised ~$125k, then installed a Redbird LD flight simulator so members could log FAA-certified hours on campus.
  • Hosted speakers including General Bunch and Astronaut Col. Hopkins.

Education

B.S. Aerospace Engineering

University of Notre Dame · Expected May 2027

Mechanical & Materials Engineering Undergraduate, Fall 2024–Jan 2026 · University of Alabama at Birmingham

Letter of Recommendation Prof. Roy P. Koomullil Materials & Mechanical Engineering · UAB Open letter (PDF)

Skills

Contact