Hi, my name is Derek!

I am an engineer, racer, motorcycle rider, and overall adrenaline junkie who is passionate about anything that is racing against the clock.

After graduating from Clemson University in May 2020, my goal for the next year is to start my career in motorsports.

For the first 9 years of my life, I was raised in Brownsburg, Indiana, and right before my 10th birthday, my family moved to Clover, South Carolina. As a child, my love for tinkering pushed me into participating in my middle school’s FIRST Lego Robotics League (FLL). This experience realized my love for intense competition, cooperation, and challenging problems. In high school I was in many sports and clubs, but the most transformative was cross-country and FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC).  On the cross country team, I learned the power of overcoming your mind’s limitations and pushing your body to its limits. It was on this team where I first experienced leaning on your teammates for support and being able to call them your family. However, it was on the FRC team where I first experienced start to finish engineering design and manufacturing to solve a set of problems. In my freshman year, I met Karen Schmit, who I still consider to be a role model, and I can certainly say without her I would not have done the things I’ve done so far. She is the one who pushed me to think outside the box and learn to trust/rely on others to achieve a unified goal. In my sophomore, junior, and senior years I had the pleasure of being the Team Leader, where my senior year we came in second place at the Palmetto Regional Competition. My senior year was the most challenging of my high school career as I pushed to raise my grades, apply to universities, and actively compete in cross country, FRC, and my other clubs. In the end, I finished 22nd of 571 in my class and chose to attend Clemson University. Thus making me the first in my family to attend university and pursue higher education.

Who am I?

I am the culmination of my experiences and the people who inspire me. I am someone who thrives in fast-paced, high-stress environments. I am very high energy. I love being challenged and am comfortable being uncomfortable. I am very organized and meticulous. My team often leaned on me to machine parts or perform tasks which require high precision. One of the things I love to do is clean up and put tools back in their proper place after spending all night getting the Formula SAE car setup for a competition or testing weekend. It’s almost therapeutic.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.

As someone who loves science, I love asking questions and my curiosity to explore the unknown is very high. I like to take ideas and explore them from different perspectives. I am someone who enjoys being around a diverse set of people because they tend to have different perspectives on ideas and ways to approach problems. At the same time, when it comes to asking questions, first I’ll take initiative and explore ideas and concepts before seeking outside information. Being “stuck” is very exciting because it means I’ll soon learn something new.

I’m a firm believer that sleep is for the weak and sane. I’m somewhat kidding, but when I look back on my life thus far, I don’t remember the nights that I had plenty of sleep. I remember the late nights, early mornings, and all-nighters on the Formula SAE team and at Tesla. I remember spending hours upon hours designing in SolidWorks, performing FEA in ANSYS, writing vehicle dynamics programs, and analyzing data. I remember working through the night to put the engine back in the car and perform car setup for the competition or testing day the following day. I remember spending more hours than I can count jigging the chassis tubes and suspension components. My point is that I’d much rather be with my team, working on the car to improve its performance than be at home binge watching Netflix.