Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego
JoshZhong
I build things that have to hold their own attitude. Right now that is a two axis thrust vector control rocket.
Get in touch- Control axes
- 2pitch, yaw
- Telemetry
- 115 200baud
- Wing section
- NACA 5315
- Cohort
- Fall 2026
- Field
- Rendering: gimballed airframe
How does a thing stay pointed where you want it.
That question is most of what I build. A rocket with a gimballed motor, a wing section cut by hand, and the software that keeps both of them honest.
Right now it means a Kalman filter turning noisy gyro data into an attitude estimate, and a PID loop that argues with physics forty times a second. When the filter drifts I want to see it on the bench, not in the air, so a Python visualizer reads the board over serial and draws the estimate in 3D.
Before aerospace there was music. I write, produce, and arrange, and I led music teams for years. I was accepted to Berklee with a scholarship in 2026 and turned it down for this. Both run on the same instinct: build the thing, then listen to what it actually does.
Selected work
Four builds, each one a version of the same question.
Field follows selectionAttitude is everything
Attitude, in flight, is simply which way you are pointed. Everything else follows from getting that right.
The record.
University of California, San Diego
Revelle College, Jacobs School of Engineering. Music minor track through the Conrad Prebys Music Center. Entered with AP credit for MATH 20A, MATH 20B and PHYS 2A.
Berklee College of Music
Offered a place with scholarship and declined it to study aerospace engineering.
Richmond Christian School
Graduated 2026.
Amazing Race: Calculus Edition
Designed a city wide puzzle race across Richmond, wrote the calculus problems, planted the NFC checkpoints, and built and shipped the site that ran it.
Music Director and Arranger
Arranged, produced, and led music teams in live settings. Ran rehearsals, wrote charts, and mixed front of house.
Open to internships, research, and build teams.
If you are building something ambitious, I would like to hear about it.
Get in touch