Profile
Yale
'28

...oop! You found me. 😅

i'm Filippo, a 19 y/oYale '28student from Italy 🇮🇹, Spain 🇪🇸, & Costa Rica 🇨🇷.

i'd describe myself as anentrepreneur,mechatronics engineer,designer,stoic, andlanguage-learning enthusiast.I focus on building through research. i construct scalable applications, infrastructure, and multi-disciplinary mechanical/electrical systems with the purpose to build humanist tech.

also, if you can't already tell, i'm a big fan of lowercase letters. my other (perhaps more tangible) interests include:

buildingmechatronicsmarathon runningthe gymreadingapplied math/physicstheoretical math/physicsaviationmusiclanguagesstoicismthe human condition/brain

🧪 my work & research

Flux Labs - AI-Powered Athletic Cognition

Leading development of the world's first adaptive running coach with real-time vocal guidance with other Yale engineers. Combining biomechanics, machine learning, and custom hardware to revolutionize athletic training.

my journey spans multiple ventures and research areas that combine mechatronics, AI, and human-centered design:

MechatronicsAI/MLBiomechanicsStartupsHardwareRobotics
a recap of my most impactful work and research:

now, I co-run Flux Labs, a research collaborative to develop next-gen athletic and health intelligence combining machine learning with biomechanical research.

currently co-leading the Yale Mars Exploration Rover team of the Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association.

built Zyndicate to 30k+ users worldwide, navigating venture capital and acquisition pathways in the creator economy space.

co-founded HSC-GPT, Australia's first AI education platform, acquired by Art of Smart Education in 2023.

developed UpDrop in late 2021, an autonomous drone delivery system that won 2nd place worldwide at the World Robot Olympiad.

part of the engineering team @ CourseTable, Yale's most used student-run platform serving millions of requests monthly.

My Journey

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UCLouvain logo
RESEARCH

Summer Research Fellow – Advanced Multiscale Reactor Engineering, Modeling & Kinetics

UCLouvain - Université catholique de LouvainJune 2025 - Present
  • Researching adiabatic multibed and multitubular fixed-bed reactor designs for CO₂ methanation using green hydrogen under Dr. Juray De Wilde
  • Running CFD-based simulations and paired laboratory work to assess reactor performance, transport properties, and mechanochemical coupling
  • Simulating a recycle reactor for flue gas cleaning; integrating reaction kinetics with transport models and thermodynamic optimization
Faboratory logo
RESEARCH

Research Assistant / Robotics Engineer

The Faboratory (Yale Soft Robotics Lab)April 2025 - Present
  • Developing novel burrowing and submersion soft robots under Caitlin Le in Dr. Kramer-Bottiglio's lab
  • Focusing on biomimetic actuation, robotic locomotion, and soft material mechanics
YUAA logo
RESEARCH

Co-Lead | Yale Mars Exploration Rover

Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association (YUAA)April 2025 - Present
  • Leading the full lifecycle development of Yale's Mars rover for the 2026 University Rover Challenge (URC)
  • Overseeing mechatronics, mechanical design, software, and team integration
Yale logo
RESEARCH

Lead Research Engineer for DEB

Yale Integrative Cardiac Biomechanics LaboratoryMarch 2025 - Present
  • Leading the design and development of a Dynamic Electromechanical Bioreactor (DEB) under Dr. Stuart Campbell
  • Simulating cardiac stress in human-engineered heart tissues (hEHTs) to study the effects of exercise on Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy (ACM)
  • Building systems enabling programmable electromechanical loading, real-time force feedback, and electrophysiological assessments
YUAA logo
RESEARCH

Electronics & Control Lead Engineer

Yale Mars Exploration RoverSeptember 2024 – April 2025
  • Led control systems design, computer vision integration, and power distribution for the Mars rover
  • Specialized in autonomous navigation systems and robust embedded architectures
Yale logo
RESEARCH

Research Team & SDA TAP Lab Lead

Yale Space Policy & Research CollaborativeSeptember 2024 - Present
  • Leading research on Uncorrelated Track (UCT) Processing algorithms for satellite tracking in collaboration with U.S. Space Command
  • Exploring the socio-technical implications of autonomous orbital surveillance systems
CourseTable logo
WORK

Software Engineer

CourseTableSeptember 2024 - Present
  • Built and deployed high-impact features for Yale's most-used student-run academic platform
  • Developed the professor insight/stats module and enhanced frontend infrastructure
  • Collaborated in an agile environment with 10+ engineers across a large-scale codebase
Yale logo
WORK

Software Engineer & Data Scientist

Yale Sociology DepartmentSeptember 2024 - Present
  • Building a modular 'Data Donation' platform to support research under Prof. Ramina Sotoudeh
  • Working across cloud infrastructure, data pipelines, and ML for computational sociology applications
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WORK

Frontend Systems & Architecture Engineer

Voqo AIMay 2024 – August 2024
  • Designed and engineered the full frontend architecture of a B2B AI calling platform (Heffron.ai)
  • Shipped production-ready features (agent manager, logs, etc.) using React, Next.js, MongoDB, Docker, and ShadCN
  • Worked asynchronously across a 16-hour time difference with a remote team in Australia
HSC-GPT logo
VENTURE

Founder & Head of Engineering (Acquired)

HSC-GPTApr 2023 – Nov 2023
  • Built Australia's first localized AI education platform aligned with national curriculum
  • Led full-stack engineering and co-managed business strategy through to acquisition by Art of Smart Education
  • Used by thousands of students, shipped ahead of major incumbents
Dinsh logo
VENTURE

Founder & Lead Maintainer

DiushDec 2022 – May 2024
  • Founded open-source mobile platform for secure link-based item selling
  • Received grant funding from the 1517 Fund (Medici Grant)
  • Led development and design in React Native; platform reached private beta with 5000+ waitlist signups

🛠️ my technical arsenal

think of this section as a snapshot of my personal lab–chaos and creativity. whether I'm building autonomous systems that never (sometimes) crash, engineering apps and systems that scale faster than my caffeine intake, or designing circuits to power my wildest ideas, my toolkit gets me ready for action. from crafting sleek UIs to tinkering with microcontrollers and CAD models for robotics, every tool I use has one goal: turning ambitious concepts into reality with the purpose of generating explicit humanist value. my work is a mix of research-driven innovation, mechatronics, and a relentless "what if we tried this?" type of energy. if it involves debugging, soldering, or pushing boundaries, you'll find me in the thick of it with these technologies—in fact, probably with a half-empty coffee cup or a notebook full of equations. or both. :)

  • 🌍 languages

    as someone passionate about languages, I strive to connect with people across cultures. languages have quickly become my favorite way to learn about different cultures; it's simply amazing. plus, the ability to develop an entirely separate way of thinking is a a true marvel (not to mention the fact that one gains the ability to communicate with so many other human beings with stories to share, lessons to teach, and a whole lot of fun to have). here's a snapshot of the languages I speak and am learning at the moment:

    Click any language to hear me speak!

    US

    english

    native

    Italy

    italiano

    native

    Spain

    español

    native

    France

    français

    fluent (C2)

    Brazil

    português

    novice (A2)

    bългарски

    bългарски

    novice (A1/2)

    🦚 stats

    if i'm not working, running, or, at the gym, you can find me reading, learning languages, watching videos on topics that interest me, hanging out with friends, or building a variety of things with mechatronics and software (open source and private). Oh, and perhaps having a cappuccino—pure perfection.

    231GitHub Stars
    6human languages
    3daily coffees
    too manypeople annoyed when I get too excited about someting.

    Filippo Fonseca

    Entrepreneur. Mechatronics Engineer. Researcher. Writer. Stoic. Humanist.

    Shoutout to the homies - the incredible Conrad and Alistair. Their own websites served as heavy inspiration for my own. ❤️