# Karen Chen

> Mechanical Design Engineer at Pacific Fusion

Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/karenchen1

I'm a mechanical design engineer at Pacific Fusion working on the modular designs that will one day supply green energy to our Earth! Former intern at Apple, UCLA, and Caltech; graduate of UC Berkeley.

## Work Experience
### Mechanical Design Engineer @ Pacific Fusion
Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area
· Designed innovative mechanical solutions for alignment of structural components and seismic restraints per California earthquake standards
· Prototyped and tested designs with cross-functional teams to optimize manufacturability, cost, and reusability
· Conducted stress analysis and risk assessments in seismic load cases using Mathcad, Creo Simulation, and Ansys
· Led design reviews to cross-functional teams to evaluate and minimize risks in a rapid pace environment
· Created detailed design documentation and specifications

### Mac Product Design Intern @ Apple
Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 | Cupertino, California, United States
· Performed tolerance analyses on hardware according to design specifications and manufacturing constraints
· Analyzed and visualized data from reliability testing and manufacturing measurements using JMP and Excel
· Collaborated closely with cross-functional teams including reliability, industrial design, and manufacturing design
· Worked with domestic and overseas contract manufacturers and vendors to execute design changes on schedule
· Conducted failure analysis (DFMEA) and created design of experiments to address issues found in reliability testing
· Presented technical work using Keynote to 40+ team members

### Mechanical Engineering Research Intern @ University of California, Los Angeles
Jan 2019 – Jan 2019 | Greater Los Angeles Area
• Designed experiments for determining plasma properties of a helium atmospheric pressure plasma jet
• Tested cold atmospheric plasma interactions using a scanning electron microscope, thermal camera, oscilloscope, and optical emission spectroscope
• Analyzed 10,000+ spectroscopy data points with MATLAB
• Presented technical work to 300+ students and faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles
• Participated in the Summer Scholars Research Program with the Plasma and Space Propulsion Lab

### Vice President of Engineering Club @ Santa Monica College
Jan 2019 – Jan 2019
• Restructured club priorities to be more relevant to students’ needs by redistributing responsibilities to club officers, hosting workshops, and organizing guest speaker events
• Hosted 5 workshops in engineering skills including 3D modeling and sketching in SolidWorks, soldering, and building circuits with Arduinos

### Peer Mentor @ Santa Monica College
Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | Santa Monica, CA
• Advised students in Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) fields in one-on-one meetings to teach study and time management skills and refine personal statements for internship applications
• Created informational workshops about internships in engineering for up to 200 students

### Mechanical Engineering Research Intern @ Caltech
Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | Pasadena, CA
• Optimized and designed hardware for a spacecraft simulator's upper stage (reaction wheels, active mass balancing system, reaction wheel brackets) using SolidWorks
• Simulated an active mass balancing system using MATLAB
• Presented technical work to 50+ students and faculty at the California Institute of Technology
• Participated in the WAVE Research Fellowship in the Aerospace Robotics and Control Lab (ARCL)

### Supplemental Instruction Leader for Physics @ Santa Monica College
Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | Santa Monica, CA
• Created lesson plans and content for out-of-class sessions twice a week for students enrolled in Physics: Mechanics with Lab
• Instructed students by utilizing evidence-based study methods to help them learn course concepts, prepare for exams, and adopt effective study skills


## Education
### Bachelor of Science - BS in Mechanical Engineering
University of California, Berkeley

### Mechanical Engineering
Santa Monica College


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/karenlchen

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Source: https://flows.cv/karenchen1
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/karenchen1/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-04-13