Cooper Shea

coopershea.com | LinkedIn ↗ | Google Scholar ↗

Mechanical & materials engineer specializing in computational 3D design, AI-assisted engineering workflows, and rapid hardware prototyping. Experience across robotics, medical devices, hydrogen systems, and automated design pipelines.

Research Interests

• Unifying fundamental representations of geometry, simulation, and manufacturing data. 3D computational design and automation of systems for manufacturing and materials research on foundational design, medical, and climate technologies.
• The long-term impacts of AI utilization on human cognition explored through collaborative software that enhances human thinking.

Education

Stanford University -- Stanford, CA

• M.S. Mechanical Engineering (Biomechanics and Thermodynamics), GPA 3.9 -- June 2024
• B.S. Materials Science and Engineering (Energy Systems), GPA 3.9 -- June 2022
• Mayfield Fellow 2022 -- 1 of 12 selected for program in technology venture leadership

Professional Experience

Founding Prototype Engineer -- Uncapped Potential, San Francisco

July 2025 -- Present

• Hired for hardware. Deleted the entire hardware stack with Fun-Fit, a pose-estimation fitness-gaming web app (React, Supabase, MediaPipe, Unity). Full-time software engineer since: Unity games, online deployments, frontend, firmware
• Developed frontend and firmware using AI-assisted tooling; taught the team Claude Code workflows
• Ran dozens of beta user interviews to steer product direction
• Earlier: led CAD and reliability through EVT2/DVT1 of the BLE-enabled fitness hardware, with ownership of BOMs, DFM/DFMEA, and vendor supply chain

Chief Engineer -- JAS Surgical, Palo Alto

April 2025 -- Present

• Responsible for mechanical design, CAD development, prototyping, and iterative engineering refinement across the product line
• Lead product design for meniscus repair device: need finding, product requirements, DFMEA, FEA, TEA
• Completed functional prototype, managed vendor relations, and assessed manufacturing feasibility
• Produced technical documentation for regulatory and commercialization milestones
• Defined patent database and documentation strategy and created NotebookLM librarian to check designs for infringement against database

Mechanical Engineer, Product Design -- Verne, San Francisco

November 2024 -- July 2025

• Led company-wide adoption of Anthropic Claude across grant writing and coding; authored the rollout plan that drove 100% enterprise adoption
• Built an agentic inventory management system from scratch enabling real-time tracking of parts, driving 100% adoption within 2 months and a 5% companywide productivity gain during critical build sprints
• Designed and built DOT-compliant shell for full-scale hydrogen transport system, integrated electromechanical systems, managed procurement. Pair-programmed interactive concept vehicle app, deployed at multiple tradeshows
• Designed 1/24 scale concept trailer for investor showcases at Newlab and ARPA-E, resulting in new business leads

Master's Residency, Ocean Hardware -- X, the moonshot factory (Tidal), Mountain View

July 2023 -- December 2023

• Designed in situ jigs and poolside crane for testing cameras and machine vision. Manufactured and operated testers on cable system to quantify reliability using HALT methodology
• Prototyped next gen underwater camera system: modified housing and performed hardware field tests -- validated watertight seals and lighting. Learned DFMEA
• Taught classes on AI prompting, image generation, and co-design to ML engineers, leading to multiple follow up sessions

R&D Intern, Battery Pilot Plant -- Blue Current, Hayward

June 2022 -- August 2022

• Led optimization and quality control development for conductive slurry leading to process rec for pilot plant
• Wrote 2 reports for the CEO on competitive positioning -- resulted in board allocating resources to explore findings
• Completed 8 internal interviews to quantify organizational communication and value alignment

Research Experience

DeSimone Lab -- Stanford University, Chemical Engineering

Researcher: Computational Design of Coronary Stents, Microneedles, and Orofacial Devices September 2020 -- June 2023

• Designed bioresorbable, 3D printed coronary stents to alleviate heart disease
• Designed and printed biomimetic microneedles refined with finite element analysis, leading to provisional patent
• Crafted a Blender + nTopology workflow for bespoke medical devices for infants with a team of 6 researchers
• Contributed to JACS Au paper and several technical sections of NIH R01 grant application
• Ran workshops on adopting AI in research and literature review -- shared best practices and research tools with lab

Okamura Lab -- Stanford University, Mechanical Engineering

Rotation Student March 2024 -- May 2024

• Co-led mechanical design (CAD, CAM, FEA, fabrication) of low-pressure vine robotic base station
• Machined test fixture, performed pressure validation and failure analysis

Gordon Lab -- Stanford University, Biology

Undergraduate Field Researcher August 2019 -- September 2019

• Field research on Pogonomyrmex Barbatus (desert harvester ant) during dry season in Arizona
• Dissected and prepared samples of insect tissue for neurological study

Publications

• Netra U. Rajesh, Ian Coates, Madison M. Driskill, Maria T. Dulay, Kaiwen Hsiao, Dan Ilyin, Gunilla B. Jacobson, Jean Won Kwak, Micah Lawrence, Jillian Perry, Cooper O. Shea, Shaomin Tian, and Joseph M. DeSimone. "3D-Printed Microarray Patches for Transdermal Applications." JACS Au 2022 2 (11), 2426-2445. DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.2c00432

Patents

• Joseph M. DeSimone, Cooper Owen Shea, Dan Ilyin, Gunilla B. Jacobson, Jean Won Kwak, Kaiwen Hsiao, Maria T. Dulay, Madison M. Driskill, Micah Lawrence, Netra Rajesh, Olayemi Oluwatosin Ajao. "Compliant Polymeric Structures Having Polymeric Microneedles and Methods for Making and Using Same." US20250186754A1 ↗ (Filed 2023, Patent Pending, 2025)

Teaching and Mentoring

• Mayfield Mentor, Stanford Technology Ventures Program -- Mentoring three students in the Mayfield class of 2026
• Undergraduate/Graduate Mentor, DeSimone Lab, Stanford -- Onboarded rotation students, collaborated on cleft palate and coronary stent design projects (Jan--Mar 2023)
• Resident Assistant, Stanford Residential Education -- Fostered community among ~60 incoming students during COVID-19 (Jan--Aug 2021)
• First Year Mentor, Stanford Residential Education -- Hosted weekly 1-on-1s with incoming students during COVID (Sep--Dec 2020)

Leadership and Service

• Panel Director, Kinetic Hardware Conference -- Recruiting and moderating panel on computational design (2026)
• Panel Director, MIT Energy Conference -- Recruiting panel on climate communication (Oct 2024 -- Present)
• Judge, Blue Ocean Student Pitch Competition -- Evaluated 20 student pitches on blue ocean strategy and ethical entrepreneurship (Aug--Dec 2024)
• Volunteer, Exploratorium Science Museum (Aug--Dec 2024)
• Engineering Team Lead, Stanford Climate Ventures -- Co-led team of 6 exploring heat impacts on outdoor workforces, completing 69 interviews. Led team of 3 to prototype cooling fabric (Jan--Mar 2024)
• Founder, Designer, Driver, Idaho Solar Go-Kart Challenge -- Pitched at HackFort, cultivated adoption by 6 schools over 3 years. Converted gasoline go-kart to solar power, achieving 1st place in 2015 and 2016 races (2015--2017)

Live Development Projects

• Fun Fitness -- Web app using pose estimation to play exercise video games. React, SupaBase, MediaPipe, Unity (July 2025 -- Present)
• Vocalize -- Interview practice web app with emotional analysis and feedback. React, PostGres, Hume, Assembly AI, OpenAI
• idactic ↗ -- Socratic tutor for learning math derivations. Personal experiment in self-taught derivations
• Career Path Navigator ↗ -- Maps a user from where they are to where they want to be, and every checkpoint in between

Awards and Fellowships

• Mayfield Fellow, 2022 -- 1 of 12 selected for competitive program in technology venture leadership (Stanford Technology Ventures Program)
• Arete Fellow, 2020 -- Effective Altruism cohort program
• Climatebase Fellow, 2025 -- Cohort-based fellowship for professionals building careers in climate

Technical Skills

Programming: Python (Proficient), MATLAB (Proficient), C/C++ (Basic/Proficient), Agentic AI workflows (Intermediate), AI-assisted IDEs: Windsurf, Cursor, Replit, Claude Code (Expert)

Design: 3D CAD -- Fusion 360, SolidWorks, Onshape (Expert: complex assemblies, tooling, GD&T). Prototyping -- CNC, lathe, mill, additive (FDM/SLA), jig/fixture fabrication. 2D drafting with GD&T per ASME Y14.5. Electromechanical integration -- Arduino, Raspberry Pi, sensors, motors, wire harnesses. Testing -- custom test rigs, reliability evaluation, FEA, TEA, DFMEA.

Lab: Additive manufacturing (Expert), Mill/Lathe/CNC/Casting/Welding (Proficient), Materials testing (Proficient), Viscometry (Proficient), X-Ray Diffraction (Proficient), General Wet Lab (Proficient), Arduino/Raspberry Pi (Proficient), Process engineering and PLC (Basic)

Research Statement

I call the core bottleneck I study "Representational Friction": the chasm between digital abstractions and physical manufacturing. A mesh captures geometry but loses semantics; a B-Rep captures clean boundaries but resists neural manipulation; implicit fields offer topological freedom but are slow to craft. Engineers spend their time writing scripts to patch context between these formats rather than solving the actual problem.

My objective is to dismantle this friction by defining the next paradigm of computational design -- building the digital thread that preserves exact constraints while enabling the generative power of modern AI, creating the infrastructure to turn scientific discovery into scalable solutions.