Daniel Wiest

Daniel Wiest has worked in a variety of roles in the engineering and design fields since 2012. Daniel began their career as a Summer Construction Apprentice at Harness Brothers & Mountain Riser Construction, where they gained experience with power tools, appliance installation/repair, general carpentry, electrical wiring, professional design software, and plumbing. In 2015, they took on a Web Design Summer Intern role at Designori, where they worked on the development of educational software for online university classes and the design and programming of the front-end user interface of a pilot training program for Cirrus Aircraft. In 2017, they worked as a Mechanical Engineering Summer Intern at Zatzworks, where they engaged in the design, fabrication, testing, and quality assurance of custom specialty components. In 2018, they worked as a Machine Learning in Manufacturing Intern at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, where they explored the application of machine learning and AI in manufacturing. In 2019, they worked as a Mechanical Engineering Intern at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where they designed, released, inspected, and assembled a variety of custom fluidic components and enclosures for use in a field test of the Ocean Worlds Life Surveyor (OWLS) Project. In 2020, they began working at SpaceX as a Lead Mechanical Engineer, Structures Engineer II, and Structures Engineer, and also became a Co-founder and Design Consultant, as well as a Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer at AuraBlue.

Daniel Wiest obtained their General Education Development (GED) from Homer High School. Daniel then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where they earned a Bachelor of Applied Science - BASc, with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.