Dennis Xu

636-474-9526 ❖ xudennis8@gmail.com
10435 Stonecrest Dr
Johnston, IA 50131
Objective
To obtain a full-time position in embedded systems/computer hardware in winter 2020
Education
Iowa State University
Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering
Expected graduation date: December 2019
GPA: 3.67

Professional Employment
Undergraduate Research Assistance May 2018 – December 2018
• Researching a method of lightweight continuous attestation for wireless sensor nodes with a
professor and other researchers
• Modified a MPS430 simulator to output usage rates for different components of the micro-
processor
• Developed scripts to graph power data with simulated usage rates
• Create a process for doing power analysis from MSP430 Verilog
Western Digital, Rochester, Minnesota May 2017 - December 2017
SW Development Tools Testing Co-op
• Worked with team members to develop internal tools for testing drives in a SCRUM
environment
• Programed in Python, TCL, and C++ for developing and debugging important testing tools
• Developed in both a Windows and Linux environment to ensure tools functions in both
• Communicated directly with users to clarify requirement and functionality
• Updated and debugged legacy code to conform with modern standards
• Gained an understanding of communication protocols like NVMe and SAS
• Created documentation for tools I was responsible for
Relevant Experiences
• IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society Member Spring 2018 – present
o Volunteers at help center to help other students with understanding important computer
engineering concepts
• IEEE Project Co-Chair Fall 2018 – present
o Working with other Co-Chair for getting projects set up for IEEE this semester
o Leading a team on creating an application for helping students design a four year plan
• EE330 Final Project - Transceiver Block Fall 2018
o Designed a transceiver for transmitting and receiving with 4b5b encoding scheme
o Created transceiver block in Verilog and brought it through synthesis, place and route, and
layout
o Checked validity of design by testing synthesized version in Virtuoso
• Critical Tinkers Fall 2015 – Fall 2018
o Worked with a group to build a custom home security system with a raspberry pi
• Computer Architecture Class (CPRE 381) Spring 2018
o Learned about computer architecture and other concepts of computer architecture like
memory structure, Exception handling, and branch prediction
o Created a MIPS 4 stage pipeline processor using VHDL and validated it
• High Altitude Balloon Experiments in Technology (HABET) Fall 2015 - Spring 2017
o Acts as Mission Control Lead which is responsible for all tracking software on launch days
o Written and submitted an academic paper about tracking a solar eclipse with a camera and
presented it professionally to other M2I members
Skills
Programming Languages: Python, C, TCL, C++, Assembly, Java, C#
Technologies: Modelsim, Virtuoso, Synopsys, Microsoft Office, Linux, SVN, and Git
Hardware: Computer Architecture, Circuit design, NVMe, and SCSI