About

I’m Jack Friesen, a mechanical engineering student at Colorado State University, where I’m a Walter Scott, Jr. Scholar and part of the Honors College. I expect to graduate in December 2028.

Most of what I do comes down to the same thing: take a physical system, figure out how it actually behaves, and build something that measures or controls it.

Research

At the Powerhouse Energy Institute I work on wildfire emissions research. My most recent project there was the control system for a 225 L/min bioaerosol air sampler — a custom PCB designed in KiCad, a watertight enclosure, and a tuned PID loop that holds the sampler at a target flow rate using live pressure and flow sensor data.

Before that, through CSU’s SURE Research program, I worked with graduate students and faculty on a mid-IR optical sensing system for early fire detection, isolating the 2 µm and 4 µm bands with photodiodes, lenses, and prisms.

I also spent a semester on a four-person team designing a passive thermosiphon solar still, using OpenFOAM to validate that convection alone would drive the flow. It produced about 3 L/hour from under $60 of hardware-store parts.

Before the lab

I got here through cars and tools, not textbooks.

I spent two years at Discount Tire, finishing as a crew chief, where the job was keeping 30+ cars an hour moving through the bays — balance, bead seating, seized lugs, and the occasional problem nobody wanted to touch. I’ve since rebuilt the cylinder head on a 2001 Honda CR-V after a timing belt failure bent the valves, and overhauled a car’s A/C system down to the compressor, expansion valve, and condenser.

I also worked as a sprinkler technician at Resource Central, diagnosing and repairing irrigation systems and controllers — which was as much customer service as it was hydraulics.

That background is the reason I’m comfortable with hardware that doesn’t work yet.

Outside engineering

I competed in track through high school and won three state championships. I also founded a student organization, and I currently serve as treasurer of Cru at CSU, where I lead discussions and help shape the group’s direction.

I sing in the University Chorus, which I joined in Fall 2026.

What I’m looking for

Internships and hands-on engineering work — especially anything involving instrumentation, thermal systems, controls, or hardware that has to survive contact with the real world.

The best way to reach me is email.