Hi there, I’m Joe Shields.

I’m an engineer with a broad skill set looking for either hybrid work in the Portland area or remote work.

I’m currently working at a university group in Baltimore, designing airborne and spaceborne scientific instruments. I’m also doing optomechanical design at our spinoff company. Both groups have a heavy focus on measuring the polarization and intensity of scattered light at different wavelengths to infer properties about aerosols.

In 2019, I left a manufacturing engineer role at SpaceX, working on the docking system for Dragon 2. I was the mechanical lead for a number of small engineering groups in the Portland area. These include: Oregon’s first satellite, the Portland State Aerospace Society’s all-composite rocket airframe, and Pacific Diabetes Technologies. I also volunteered for PSU’s Electronics Prototyping Lab. I have Bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and physics from Portland State University.

I’m passionate about interdisciplinary engineering and open source technology. My special talent is coming up with elegant solutions to complex problems. Most of my experience is in aerospace, not because I have any particular attachment to the industry, but because it attracts people who are interesting to work with. I try to only to work that makes the world a little less awful.