Aerospace engineering student

Jacob Samaras

I like turning unclear problems into systems people can actually use.

I do my best work planted in a team — handed real problems, and given room to grow into them.

B.S. Aerospace Engineering student, class of 2030

I am studying for a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle, class of 2030, and bringing a background in Roblox game development, product iteration, visual effects, CAD, manufacturing exposure, and hands-on prototyping.

Text me Email me GitHub LinkedIn

1 of 4CASBE internship selection

ERAU WaypointCampus navigation product

1.5M+Go Mining visitsGame total, not solo work

2,795community membersCommunity total, not solo work

Positioning

Career fair focus

Aerospace discipline plus creative systems thinking, tested against real use, real audiences, and real constraints.

Selected work

Aerospace manufacturing

CASBE Industries

Paid summer 2025 aerospace manufacturing internship, selected as one of four students.

I was selected as one of four students by my engineering teacher for a paid summer 2025 internship at CASBE Industries, a precision tube fabrication and assembly company serving aerospace, defense, medical, and utility customers.

Robotic arm table

Worked in SolidWorks on a table and mount concept while considering the robotic arm footprint, reach, stability, and modular construction.

Shop-floor exposure

Worked around tube bending/coiling, laser engraving, robotic arm operation, and parts precision cleaning, packing, and labeling. I observed CNC demonstrations but did not operate CNC machines.

SolidWorks table and mount concept
tube bending and coiling
laser engraving
robotic arm operation
precision cleaning and packing

CASBE website →

Product direction · PWA

ERAU Waypoint

A campus navigation PWA I directed, tested, and iterated for my own campus routine.

Waypoint was AI-coded by Claude, but I drove the product: I needed a reliable way to know where to go, when to leave, and what room I was heading to. I shaped the requirements, tested it while walking around campus, personally surveyed building entrances, checked it on iPhone, and kept pushing revisions when the map, compass, permissions, or user flow felt wrong.

24 iterations
requirements direction
field testing
campus entrance survey
convenience features

Map tab use case

NowMapWeekWorkSetup

521 m · 6.7 min
Arrival +6.7 · Pace
Room pinned

Next classTap to routeDijkstraFollow mePinch + rotate

Built around the real Map tab. The campus is rendered as vector geometry from the OpenStreetMap walkway network: 50 campus buildings, roads, and footpaths, not a picture of a map. My buildings are filled blue with badges for classes, food, study, gym, and home. The route stays pinned until I clear it, and my position marker uses GPS course while walking plus the magnetometer while standing still.

Waypoint is built for me and my schedule specifically. It's a PWA — if you open it in a desktop browser some features won't work as intended, since it depends on location, compass and install-only permissions. Installed to an iPhone home screen it works exactly as designed, and I use it every day.

Open Waypoint →

Live game systems · Ownership

Go Mining

Live Roblox game ownership, visual systems, events, and community pressure.

Go Mining is an RNG and incremental mining game where players mine for pickaxe recipes, increase luck, unlock abilities, use gears, and chase rare ore variants. I contributed heavily to the visual side: ore creations, mutated and radiant variants, VFX concepts, event atmospheres, map recoloring direction, materials, update assets, and reward moments that feel exciting when they appear.

My work grew into leadership over 2+ years, progressing from moderator to trial developer to developer to owner. I helped bring a new event system into the game, made VFX for events, coordinated developers and assets, assembled update logs, helped with custom pet coordination, and created Wintyrhearth as a headlining winter update piece.

I am also involved in the rewrite, a long-term effort focused on smoother play, a stronger map, and custom music.

Context The 1.5M+ accumulated visits and 2,795 Discord members are contextual metrics for the game and community, not a claim that those numbers came from one person's work.

GenreRNG and incremental mining game

Core workOres, VFX, events, visual direction

Role growthModerator to developer to owner

FocusOre design, ability VFX, and pickaxe abilities

Open Go Mining →

Ore & VFX work

A selection of my highest-quality pieces. There's a lot more than what's shown here.

Independent tool

Backrooms Level Map

An AI-assisted graph mapper for Backrooms Redacted levels.

This independent tool was AI-coded by Claude and directed by me. I shaped the idea around documenting Backrooms-style levels as connected nodes, exits, notes, hazards, and routes. The value I brought was the product direction and feedback loop: what the tool needed to show, how the visual style should feel, and where the navigation or organization needed to improve.

product direction
node graph concept
route UX
VHS interface style

Get in touch

Contact

Ask me about aerospace manufacturing, campus navigation, Go Mining, or what I am building next. I am looking for aerospace, aeronautics, aircraft, and defense internship opportunities where I can learn, contribute, and keep getting better. Text is my preferred contact method.

I'm looking for somewhere that plants me in real work and gives me room to put down roots. That's where I grow fastest.

Text
preferred(760) 573-1394→ School emailSAMARAJ1@my.erau.edu→ Personal emailjacobsamaras3@gmail.com→ GitHubgithub.com/js3-eng→ LinkedInJacob Samaras→

Scans to the public portfolio URL.

Download portfolio QR