Welcome to my website! I am an Electrical Engineering student specializing in Signal and Image Processing, minoring in Cognitive Science with a focus in Neuroscience and Human-Computer Interaction at UC San Diego. I just finished studying abroad at Kyoto University for the Spring 2026 quarter. Read about my adventures!
A MESSAGE
If a life worth living is built on facing adversity, how can we build technology to help everyone struggle better?
I'm greedy for a full, intense life, hard days included. But no one should have to carry the strain alone.
ABOUT
I am currently 20 years-old. At 17, I figured there was more to life than sitting through six periods of classes and stressing over a 4.0 GPA just for a shot at getting into a "good" university. So, I decided to get busy and get a head start on living and dropped out (technically, tested out) of high school. That liberating sense of freedom did not last long. I managed to find my way into UC San Diego just a year and a half later 😂. My first year of junior at UCSD humbled me in more ways than I could have imagined. The experience was rough, but I still found ways to live, learn, and enjoy the ride along the way.
John 16:33"In the world you will have tribulation.
But take heart;
I have overcome the world."
When I am not "studying", my life is driven by the 3 G's: God, golf, and the gym or on Sundays, faith, family, and football. I have a massive passion for understanding new things, but I also love unwinding outside of technology. Whether that's watching a movie, reading a book, solving jigsaw puzzles, or tracking game lines, projections, and spreads. My deepest passion, though, is ice hockey. I have been playing for 15 years now, so if you ever need a short washed forward for pick-up games, hit me up, just don't look up my elite prospects profile beforehand. Aside from sports and other interests, I love to travel, learn new cultures, and adventure. I have been very fortunate to explore different countries at such a young age, and I am hoping to continue to do so. You can read more about me and my thoughts right here in my logs.
My academic, professional, and personal journey is very unorthodox, and has been quite the adventure. If you want to discuss professional opportunities, talk shop, swap travel stories, debate LeBron Raymone James, or just say hi, feel free to contact me.
Currently Located
La Jolla, California, U.S.A.
CURRENT
Senior* at UC San Diego pursuing a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with specialization in Signal and Image Processing, minoring in Cognitive Science with a focus in Neuroscience and Human-Computer Interaction (2025-2028).
*Senior standing, I still have a few more years 😂
GOALS
My Purpose- Be a decent human being.
- Get closer to God while staying grounded in the present.
- Do right by my people, and pour into others.
- Build technology that helps people overcome physical and mental limitations.
- Keep moving forward, even when the path is unclear.
EXPERIENCE
FPGA / ASIC Design Engineer
Triton Quantitative Trading (TQT)
- Now designing an open-source, reprogrammable protocol-emulator ASIC for Jane Street's ASIC competition: a tiny CPU whose instruction set reads pins, writes pins and counts cycles, so one chip can speak UART, SPI and I2C, with low-speed USB and 10 Mbit Ethernet as stretch goals.
- Targeting IHP's 130 nm CMOS5L process through Tiny Tapeout on a 6×4 tile (about 0.7 mm²), taking the design from RTL to GDS with open-source tools. Submissions close January 18, 2027, and the most novel designs get fabricated on the March 2027 shuttle.
- Previously built an FPGA-based ITCH 5.0 decoder in SystemVerilog to parse NASDAQ feeds from a 100G CMAC interface, with an AXI4-Stream adapter deserializing 512-bit bus data into 8-bit streams using
tkeepmasks for partial frames. - Extracted order attributes (price, volume, side) at 1 byte/cycle into Limit Order Book registers for live top-of-book prices, verified for throughput and sub-microsecond latency in Vivado simulations on real market data.
- Unfortunately, I did not win a math competition in China 😔
La Jolla, California
Project Lead, sEMG Soft Exosuit
Triton NeuroTech (TNT)
- Lead the club's 2026–27 build of a low-cost, fabric-based glove that reads forearm surface EMG to detect movement intent and assists grasping, finger extension and wrist flexion/extension for rehabilitation.
- Direct a design built around consumer sEMG sensors, an Arduino-class microcontroller, and soft silicone and fabric actuators (small air pumps or tendon-driven micro-servos) instead of rigid motors.
- Set up the evaluation: intent-detection accuracy, range of motion with and without assistance, delay from muscle signal to actuator, wearability feedback and cost per unit, benchmarked on finger extension of a simulated stroke-affected hand (unassisted vs. timed vs. sEMG-triggered).
- Previously the firmware engineer on the club's EMG neuroprosthetic hand: C++ on Arduino reading EMG sensors and driving the motors, tuning pins and signal thresholds, and documenting the setup for the mechanical team.
La Jolla, California
Battery Engineer
Triton Solar Car (TSC)
- Almost shorted a circuit my first year, hopefully they bring me back 🙏
La Jolla, California
Engineering Intern
NASA California Space Grant Consortium
- Engineered embedded C++ firmware for an ESP32-based algae detection robot, integrating turbidity, pH, and temperature sensors to generate over 1,000 reliable data readings for environmental monitoring.
- Designed Python workflows to automate calibration, process sensor data in real time, and generate visualizations that improved testing efficiency and reliability.
- Created technical documentation for sensor calibration and firmware deployment process.
San Jose, California
Hockey Coach
Sharks Sports & Entertainment
- Teaching and spreading the love of the game to the next generation 🫡
- Technically Celebrini and I are
co-workers
San Jose, California
Wireless Culinary Order Interceptor
Raising Cane's
- Was on the come up, one would say I was a Raising Cane. 😤🐕🍗🍞
San Jose, California
Acoustic Order Telemetrist
Shake Shack
- Two of the hardest weeks and weekends of my life, but we made it through!
- Time is relative, but memories last forever.
San Jose, California
EDUCATION
University of California, San Diego
B.S. Electrical Engineering, Minor in Cognitive Science
Signal and Image Processing
Activities and Societies: UCSD Ice Hockey Club, UCSD Surf Club, IEEE, Triton Neurotech, Triton Solar Car, Triton Quantitative Trading
Relevant Coursework:
- COGS 108: Data Science in Practice
- DSC 10: Principles of Data Science
- ECE 15: Engineering Computation: Introduction to Programming in C
- ECE 17: Object-Oriented Programming: Design and Development with C++
- ECE 25: Introduction to Digital Circuit Design
- ECE 35: Introduction to Analog Circuit Design
- ECE 45: Circuits and Systems
- ECE 109: Engineering Probability and Statistics
La Jolla, California
Kyoto University
Kyoto University International Exchange Program (KUINEP)
Activities and Societies: Developmental Neurorobtics (Veale Lab), Kyoto University Ice Hockey Club
Relevant Coursework:
- Basics of Informatics and Artificial Intelligence
- Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence
- Behavioral Neuroscience
Kyoto, Japan
Evergreen Valley College
Focus in Engineering with coursework in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physics
Activities and Societies: President - Engineering Club, Vice-President - Computer Science Club, and Math Club
Relevant Coursework:
- COMSC 028: Foundations of Data Science
- COMSC 041: Programming Concepts and Methodology I
- COMSC 075: Computer Science I: Introduction to Program Structures
- Computer Science II: Introduction to Data Structures
San Jose, California
CERTIFICATIONS
Community College Aerospace Scholars
NASA · April 2025
Data Visualization in Spreadsheets
DataCamp· April 2022
sEMG Soft Exosuit
Leading a low-cost fabric glove that reads forearm sEMG to detect movement intent, then drives soft pneumatic or tendon actuators to assist finger and wrist motion for rehabilitation.
Triton Solar Car
Developing the traction pack: cell modeling and selection, pack architecture, BMS integration, and safety/thermal testing.
Protocol Emulator ASIC
Designing an open-source, reprogrammable chip that speaks UART, SPI and I2C, built in IHP 130 nm through Tiny Tapeout. Due Jan 2027; the most novel designs get fabricated.
Diagnosing CTE in Living Patients
CTE can only be confirmed after death. Reviews the four approaches to diagnosing it in living patients (tau PET scans, MRI, blood and spinal-fluid tests, and machine learning) and why every new test is so hard to validate.
Eye-Tracking EDA
Exploratory analysis of Tobii Glasses 3 gaze data from a healthy-control walking run: gaze validity, gaze patterns over time and space, saccade speed and gaze-centered luminance, as a baseline for schizophrenia research.
Thoughts, reflections, and other musings
All logs, newest at the bottom of each section. Each has its own readable page; there's also a full index at llms.txt.
UCSD · Junior Year · Fall 2025
- Week 1 - 11/06/2025 · Hello! Welcome to my website! For those who do not know me, I'm Tristan Lee, a third-year/first-year transfer Electrical Engineering student at the…
- Week 2 - 11/17/2025 · Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great day off on Veteran's Day last week! Salute to the all the troops and everyone who served! Here's how my week…
- Week 3 - 11/25/2025 · Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! We or at least I am at the final stretch of the year. After my finals, I am clocking out until 2026. Here's what happened…
UCSD · Junior Year · Winter 2026
- Week 1 - 01/10/2026 · I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a great start to the New Year so far! I'm back! The break was good and restful, but it is time to get back to…
- Week 2 - 01/18/2026 · Happy Martin Luther King Day! Here's an Instagram post from the King talking about another King: View this post on Instagram A post shared by 👑…
- Week 3 - 01/26/2026 · Good morning! Good news: Officially cleared of my concussion and got my first goal! Bad news: I am back on the IR (Injured-reserve) and most likely out for…
- Week 4 - 02/02/2026 · Morning! No football last weekend 🥀 I started the week off brutally. Woke up on Monday with a sore throat and light congestion, which later turned to a…
- Week 5 - 02/09/2026 · Good morning! Happy Super Sick Monday! I am disappointed that the Seahawks won in our home, but I am super happy for Sam Darnold. His story of resilience is…
- Week 6 - 02/16/2026 · Happy G-Washy Day! Although, I am cheering for Team Canada during the Olympics, I got to thank Mr. George for crossing the Delaware on Christmas. This is…
- Week 7 - 02/23/2026 · Sorry there is not a good morning, today! For starters, I got a quiz today, midterm Thursday, another quiz on Friday, and what happened yesterday morning.…
- Week 8 - 03/02/2026 · Good morning! Officially in Week 9 now, just two more weeks left in La Jolla for a while, then 3 weeks til I am at the airport gate boarding to Tokyo.…
- Week 9 - 03/09/2026 · Good morning! Here is a surprise for you all: Something just came to me and I decided to record, and upload. I will make another video, but do not know when…
- Week 10 - 03/16/2026 · Good morning! It is finals week time, and I am about to walk into my circuits final. I am scared because I failed last quarter, but it is time to get my…
UCSD · Senior Year 1 · Fall 2026
- Week 0 - 09/27/2026 · Good morning, Here we go again! I have been back for about 20 days, still kind of jet-lagged, and adjusting has been pretty difficult. I really enjoyed the…
- Week 1 - 10/04/2026 · Good morning! I am working my hardest to get these out before Monday and 10 AM (PST) for NFL Sundays. Also, working on getting out the videos too: It's…
- Week 2 - 10/11/2026 · Good afternoon, I turned 20 yesterday, yay! Here is my birthday present to you all: Majority of what I was going to write in the log is in the video, so…
- Week 3 - 10/18/2026 · Good morning, Headed into Week 4 already, I can not wrap my head around it. Midterm season is upon me, and I am stressed, but I only have one. This is such…
- Week 4 - 10/25/2026 · Good morning! I hope everyone is doing well and feeling good about themselves! As I stated in last week's log, I tried to practice positivity and…
京都大学
- Week 1 - ２０２６年０４月２０日 · おは異様ございます！ (Good morning!) As I get better with my Japanese, I will start typing sections of the log in Japanese. Do not fear as I will have the English…
- Week 2 - ２０２６年０４月２6日 · おは異様ございます！ I hope everyone had a good week and weekend. There's a surprise on the home screen or right here: I had another eventful week last week, I am…
- Week 3 - ２０２６年０５月０３日 · おは異様ございます！ It has already been one month into my exchange, and I am only in Week 3, while UCSD is already in Week 6. The semester system is slow, but time…
- Week 4 - ２０２６年０５月１０日 · おは異様ございます！ Hope everyone's weekend is going well so far! The log and video are coming out early because I have a late-night practice tonight and will be…
- Week 5 - ２０２６年０５月１７日 · おは異様ございます！ Apologies for the delay, I have been traveling this past weekend, going to Hong Kong for the 3rd time and Shenzhen for the first time. A lot has…
- Week 6-7 - ２０２６年０6月０3日 · おは異様ございます！ Better late than ever, but I need to get back to the schedule and routine for the last half of the semester. I did not mean to combine the log…
- Week 8 - ２０２６年０6月０８日 · おは異様ございます！ 先週はいそがしかった。にほんごのしけんがあるし、アイスホッケーのれんしゅうがにかいおそいあるし、しあいがあるし。 Translation: Last week was busy. I had a Japanese test and 2 late night hockey…
- Week 9 - ２０２６年０6月１５日 · おは異様ございます！ Almost forgot to hit the git add, commit, and push on this one, but here’s week 9. Praying for NY! The city is going to burn. Game 3 was madness,…
- Week 10 - ２０２６年０6月２２日 · おは異様ございます！ I have given the site another update. Now you can switch between light and dark mode. Along with light mode, I made modifications on the home…
- Week 11 - ２０２６年０6月２９日 · おは異様ございます！ “Mr. McKenna, we’d like to draft you to the Toronto Maple Leafs!” - JB View this post on Instagram A post shared by NHL (@nhl) Probably fitting…
- Week 12 - ２０２６年０７月０５日 · おは異様ございます！ 250 years free! God bless America! Happy belated Canada Day too! (Generational fade run needs to end 🙏). I really missed 250 summer 🥲. I had so…
- Week 13 - ２０２６年０７月１２日 · おは異様ございます！ Or こにちわ since it’s now the afternoon in California. Excuse the delay, I just finished my last Japanese university hockey game. Would’ve been more…
- Week 14-15 - ２０２６年０７月１９日 · おは異様ございます! LeBron to the Sixers‼️ LeFifth inbound, I am so excited for my glorious sunshine pookie bear king. Would have been nice to see him return to…
Travel · North America · Canada (CAN 🇨🇦)
- Calgary, Alberta · I abused camera filters when I was 12 🤣 "Sometimes It Snows in April" - Prince Very cold and dry, it is not Toronto and not Vancouver, but good hockey,…
- Vancouver, British Columbia · I have been to Vancouver at least 3 times, but I "lost" or did not take photos from my visit. Every visit for Vancouver was for hockey and nothing else.…
Travel · Asia · China (中國 🇨🇳) · Beijing, Beijing Municipality (北京)
- Arrival - Day 1 · First photo I took on the digital cam! This photo was on Wangfujing Street, and you can see CITIC Tower peeping in the back. Early morning flights are…
- Forbidden City & Temple of Heaven - Day 2 · View of the Forbidden City from Jingshan Park! The vastness of the Forbidden City is mind-boggling! The day started relatively early, but not as early as…
- Mutianyu Great Wall - Day 3 · Completed 1/7 of the Modern Wonders of the World! This was definitely a day I and my feet will not forget! We started at 6 AM this day, so we could get…
- Tian'anmen Square, Beihei Park, Lama Temple, & CBD Mall - Day 4 · Scariest place I have visited! I have never gone through so much security and been monitored so much in life until visiting Tian'anmen Square. The amount of…
- Church, Summer Palace & Marco Polo Bridge - Day 5 · The highlight of Beijing! I love Summer Palace and I regret not scheduling it sooner in the trip because as you read on, some unfortunate events took place…
Travel · Asia · China (中國 🇨🇳) · Chengdu, Sichuan Province (四川省成都)
- Panda Research Center, New Century Global Center, Chunxi Road Pedestrian Street, & Anshun Bridge - Day 1 · Pure "Panda"-monium and cuteness overload! I wish I would have booked one more day in Chengdu because this was probably one of the most fun and favorite…
- Tianfu Square, People's Park, Jinli Pedestrian Street, & IFS Panda - Day 2 · This is the China I imagined in my dreams! The photo above is from Jinli Ancient Street! Another early start today because our ticket for the High Speed…
Travel · Asia · China (中國 🇨🇳) · Chongqing, Chongqing Municipality (重庆)
- Jiefangbei Square & Hongya Cave - Day 1 · I wonder how much light pollution this generates 😂‼️ The train from Chengduddong (Chengdu East Railway Station) took about 1 hour and 30 minutes, and was…
- Kuixing Building, Shibati, Raffles City, & Deyi Plaza - Day 2 · Mission: Impossible - Graduating on Time Coming 2028 (hopefully) 😂 This would be such a cool movie poster! Maybe I try to audition in the next one if they…
- Libizba Station, E'ling Park, Longmenhao Old Street, Nanshan Botanical Garden, & Chongqing Grand Theatre - Day 3 · The Cyberpunk City Obsessed with this skyline. If you told me that I would be staring down Chongqing's skyline and walking its embarcadero 3 years ago, I…
Travel · Asia · China (中國 🇨🇳) · Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality (上海)
- Arrival, Yuyuan Old Street, Taoist Temple, & The Bund - Day 1 · Shanghai Baby! Out of all the cities in China I visited, Shanghai is the city I can see myself living in the most. It feels the most Westernized I'd say.…
- Qibao Old Street - Day 2 · The day continued to get better! Our train from Hangzhou back to Shanghai was at 5:15 PM. We got to Shanghai Station around 6:00 PM. KFC Boba! 🧋🍗 Only…
- Shanghai Museum East - Day 3 · Rainy days on trips are not fun 🥲 After living in Kyoto for quite some time, I should not have underestimated typhoons at all. Typhoon Dolphin absolutely…
- Nanjing Road & People's Park - Day 4 · Oriental Pearl Tower is just engulfed in the fog! We were supposed to be joined by our Japanese Kyoto University teammate on this day, but unfortunately his…
- Yuyuan Garden, French Concession Area, Tian An 1000 Trees, & North Bund Green Land - Day 5 · The last full day in China! 🥲 I thought 15 days in China would be more than enough for me, but on this final day and pretty much every day, I longed for…
Travel · Asia · China (中國 🇨🇳)
- Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province (杭州) · My favorite day on the trip! We took a day-trip to Hangzhou! I wish the weather was better because this was my favorite spot on the trip. Our High Speed…
- Shenzhen, Guangdong (深圳) · Mind-blowing. I was only there for less than 12 hours, but Shenzhen is one of the most impressive cities I have ever visited. Shenzhen is what one would…
Travel
- My Bucket List Adventures · Last updated: July 31st, 2026 Everything I want to do, so I can earn the privilege to say I am cool 😎 There's definitely more I checked off, but this is…
Reads
- 2026 Reading List · Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3/5) First book I read by Mitch Albom other than his classic, Tuesdays with Morrie . From the beginning of the story, one could tell how much…
Reflections
- UCSD - 2025-26 (Junior Year 1) · Welcome back! I hope everybody had a great Spring break, a wonderful Easter, and may you all be blessed forever! I was hoping to get the reflection and the…
- 京都大学 - Spring 2026 · こんにちは！ I hope everyone enjoyed their summer break, or is still enjoying it if it's evidently still going. During my hiatus I did a lot, as you could…
Thoughts & Papers
- Repeated Resilience · "Don't ever let someone tell you you can't do something. Not even me." This powerful quote from The Pursuit of Happyness captures the essence of societal…
- The Rhetoric of Laziness · In a society where productivity determines success, Devon Price challenges the common belief that “laziness” is to blame. Price’s essay, "Laziness Does Not…
- Privilege and Perseverance · "Everyone deserves an education because it is a human right" — Malala Yousafzai. Malala’s quote echoes with me as I read Tara Westover’s Educated: A Memoir…
- Unmasking Male Mental Health · Man up. This is definitively the most common phrase every male hears from other males when confronted with tough situations. From a young age, whenever boys…
- The Parlay Problem · College students have gone from pulling all-nighters to going all-in. With the rise of mobile betting apps, many college students are turning in their…
- Playing in the In-Between: Ice, Identity, and the Long Way Home · Introduction I did not really grow up thinking about being Asian American—not in any deliberate way. Growing up, I moved a lot: born in Palo Alto, moved to…