Resume | Dontavious Ellis

Technical Skills

Power & Circuitry

AC/DC Circuit Analysis, 3-Phase Power, Power Factor Correction, Load Flow Analysis, Transformer Theory

Design & Simulation

MATLAB/Simulink, LTspice, SOLIDWORKS Electrical, AutoCAD (2D/3D), Revit, PSpice, KiCad

Hardware & Lab

Digital Oscilloscopes, Multimeters, Function Generators, Soldering, PWM Control, ESP32/Arduino, Signal Conditioning

Software

C/C++, Python, Bash Automation, Git/GitHub, Linux

Education

University of South Florida (USF)

B.S. Electrical Engineering · Expected Graduation: May 2028 · Core: Electrical Systems I (AC/DC Analysis), Modeling & Analysis of Engineering Systems (MATLAB/Simulink)

Certifications

CompTIA Security+

Infrastructure security, secure protocols, and identity management · Issued Jan 2026

Professional Experience

Research Assistant | USF CIBR Lab

Tampa, FL · Mar 2026 – Present

Classified and analyzed 100+ hardware and software scam cases to support AI model training.
Collaborate with an interdisciplinary team to map deterministic logic flows, ensuring 100% traceability for hardware-software interaction reports.

Website Specialist | USF Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

Tampa, FL · Sep 2024 – Present

Manage and audit web content across 15+ departmental pages using Omni CMS for data integrity.
Serve as primary technical contact for network connectivity, system configuration, and IT maintenance.
Troubleshoot hardware and software issues during faculty onboarding to sustain high-availability operations.

Technical Projects

Secure IIoT Smart Grid Edge Monitor | Power Systems · Embedded

ESP32 · MQTT TLS 1.2 · AES-128 · NERC CIP

Designed ESP32 firmware for real-time RMS voltage/current sensing with <3% measurement error across full load range.
Implemented FFT-based harmonic analysis for total harmonic distortion (THD) detection and power quality monitoring.
Secured MQTT telemetry pipeline with AES-128 encryption and TLS 1.2 transport; mapped to NERC CIP compliance framework.

Smart Load-Shedding & Power Distribution Controller | Embedded · Power

ESP32 · PWM Trip-Logic · Oscilloscope Validation

Built PWM-controlled trip-logic system with ±0.5% current sensing accuracy for automated load priority management.
Achieved 35% Vpp noise reduction through hardware signal conditioning, validated against baseline on bench oscilloscope.
Designed load-shedding algorithm to isolate non-critical circuits under overload conditions, preserving power to priority loads.

TARS Electromechanical Walking System | Electromechanical · Control

Raspberry Pi 3 · 16-Ch PWM Servo Driver · SOLIDWORKS Electrical

Engineered 12V-to-6V DC-DC power regulation circuit to drive 16-channel PWM servo controller and multi-servo gait system.
Developed Python gait automation scripts for coordinated multi-limb locomotion with adjustable stride parameters.
Produced full electrical schematics and wiring diagrams in SOLIDWORKS Electrical for fabrication documentation.

Enterprise Infrastructure Home Lab | Infrastructure Modeling · Systems

Dell OptiPlex 5050 + Proxmox VE · MATLAB · PulseGrid AI · Jan 2026 – Present

Ran MATLAB load-flow simulations to identify optimal service recovery strategies, improving grid restoration time by 22%.
Built PulseGrid AI model simulating cascading failure propagation across 7 infrastructure layers (500+ unique outage scenarios).
Developed Bash automation scripts for network diagnostics, reducing manual triage time by 40%.
Configured pfSense for firewall management, inter-VLAN routing, and isolated network segmentation.

Leadership & Involvement

Technical Development Chair | National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) – USF Chapter

Apr 2025 – Present

Direct technical skill-building initiatives and workshops for a chapter of 100+ engineering and technology students.
Develop curriculum on Arduino fundamentals for community outreach programs targeting K-12 students.
Manage the chapter Discord and overhauled technical programming as newly appointed Technical Development Chair.

President | USF Society for Critical Operations and Preparedness Engineering (SCOPE)

Jun 2025 – Dec 2025

Led a 60+ member organization focused on mission-critical readiness and emergency engineering operations.