Adhiraj Agarwala

Studying ECE at UIUC — curious about embedded systems and what sits beneath the software.

Open to Fall 2026 internships · embedded / hardware

Kolkata → Urbana-Champaign · UIUC '28

Adhiraj Agarwala

// about

About

I build systems that sit close to the hardware — assemblers, logic circuits, sensor pipelines. Currently studying ECE at UIUC as a James Scholar with a focus on embedded systems and digital design.

At UIUC I'm on the Illini Electric Motorsports team working on low voltage and sensor integration for the formula EV car. Before that: a lunar habitat power distribution system at ISSDC where our team placed runner-up internationally, a CERN beamline proposal as team lead, and Paperio — a pipeline that makes dense academic papers actually readable.

I grew up in Kolkata. Outside engineering, I spent three years on the board of Brightbytes, scaling a computing literacy program from 50 to 150 learners across three community centres.

UniversityUIUC
DegreeB.S. Electrical & Computer Engineering
GPA4.0 / 4.0
YearClass of 2028
DistinctionJames ScholarDean's ListSamsung Semiconductor Track Scholar
Based inUrbana-Champaign, IL

// projects

Projects

2026

LC-3 Assembler & Compiler

Independent Research · Prof. Lumetta

GitHub ↗

A complete two-pass assembler for the LC-3 instruction set, written from scratch in Rust. Implements a lexer, symbol table, and binary encoder covering all 15 instructions — ADD, AND, BR, JMP, JSR, LD, LDI, LDR, LEA, NOT, ST, STI, STR, TRAP, and RTI. Error messages flag exact line, column, and cause.

RustSystemsCompilers
.ORIG x3000
ADD R0, R1, R2
STR R0, R1, #0
HALT
.END

CurveCraft

Individual Project

A Python semiconductor device-modelling toolkit. Implements diode I-V curve fitting, MOSFET Id–Vgs and Id–Vds fitting, and Rds_on extraction — each with ngspice netlist generation, SPICE simulation, and validation against analytical models. Maintained with CI, release tags, engineering logs, and structured milestone tracking.

PythonngspiceSPICEMOSFETSky130

PDK Cartographer

Individual Project

A fixture-first Sky130 PDK exploration toolkit. Implements a typed Liberty parser — lexer, group parsing, and dataclasses for cells, pins, timing arcs, lookup-table templates, and timing tables. Validated read-only against 1,474 real Sky130 Liberty files; generates deterministic Markdown, CSV, and JSON reports for standard-cell atlases, timing-table summaries, and PDK manifests. Maintained with pytest, ruff, mypy, and CI.

PythonLibertyEDASky130pytest
2026

Paperio

Individual Project

A pipeline that takes dense academic PDFs and restructures them for readability — section by section, context preserved. LLM-driven backend with a modular prompt architecture; handles varied paper formats without prompt rewrites.

LLMsAPIsFull-stack
2025–26

4-Bit Calculator

Engineering Design Project

A 4-bit arithmetic unit built entirely from discrete logic gates — no microcontrollers, no pre-built ALU chips. Implements addition and subtraction with carry propagation, a register to hold intermediate results, and 7-segment display output.

Digital LogicHardware
2025

ECE 110 / 120 Lab Projects

UIUC · Course Projects

Three hardware projects built from first principles: a light-seeking robot using analog comparator feedback, an applause meter with signal conditioning and threshold detection, and a vending machine controller implemented as a finite state machine in combinational logic.

AnalogSignal ConditioningDigital Logic
2024–25

International Space Settlement Design Competition

ISSDC · Runner-up, International

Designed the full power distribution network for a 1,200-person lunar habitat concept — permanently shadowed crater site, solar storm contingency, uneven terrain. Presented the design to Boeing engineers at the international finals; team placed runner-up.

Systems EngineeringResearch
2024

CERN Beamline Proposal

CERN · Team Lead

Team lead for an experimental proposal submitted to CERN's Beamline for Schools competition. Designed a muon lifetime measurement experiment using delay wire chambers and scintillation counters. Coordinated six people and liaised directly with CERN physicists during the design review.

PhysicsResearchInstrumentation

// skills

Skills

HardwareDigital Logic Design · Circuit Analysis · Embedded Systems · Signal Conditioning · SPICE / ngspice
LanguagesRust · C · Python · TypeScript · LC-3 Assembly
SoftwareLLM APIs · REST APIs · Next.js · Version Control (Git)
OtherTechnical Writing · Systems Engineering · Research

// experience

Experience

2025–

Low Voltage & Sensors — Illini Electric Motorsports

Formula EV · UIUC

Working on the low voltage system and sensor integration for UIUC's formula-style electric race car. On the low voltage side I work on power distribution and control circuits. On sensors I deal with signal conditioning and getting reliable data out of hardware under real track conditions.

2026–

ECE Department Front Desk Assistant

UIUC · Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Primary point of contact for students, faculty, and visitors. Manage scheduling logistics, facility coordination, and day-to-day departmental operations.

2025–

Communications and Outreach Chair

James Scholar Honors Board

Manage outreach to 800+ James Scholars via Instagram and email newsletters, covering honors seminars, research opportunities, and networking events.

2025

Intern

Levana Floors Pvt Ltd

Automated daily inventory processes reducing manual errors by 30%. Redesigned and rebuilt the company website.

https://levanafloors.in
2022–25

Board of Directors

Brightbytes

Scaled the program from 50 to 150 learners across three community centres by standardising a computing curriculum covering digital literacy, programming basics, and intro hardware.

// education

Education

2025–28

B.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

James Scholar · GPA 4.0

–2025

ISC 2025

La Martiniere for Boys, Kolkata

98% average · 100/100 Mathematics · 99/100 Computer Science

// writing

Writing

I write when I have something worth saying — usually about building things, how they work underneath, or why a particular design decision made sense. No schedule, no newsletter. First posts coming soon.

Go to blog →

// contact

Contact

Interested in embedded systems, hardware prototyping, and research-adjacent engineering roles. Best reached by email — I respond within a day.