$ whoami
Xander Wilson
Systems & Software
Systems and software engineer with an interest in heavy compute: simulation, real-time data processing, GPU programming.
// experience
Engineering Scientist Associate, Applied Research Laboratories
Oct 2024 - Present
- Built C++/Qt sonar display software for real-time visualization of sonar data and hardware operational status.
- Built Python/Qt/SQLite diagnostic visualization software for ingesting GB-scale data and plotting hardware metrics, enabling on-site debug during time-sensitive field tests.
- Built a Python tool to manage cluster "power presets" with Redfish, enabling power-constrained operation on resource-limited deliverable hardware.
- Owned and maintained several distributed netbooted Linux clusters across multiple projects, handling filesystem/networking/deployment behavior to meet per-project engineering and security constraints.
- Built a Docker-based OS build pipeline for x86 and NVIDIA platforms, enabling rapid and consistent environment iteration and standardizing division-wide procedure.
Student Technician, Applied Research Laboratories
May 2023 - Aug 2023
- Built a ROS2/C++ autonomous diving routine for an unmanned underwater vehicle enabling unassisted marine deployment.
- Built ROS2/C++/BehaviorTree.CPP runtime safety constraints for an unmanned underwater vehicle, eliminating critical failure modes like overheating and loss of control.
Software/DevOps Lead, VEXU Competitive Robotics, UT Austin
May 2022 - Apr 2025
- Ported Monte Carlo Localization implementation to CUDA and benchmarked latency/throughput against Eigen-based CPU implementation.
- Built C++ service to automate capture of ROS2 log data for post-match analysis.
- Integrated Jetsons with LiDAR, rotary encoders, and ultrasonic range sensors for localization and control algorithms.
- Established CI/CD pipeline for regression testing and developer ergonomics.
- Deployed and configured NVIDIA Jetson Nanos for two teleoperated competition robots, enabling ROS2/C++ usage.
B.S. Computer Science, UT San Antonio
Aug 2021 - May 2024
- Concentration in Software Engineering, 4.0 GPA
// projects
// about
Hi! I'm Xander, and I'm currently a systems engineer that configures, deploys, and tests embedded hardware at a sonar research facility.
Day-to-day, I maintain netbooted Linux clusters using a Docker-based OS build system I helped create. I also write C++ compute/display software, set up observability workloads, integrate with embedded ARM and x86 hardware, and test it all to ensure reliability under field conditions.
With the sonar systems I'm trusted to maintain, any failure in the field can cost lives. Safety and reliability are a must, and that's only possible through extensive and continuous integration tests.
During my education, I was a software lead and sole DevOps lead for UT Austin's world-champion VEXU robotics team. I used that experience to secure an internship where I designed and wrote C++ software ensuring runtime safety for autonomous underwater vehicles. With my recent experience in systems engineering, I'm now moving towards compute-heavy applications with a deeper understanding of the system behind the software. I crave the kind of work that needs extensive profiling, arcane optimization techniques, and crunches way too much data for us to handle without care.
My current focus is building a more compute-oriented portfolio, starting with a spacecraft attitude simulator and moving into a top-to-bottom demonstration of software-based beamforming for sonar systems.
Stay tuned!