Electrical Engineer · Harvard University
Dandi Desta
Featured builds
Things I've shipped
Sphere (Las Vegas) Robotic Sun Shade Control System
Remote-controlled robotic sun shades protecting IR/visible camera systems for Sphere (Las Vegas)
Explore →
Embedded Systems & Electrical Architecture for University Rover Challenge
Building electrical and embedded subsystems for a URC rover with power management and CAN bus integration
Explore →
Hybrid RL + Optimal Power Flow for Smart-Grid Voltage Control
A self-correcting controller with RL inference speed and OPF safety guarantees for DER-rich feeders
Explore →
Breaking the Memory Wall: 333-eDRAM in Tensor Accelerators
A computer-architecture study of dense embedded DRAM for energy-efficient transformer accelerators
Explore →Outside the lab
Communities & Leadership
I like roles where I can support people and make systems run smoothly.
HASA
Technology Chair
Own event tech + operations — keeping the behind-the-scenes systems reliable. Built the event website.
EEASA
Board Member (AUX Board)
Support community programming and coordination for EEASA events and initiatives.
Harvard Robotics
Electrical & Automation
Electrical integration and automation work on team builds.
Course Assistant
Linear Algebra & Multivariable Calculus
Supporting students through problem sets, office hours, and clear explanations.
Toolkit
Skills & Tools
Engineering
Beyond Engineering
- ▹Translation & Interpretation (UNHCR / IOM)
- ▹Immigration Casework Support
- ▹Soccer & Basketball (Ronaldo is the GOAT)
- ▹Distance Running (Ethiopian running legacy)
Coursework
Classes I've loved (and survived)
A mix of electrical engineering, computer architecture, machine learning, controls, and the math that holds it all up — across Harvard and MIT.
Hardware Architecture for Deep Learning
MIT 6.5930
Designing accelerators for deep learning — dataflow, memory hierarchy, and the hardware/algorithm co-design that directly fed my 333-eDRAM research.
Advanced Introduction to Robotics
ENG-SCI 259
Graduate robotics: kinematics, dynamics, motion planning, and control of robotic systems.
Information Theory
ENG-SCI 250
Entropy, channel capacity, and compression — the fundamental limits of how much information you can move and store.
Electronics for Scientists
Physics 223
Intensely hands-on circuit design — op-amps, oscillators, regulators, filters, and analog-to-digital interfacing with microcontrollers.
Modern Electric Power Systems
ENG-SCI 145
How power grids generate, move, and balance energy — the backdrop for my smart-grid reinforcement-learning project.
Computing Hardware
CS 1410
How computers are actually built, from logic gates up through processor microarchitecture.
Introduction to Machine Learning
MIT 6.3900
Core ML — regression, classification, neural networks, and how models actually learn from data.
Circuits, Devices, and Transduction
ENG-SCI 152
Analog circuits and the physical devices that sense, transduce, and move energy between domains.
Signals and Communications
ENG-SCI 156
How information rides on signals — Fourier analysis, sampling, modulation, and communication systems.
Systems and Control
ECE 155
Feedback, stability, and the control of dynamical systems.
Digital Systems Laboratory
MIT 6.2050
Hands-on digital design on FPGAs in SystemVerilog, building toward a large self-directed final project.
Systems Programming and Machine Organization
CS 61
Low-level systems — C and assembly, memory and caching, processes and threads, where software meets hardware.
Introduction to Electronic and Photonic Devices
ECE 173
The physics of semiconductor devices — p-n junctions, transistors, LEDs, lasers, and solar cells.
Introduction to Probability
STAT 110
Probabilistic thinking — distributions, expectation, and the math behind randomness and inference.
Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations
APMTH 105
Modeling real systems with ODEs and PDEs, plus the analytical and numerical tools to actually solve them.
Multivariable Calculus
Math 21A
Calculus in higher dimensions — gradients, multiple integrals, and vector fields.
Vector Calculus and Linear Algebra I
Math 22A
Proof-based linear algebra and multivariable calculus — vector spaces, matrices, and the geometry underneath them.
Introduction to Computer Science
CS 50
Harvard's intro to CS — problem-solving and abstraction, programming across C, Python, and SQL.
Let's build something
Hardware, embedded systems, research, or just trading notes on engineering — I'd love to talk.
Get in touch