Mason Watts

Led firmware ideation, architecture, and implementation for a novel drug delivery system through innovation and de-risk phases (~2.5 years), managing a team of 3 engineers collaborating within a larger team of 20+. I led tradeoff analysis across wireless protocols and frequency ranges, then advised the team on performance validation testing to ensure the chosen approach worked reliably in real-world conditions within the device's metal structure and near liquid drug product.

I implemented the device's user interface and guided the team's broader pneumatic control system implementation, leading to the device successfully meeting client performance requirements for drug delivery across a wide range of drug viscosities and target flow rates. The device was successfully used in UX studies and tradeshows before design transfer to the client's technical team for formal medical device development.

Advised the newly formed client technical team on organizing product development processes to meet IEC 62304 medical device regulations, focusing on documentation rigor (development plans, software architecture specs) and quality practices (code review, source control) needed for regulatory compliance.

Managed a team of four Computer, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineers through 1.5 years of development to create an automated slide staining device for high-throughput laboratory analysis. Architected and implemented firmware managing dual responsibilities: precision fluidic control and chemistry timing alongside a feature-rich UI all on a single bare-metal MCU with no RTOS. This was critical: a conventional UI approach would have required either a beefier MCU or separate processor. Led the initial development phase and refinement as the client performed validation testing with real samples, culminating in client approval and successful Verification & Validation.

Designed a novel UI architecture that enabled low-overhead traversal of a deep UI "tree" with dynamic behaviors, including streaming image assets from an SD card without interrupting timing-critical fluidic operations. The architecture minimized CPU blocking and allowed the system to maintain precise control over motors and valves while remaining responsive to user interactions.

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Architected, developed, and maintained a flexible, PC-based software framework deployed across 50+ medical device projects over 8 years. Starting as an intern, I designed the core architecture and implemented the user interface, device communication modules, and scripting engine — establishing a foundation built on reusability and modularity from the ground up. Upon joining full-time, I led the project as sole engineer, then technical lead, growing the team to include junior engineers and interns whom I mentored on both the software and general engineering practices.

Proactively met with engineering teams during technical planning to assess software fit, co-develop feature improvements, and provide technical feasibility assessments of strategic requests. This collaborative approach enabled rapid feature releases (days-to-weeks for project-critical features, months for major improvements). By shifting from custom per-device development (2-4 weeks per device) to a config-file-based approach, onboarding new devices was reduced to ~0.5 days with zero code changes — enabling any engineer to extend the software.

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Developed firmware and control software for a high-speed PCR thermal cycling system built from scratch, partnering with one EE to implement a novel circuit that combined resistive heating and temperature measurement in the same components — reducing component count and thermal mass while enabling rapid temperature ramps. The core challenge: resistive heaters with extremely responsive loads driven via PWM could literally catch fire and melt themselves if left uncontrolled for ~5 milliseconds at high duty cycles. This constraint demanded tight real-time feedback control to minimize PCR ramp times (reaching target temperature ASAP) while staying safely below destruction thresholds.

Implemented a sophisticated multiplex-driven control loop: rapidly switching between driving resistive heaters and measuring their temperature as feedback, then feeding the measurement into a tunable PID loop to dynamically adjust heating duty cycles. This tight feedback loop enabled both aggressive temperature ramps (minimizing total cycle time) and safe thermal limits. Created a specialized visualization tool for real-time PCR profile monitoring and test configuration management. The client used this system to collect tuning data, validate performance across their sample compositions, and fine-tune the PID parameters for their intended use case—successfully delivering a subsystem ready for integration into their larger product.

Led complete development of a proof-of-concept device and companion app ecosystem for at-home patient drug management, from rapid OTS prototyping (2 weeks) to custom demonstration hardware and software (4 months). Partnered with one EE to design a highly integrated, power-efficient custom PCB roughly the size of a US quarter, packing an MCU, BLE, NFC, environmental sensors, and power management all in one small package. I designed and implemented the firmware managing low-power design constraints, BLE and NFC coexistence, and robust software-level debugging strategies to overcome hardware debugging challenges inherent to the miniaturized form factor.

Developed full-featured Xamarin Forms companion apps (iOS, Android, Apple Watch) that handled BLE device pairing, local database storage, and data visualization across all platforms. These apps balanced demo polish (intentionally showing all capabilities for impact) with pragmatic shortcuts (not production-hardened). Served as primary customer interface, translating non-technical feature requests from the client's life sciences leadership into technical scope and implementation impact, often explaining why seemingly "simple" asks were architecturally complex. Successfully managed scope and feature evolution as customer needs evolved, delivering working units for demonstration within the client's organization.

A DIY name tag that rotates through images on an Adafruit eInk display. Built with an Adafruit Feather 328P microcontroller and microSD card storage for image files. The device runs for ~12 hours on a single charge, making it ideal for conferences and recruiting events. Designed a 3D-printed enclosure with custom cutouts for USB connectivity and secure component mounting. Try making one for yourself!

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A fun and creative visualization of workplace satisfaction cycles using mechanical linkages. The "Corpadian Rhythm" represents the cyclical patterns of how you feel at work based on three overlapping rhythms: month, week, and day.

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