# About

I am an electrical engineering student at [Villanova University](https://www.villanova.edu/) expecting a B.S. in May 2027. I grew up in the Pittsburgh area and plan to build my career here. I care about hardware that ships, software that stays understandable, and work that holds up when someone actually uses it.

## Where I Started

I was born and raised near Pittsburgh. Childhood came with a rare orthopedic condition, congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia, that kept me out of contact sports and rough play. That pushed me toward computers early. Games and personal projects became how I explored the world on my own terms. Technology was never a hobby off to the side. It was how I stayed independent.

At home I became the person who fixed networks, set up devices, and kept family systems running. That pattern still shows up in how I work. I like being the one who figures out what is broken and makes it reliable again.

## School and Campus

I graduated from [Sewickley Academy](https://www.sewickley.org/) in 2023. Senior year there included AP Computer Science in Java, AP Calculus, and AP Biology, which is why I entered Villanova with AP credit. I spent the next summer as a technology office intern at Sewickley, supporting handsets, touch displays, and a new fiber backbone across campus buildings. In 2022 to 2023 I was co-president of the Italian half of the Italian/French Club and rebuilt meetings around food, coffee, movies, and games. I also completed an engineering bootcamp at [Stevens Institute of Technology](https://www.stevens.edu/), including MATLAB image-processing labs for crop, blur, and threshold work.

At Villanova I am on track for a B.S.E.E. with a focus on practical integration over pure theory. I am active in [IEEE](https://www.ieee.org/), [Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society](https://deltaalphapihonorsociety.org/), and the [ACS](https://www.villanova.edu/university/liberal-arts-sciences/programs/acs.html) Student Advisory Council. I serve as an [SGA](https://www.villanovasga.org/) senator for accessibility and disability services. [LEVEL](https://www.villanova.edu/university/student-life/ads/orgs/level.html) is a disability-advocacy student community, and I help informally there when students need support on campus. I also work as an eLearning student operator, sitting in on graduate engineering courses and keeping lecture capture running.

[CliftonStrengths](https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx) places me highest in Deliberative, Individualization, Analytical, Harmony, and Relator. That matches how I approach teams. I think before I commit, I notice what each person brings, and I would rather ship something solid than chase credit.

## Work So Far

Long before college I helped at [Barno Electronics](https://www.ebay.com/str/barnoelectronics), my grandmother's family business in McKeesport. Warehouse work, labeling, parts sourcing, cameras, and network setup taught me that good engineering starts with a physical space that actually functions.

In summer 2026 I interned at [Intervala, LLC](https://www.intervala.com/) in Mount Pleasant, PA, as a test engineering intern. Intervala is a contract manufacturer for defense and medical customers. I ran flying-probe and in-circuit test on PCBAs, wrote test procedures, and reviewed procedures written by others. The job was hands-on, detail-heavy, and exactly the kind of work I want more of after graduation.

For senior design I am project captain and hardware lead on an AI-powered assistive device for visually impaired navigation. The live stack runs on a Jetson Orin Nano Super with TensorRT, depth sensing, and text-to-speech. The problem is personal in origin but the engineering is what matters on the page. We are building something real that has to work outside a slide deck.

## How I Build

The through-line is hardware that has to work. Freshman year I drafted a dorm bottle-cleaning station in AutoCAD after surveying students and scoring six concepts. Since then the lab trail has been analog bench work, a VHDL traffic-light controller on FPGA hardware, a live Jetson vest for senior design, and OsteoVigil, a research CT-to-FEA pipeline tied to the same condition I grew up with. Public browser apps like RoadOST, Ringfall, HavenGrid, Folio, and Lineage sit next to that work. I learn by making finished artifacts, not by collecting half-done repos.

I am comfortable in MATLAB, C, VHDL, LTspice, and AutoCAD. I reach for modern AI-assisted tooling when it speeds up implementation without hiding the hardware underneath. I prefer ownership of a clear slice of a project and I will carry extra weight if the alternative is a weak final deliverable.

## What Comes Next

An engineer once told me that if you are doing your job right, you should make yourself obsolete. He meant building a solution so complete that the problem stays solved without you in the room. Growing up with a condition that sometimes left me vulnerable and not always able to take care of myself made that goal personal. I want to automate problems, in my life and at work, so reliable systems keep running and I have room to focus on the next frontier.

I graduate in May 2027 and am looking for full-time roles in test engineering, embedded systems, hardware-software integration, or applied AI on real devices. I want work that rewards competence, leaves room to build, and stays grounded in products people depend on. Pittsburgh-area and remote-friendly teams first.

If you are hiring or you want to talk through a project, reach out by email. I keep this site small on purpose. The resume has the line items. This page is the through-line.

- Email: [ditano2545@icloud.com](mailto:ditano2545@icloud.com)
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-ditano
- GitHub: https://github.com/aditano