Joshua Nafziger

Human Powered Submarine at Virginia Tech

• Worked on the design and redesign of the team’s custom PCB for fly-by-wire control and data collection.
• Moved the team to EasyEDA Pro, bringing designs into the cloud for collaborative editing.
• Currently improving the waterproof electronics housing and wiring to support faster battery changes for the upcoming competition.
• Leading exploratory research into a custom LiPo battery; adoption remains under consideration.
• Served as Dive Resource Officer at the 2026 European International Submarine Races (eISR) in Gosport, UK. Relayed underwater team communications to UK Navy divers and staff and coordinated race-day communication between dive control and the team. Virginia Tech finished second overall; 12 teams qualified.

• Keep the team’s website and internal SharePoint up to date and active.

President, 2024–2025 · Co-president, 2023–2024

• Custom-built the vehicle telemetry PCBs and designed the code from the ground up, using Raspberry Pi.
• Team results: first in qualifying and third overall in Abu Dhabi, March 2024; first place in Shenandoah, April 2024, and Washington, DC, June 2024.

Head Undergraduate Staff · Blacksburg, Virginia

• Lead a small group in the behind-the-scenes work that supports the band’s operations.

Event Production Liaison · Blacksburg, Virginia

• Serve as the point of contact for Virginia Tech Production Services.

• Work with two younger brothers to contract and care for 13 yards each summer.
• Mow grass, rake leaves, clear snow, and handle other yard-care tasks.

Summer Intern · Virginia

• Contributed to construction, trim carpentry, and general cleanup.

Information Technology Intern · Harrisonburg, Virginia

• Wrote SQL scripts to find errors and inconsistencies in Snowflake databases.
• Analyzed inconsistent data, located sources of error, and submitted requests to have those sources fixed.

Team Member · Harrisonburg, Virginia