Who am I?
Hi, I'm Aidan Prendergast. My passion lies in revolutionizing how we architect processors, shaping the future of computing one innovation at a time.
I'm a multidisciplined Electrical Engineer with expertise in Processor Design, Semiconductor Device Physics, and Artificial Intelligence. Leveraging the verticality of my experiences, I aim to bring fresh perspectives to hardware design and push the boundaries of what's possible.
My journey is guided by three core principles: Tinker, Design, and Mentor.
Tinker
Curiosity has always driven my learning. As a kid, I tore apart electronic toys and old laptops just to see how they worked. Hours of off-script Lego building, modding computer games, and setting up servers for friends laid the foundation for a lifelong fascination with experimentation and problem-solving.
Design
Those early interests evolved as I grew older. Legos turned into Lego robotics, then a role on a FIRST robotics team. Modding games led to learning programming languages like Scratch, Java, Python, and C. A love for computers grew into building PCs and a deep passion for computer hardware. Even my first job as a youth soccer referee came from a desire to turn interests into action.
Mentor
Teaching has been one of the most rewarding ways I've deepened my understanding of the things I love. As a high schooler, I mentored middle-school Lego robotics teams, advised new youth referees, guided first-year scouts toward earning Eagle rank, and TA'd sophomore algebra.
In college, this theme became a defining part of my journey. After discovering Digital Design, I pursued advanced coursework, led digital design-focused projects including a Senior Design Project, and served as a TA for Digital Design and ASIC Design courses for five semesters.
Leadership
For me, everything comes together in leadership. I've been a robotics team captain, Senior Patrol Leader of my Scout Troop, and now Head GTA for Purdue's ASIC Design course. Whether it's organizing impactful scout trips or rewriting lab curricula to better serve students, I strive to leave things better than I found them.
Looking ahead, I aim to continue learning, designing, mentoring, and leading—all with the goal of shaping the future of computing.
Skills
SystemVerilog: Used for hardware design and hardware testbenching when taking ECE 270, ECE 337, ECE 437, ECE 477, and ECE 559. Also used for design, test, and layout development in Hardware Emulated NES (Senior Design), USB Transceiver, MIPS Multiprocessor, and Hardware Multiplier Layout projects. Used for developing new course content as an ECE 337 UTA and GTA.
Cadence Virtuoso: Learned in ECE 559 and used for the Hardware Multiplier Layout project.
Gem5: Learned in ECE 565 and used for the Shepard Cache Final Project.
Testbenching: Developed Hardware Testbenches in SystemVerilog for ECE 337 and 437. Used testbenching extensively in Hardware Emulated NES, USB Transceiver and MIPS Multiprocessor projects.
Python: Learned in High School and College. Used extensively for scripting, data processing, and machine learning. Used in 20875, 570, 595RL, 559, 565, 695GM, and more. Used in my LLM Watermarking Research Project, as well as scripting for the Shepard Cache project. Used to classify, grade, and present deliverable hardware at L3Harris.
C: Learned in CS 159 and ECE 264. Used in CS 159, ECE 264, ECE 362, and ECE 368 coursework.
C++: Learned in ECE 39595O, used in ECE 565.
LaTeX: Learned at the DBEST Lab, used at DBEST, NanoX, and in ECE 437, ECE 570, ECE 595RL, and my Course Rewrite as a GTA for ECE 337.
Device Modeling (NanoHub): Learned in ECE 606, used for ECE 606 work, my Quantum Dot Design Project, and my Nanowire Design Project.
MATLAB: Used for controls applications mostly. Worked on further development of Air Traffic Control-related test engineering tools based in MATLAB at Raytheon.
Assembly: ARMv8 and MIPS assembly explored/used in microcontroller and microprocessor courses.
R: Used in introductory data science courses.
Octave: Used in High School Machine Learning Course, through Andrew Ng at Coursera.
Project Management, Organization, Mentorship, Leadership - Learned in Boy Scouts and High School project teams.
Awards
Eagle Scout, 2018
Achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in BSA Troop 60 as the culmination of leadership positions, including Senior Patrol Leader; merit badges obtained; and other prerequisite requirements for Scouting's highest honor.
ECE Undergraduate Service Award, 2024
Presented with an award for contributions to the department as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, STARS Peer Mentor, Undergraduate Researcher, and ECE Student Ambassador.
Senior Design Award, 2024
Presented with an award for a high-quality, complex project requiring research, reverse engineering, and thorough testing methodologies as a result of our Hardware Emulated Nintendo Entertainment System Senior Design Project.
SPARK Challenge: 3rd Place, 2024
Placed third in the biannual SPARK Challenge, an ECE Project competition judged by alumni and staff. We entered our Hardware Emulated Nintendo Entertainment System Senior Design Project and allowed for two live players across our demo system and development system.
Graduated with Honors
Received a cord signifying graduation with distinction.
Interests
Nerd Stuff
At my core, I'm a huge nerd.
While on a road trip during spring break in the 6th Grade, I was given a flash drive by a family friend. It had copies of the 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons sourcebooks on it, probably pirated. He had kids my age and had been out of the hobby a long time, and so wanted to pass on his love for it. Very quickly, I was hooked, and my obsession for the game spiraled into a lifelong love of fantasy, both in fiction and in games. I've been playing D&D as both a Dungeon Master and Player for over 10 years now, and I've continued playing in one group or another with the same friend for all of those years. He built this website!
For mor general fantasy, I've been particularly drawn to Tolkien, including a lovely copy of the Silmarillion I now own. I can't get enough of that depth of world-building and that mastery of the English language.
Unsurprisingly, as an Electrical Engineer, I'm also a big fan of Science Fiction. Between Star Trek, Dune, and collections of Sci-Fi short stories like Terraform, I love both the computer, robot, high-tech aesthetics of those stories as well as the effectiveness of the medium to question the pillars of our modern way of life.
Also stemming my from my engineering mindset is my interest in PC Building. I've now built 3 generations of systems for myself, as well as half a dozen mice and keyboards for them. I even worked at Best Buy for my Freshman summer since I can talk all day about parts, peripherals, systems, and laptop options.
Unsurprisingly this tangent ends at Video Games. My two most played are Minecraft and Rocket League. Both are games I've made fantastic friendships over and I still get to spend time with old friends playing them. I learned how to write mods for Minecraft and really started my interest in programming there, and Rocket League is what really started my interest in AI systems when folks started work on Neural-Network and Reinforcement-learning powered bots for it. More casually, I enjoy Minecraft PVP and am a Champ 3 in Rocket League, which I've played since its first season in 2014. I've also gotten to stay connected with now-graduated college friends through the newest Halo game, facilitating game nights across the US with custom modes and teams.
Other Interests
I learned in High School to augment my focus with music, as it helps me reach a more flowing state of mind better for cranking out homework and learning new things. I'm a big fan of many electronic styles, rock, metal, alt-rock, instrumental, and country.
In High School I also sparked an interest in horror movies, starting as a date night idea and continuing as a regular occurrence. My favorites, so far, are The Thing (John Carpenter Version), Scream, and The Silence of the Lambs. I liked Blair Witch Project less than most people, and I liked The Ritual more than most. Anything by A24 is very worth seeing, as well as both 2010s It (Pennywise!) films.
I played soccer for all of my younger years, which I am okay at. My favorite team is Chelsea and 10-year-old me loved their striker, Didier Drogba. I still loosely follow the premier league and am from a divided family with Liverpool fans. Being from New England I also learned to ski. I'm a far better skier than a soccer player, though I haven't had a chance to yet ski in the Rockies of the US and Canada, or out in Europe. I am lucky enough to have gone to Mont Tremblant up in Canada, which was a magical experience. I hope to do a lot more skiing in my 20s and take some of my close friends along the way.