EMBEDDED SYSTEMS & HARDWARE SECURITY ENGINEER

Lewis Forrest
Bates

Embedded Systems & Hardware Security Engineer

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Lewis Forrest Bates - Professional Headshot
KQ4SNV
13th
INTERNATIONAL eCTF 2024
TEAM LEAD
eCTF 2026 + HCIG FOUNDER
HIGHEST
TECHNICAL RIGOR AWARD
HIL + RTAC
MICROGRID RESEARCH
ABOUT ME

Engineer. Leader. Builder.

I’m a recently graduated Electrical & Computer Engineer from Tennessee Technological University with deep hands-on experience in embedded systems, hardware security, and power electronics / microgrids.

My work spans national hardware security competitions (MITRE eCTF Team Lead + HCIG Founder), real-time HIL simulation with Typhoon platforms, and research integrating RTAC-like control logic + neural networks on industrial Raspberry Pi.

EXPERIENCE

Professional Experience

Joint R&D Staff Engineer
(CESR & CEROC)
Tennessee Tech — June 2026 – Present
  • Lead integration of CESR RTAC-like functionality and ML-enabled control on industrial Raspberry Pi (structured text, Modbus, time sync, historian, secure access).
  • Implement and validate neural network models for islanding detection and energy forecasting in Typhoon HIL environments; scale to multi-microgrid systems.
  • Develop instructional materials and mentor hardware security teams and eCTF competition groups.
KEY PROJECTS & LEADERSHIP

Impact & Recognition

NATIONAL COMPETITION
MITRE eCTF
Hardware Engineer / Team Lead • 2024–2026
3 SEASONS
13th / 33rd / 19th
2026 (Team Lead): Led team to 19th out of 114 teams. Founded HCIG (Hardware Cyber Interest Group).
2025: 33rd place — Satellite TV encoding/decoding with access control security.
2024: 13th place — Medical device microcontroller security + I²C analysis.
CAPSTONE • AWARD WINNING
Automated Chessboard
F25_Team2 • Highest Technical Rigor Award
Power Subsystem Lead — Designed & validated full power architecture (UPS HAT + 4×18650). Achieved >2hr battery runtime, 3 µs electromagnet switching (3,300× faster than spec), and 97% first-try voice accuracy.
GitHub: TnTech-ECE/F25_Team2_AutomatedChessBoard
EXPERTISE

Technical Skills

LANGUAGES & EMBEDDED
C/C++, Python, VHDL, ARM Assembly, Structured Text (IEC 61131-3), Real-time Deterministic Control
HARDWARE & PLATFORMS
Raspberry Pi (industrial), Typhoon HIL + RTAC + PYTAC, Modbus, DE10-Lite FPGA, STM32, MAX7800FTHR, ChipWhisperer
DOMAINS & TOOLS
Hardware Security (eCTF), Microgrids & Power Electronics, Neural Net Edge Deployment, Real-time HIL Simulation, Git/Docker
DOWNLOAD RESUME (PDF) CONTACT ME
COOKVILLE, TN • KQ4SNV