Ricardo Rocha
Operations Research & ATM Intern @ SWISS | MSc Aerospace Engineering Student - Control & Operations @ TU Delft
I like figuring out smarter ways to deal with complex problems in aviation. Most of my work is around operations research and AI, especially in airline planning and air traffic management. I’ve also been involved in flight operations and open-science projects, since I enjoy creating solutions that are useful beyond my own work.
- Location
- Zurich, Switzerland
- rmoraisdarocha@outlook.com
- Phone
- +41 77 978 51 30
- Website
- https://ricardoamrocha.com
- Ricardo Rocha
Experience
– present
Operations Research & Air Traffic Management Intern at Swiss International Air Lines
Part of the Operations Research & ATM team at SWISS, which develops PoCs and solutions to improve the sustainability, efficiency, and punctuality of flight operations.
Highlights
- Contributing to the CICONIA project: optimizing flight trajectories to avoid areas prone to persistent contrail formation, reducing climate impact.
– present
Teaching Assistant at Delft University of Technology
Contributing to an open-source auralization toolbox for aircraft noise as part of Open Your Ears, improving simulation accuracy and usability in Python and MATLAB; supporting research in sustainability and open science.
Highlights
- Developing and testing features in an aircraft-noise auralization toolbox;
- Supporting research with code, documentation, and experiments.
–
Part-Time Student Worker at Subway
Store operations including food prep, customer service, and closing duties (cash counts and inventory checks).
Highlights
- Improved teamwork and time management; learned basic Dutch to interact with customers.
–
Head of Avionics Department at ATLAS — Systems & Aeronautics
ATLAS — Systems & Aeronautics is a student project at Instituto Superior Técnico dedicated to designing, building, and operating autonomous UAVs for competitions and applications such as wildfire detection, a major problem in Portugal.
Highlights
- Led the Avionics Department, coordinating 20+ students across Flight Systems, Computer Vision, and Flight Control.
- Oversaw flight operations planning and integration of subsystems.
- Ensured compliance with aviation safety standards and managed external relations.
- Represented ATLAS at industry and academic events.
–
Flight Systems Team Lead at ATLAS — Systems & Aeronautics
Led the Flight Systems team in developing avionics and propulsion subsystems for ATLAS UAVs, including preparation for the 2024 Air Cargo Challenge.
Highlights
- Developed a ground control system for real-time UAV operations.
- Coordinated design, testing, and competition readiness.
- Placed 6th out of 30+ teams in the 2024 Air Cargo Challenge.
–
Flight Systems Engineer at ATLAS — Systems & Aeronautics
Worked on avionics integration and flight-data analysis to support autonomous UAV operations within ATLAS.
Highlights
- Analyzed flight data to improve UAV efficiency, range, and energy consumption.
- Built a model to estimate aerodynamic coefficients from autonomous flight tests.
- Integrated avionics, sensors, and telemetry into UAV prototypes.
Education
–
Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering (Operations and Environment) from Delft University of Technology with GPA of 8.8/10
Courses
- Air Traffic Management
- Airline Planning and Optimization
- Operations Optimization
- Airport and Cargo Operations
–
Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico with GPA of 8.6/10
Courses
- Final Project: UAV Conceptual Design for NFC (Grade: 9/10)
Languages
- Portuguese
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Fluency: Native
- English
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Fluency: Proficient
- Spanish
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Fluency: Advanced
Skills
- Technical
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Keywords:
- Soft Skills
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Keywords:
