Hi, I'm Juan Cantu ๐
M.S. Electrical Engineering | B.S. Computer Engineering | RTL & Digital Design
[email protected] ย |ย LinkedIn ย |ย GitHub
Iโm a Masterโs student in Electrical Engineering at UTRGV with a B.S. in Computer Engineering. My work and interests focus on digital hardware design and RTL development, especially FPGA/ASIC design, computer architecture, and system-level integration.
I enjoy building practical hardware projects that reinforce strong fundamentals, ranging from CPU microarchitecture and pipelined datapaths to FSM-driven FPGA designs and real-time signal processing systems. Iโm especially interested in designing digital systems that are clean, efficient, and scalable, with an emphasis on writing structured Verilog/SystemVerilog and developing designs that are easy to debug and verify.
๐บ FPGA Based DSP for Trumpet Audio Enhancement (In Progress)
Building a real-time FPGA DSP pipeline with autotune, reverb, and harmonic enhancement, using a Python-to-Verilog testbench (3.6M+ samples) and validating <15 ms latency on real trumpet recordings.
๐ฅ๏ธ RISC-V CPU Design (In Progress)
Designing a 32-bit, 5-stage pipelined RISC-V CPU with hazard detection and forwarding, expanding from a custom ISA simulator to Verilog RTL targeting FPGA implementation.
Implemented a 12-state Moore FSM with debounced inputs, clock division, and LED feedback on the Nexys A7-100T FPGA, fully verified with modular Verilog test sequences.
๐ง Graduate Teaching Assistant @ UTRGV (Spring 2026)
Managed 3 weekly Digital Systems Lab I sections supporting 100+ undergraduate students in core digital logic, breadboard prototyping, and debugging fundamentals.
๐ฌ Graduate Research Assistant @ UTRGV (Fall 2025)
Led semiconductor device research focused on Ga2O3 ultra wide bandgap devices, including thin-film deposition and electrical/material characterization.
๐งโ๐ซ Teaching Assistant @ UTRGV (Summer 2025)
Supervised 3 weekly lab sessions covering analog circuits, instrumentation, and measurement. Provided hands-on troubleshooting support to improve lab efficiency and student outcomes.
๐งช Research Assistant @ UTRGV (Spring 2025)
Developed Federated Incremental Gaussian Process (F-IGP) algorithms with 1,000+ update cycles. Simulated 18,500+ samples across multi-agent networks, achieving a 72% reduction in NLL and a 48% reduction in MSE. Contributed as a co-author on a paper submitted to the Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers.
๐งฌ Undergraduate Researcher @ UTRGV (2024)
Led a 4-person team to build a real-time facial recognition system for classroom attentiveness using a custom CNN. Processed 4,000+ labeled samples, reaching 90%+ accuracy, and presented results to 200+ K-12 students.
๐ NSF REU Research Intern (Summer 2023)
Collaborated in a 10-week research program focused on autonomous vehicle safety. Supported ML-based decision-making research aimed at reducing conflict zones by 50%.
๐ซ Iโm always open to discussing digital hardware design, RTL/FPGA projects, and engineering opportunities.
Feel free to reach out at [email protected].