Founded in 2002 as JCA Engineering (aka Midnight Engineering), JCA Design Labs provides research and design services for the automotive and consumer electronics market.

— About Me —

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Juan Carlos Aguirre

As a native of El Paso, Texas, I began my career as a graduate research student for the 1995 Hybrid Electric Vehicle Challenge team, representing our university for the national competition. For my part, I developed the controls and instrumentation system for our Extended Range Electric Vehicle (known today as a PHEV). It was also a requirement for my master’s thesis.

After graduation, I held a temporary computer analysis position with Litton PRC at El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), Fort Bliss, Texas. Soon after, I was employed as a design engineer for the tier one automotive supplier Stoneridge (formally General Instrument’s Transportation Electronics Division [TED] and Pollak) across the border in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.  I was responsible for designing various microprocessor based electronic subsystems; body control modules, instrument clusters, multiplexed switch modules and power distribution subsystems. We supplied various heavy truck customers (Cummins, Freightliner, Navistar, Paccar, Volvo), automotive customers (Chrysler, Ford, General Motors) as well as other tier one suppliers such as Delphi and Visteon. It was here that I learned how to design products for the real world.

While working full time at Stoneridge, I began to pursue a Ph.D. part time at the Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at New Mexico State University (NMSU) in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  My typical daily commute was about 100 miles (160 km) per day, through three states (Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua) and two nations (United States and Mexico).  I was either asleep, at work, driving or at NMSU.  I was always on the go.

After the events of September 11th, 2001 and the economic downturn resulting in the layoff from my job the following October, I had the opportunity to continue my university studies full-time now.  It was during this time when I began my transition as an independent consultant.

In my spare time I enjoys camping, RVing, road trips, train travel, attending conferences, exercising, reading, writing and spending time with family and life long friends. I am also an independent scholar and researcher of various topics and a few other activities, a few that include (in no particular order):

  • History of the Olympic Class Ocean Liners; the Olympic, Titanic and Britannic.
  • Space Race, from a historic and technological point of view.
  • World War I, World War II.
  • Chernobyl, Pripyat, Kiev, Slavutych.
  • Early Church Fathers and the first 500 years of Christianity before the biblical canons.
  • Automotive maintenance and repair and looking for parts at the salvage yard.
  • Modern computers, electronics, the semiconductor industry, how did we get to where we are today.
  • Computer networking and setup, Windows, Unix-like (BSD), TrueNAS.
  • History of Automotive Electronics.
  • History of ancient peoples of the Americas.
  • History of European Colonization of the Americas.
  • History of Texas and the Great Southwest.
  • Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
  • Research of various public and private universities.
  • Why “The Road Not Taken” (by Robert Frost) doesn’t matter and yet it does.

— Some Wisdom —

Many believe that [a formal] education is the key to success. Though it is a valuable aid, it is not the difference. The educated derelict is a common sight and so is the man or woman that has achieved phenomenal success without the advantage of a formal education.

The Neuropsychology of Self-Discipline (1988).

— Expertise —

— Professional Engineer —

  • Licensed in New Mexico and Texas

— Formal Education —

During the latter part of my studies at NMSU, I was awarded the Paul W. Klipsch Graduate Student Scholarship.

Paul W. Klipsch Museum

  • Bluetooth Transceiver / FM Transmitter for Innovei