MOSFET wiring help (for a senior design project)

Not a great choice if you plan on direct-driving with an arduino; reason being that it’s threshold voltage (the gate-source voltage at which it begins to turn on) is about the same as the maximum output of your controller. Something like an IRL530NPBF that’s characterized for a 5V drive signal would be a more promising option in this case.

Are you sure about that? A glance at the dtasheet suggests a rather lower current figure to me.

There’s more than one approach, involving different tradeoffs. Figures 19-24 of this post illustrate related considerations and effects. Something more along the lines of 5KP48CA might be a more suitable diode selection.

FWIW, the time scales involved tend to be a constraining factor in such applications. Best of luck in your efforts.