Our Students

Undergraduate institution: University of Maryland Baltimore County Justyn Bunkley is an African American, first-generation PhD student. Justyn graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) with a BS in mechanical engineering and a minor in mathematics. While at UMBC, Justyn participated in various research projects, including space systems research at the University of Maryland, rocketry propulsion and design research at Morgan State University, and elephant-based bio-inspired design research at...

Undergraduate institution: University of Colorado Boulder Rachael Carreras is a Latina master's student in aerospace engineering. Rachael's goal is to make engineering an equitable environment for the next generation of engineers and to develop space systems that will allow anyone to access to space. She believes that anyone can become an engineer if they are given access to resources and work hard. Starting in fall 2023, Rachael is pursuing a...

Undergraduate institution: William Paterson University Collin DeMan is a PhD student in bioengineering. With a mother from East Germany and a father from Guadalajara, Mexico, this combination of starkly different cultures has reinforced the importance of diversity in his upbringing. During his undergraduate education at William Paterson University, Collin headed a project focused on molecular biological research on two bacterium present in the microbial community of a harmful dinoflagellate. Collin...

Undergraduate institution: California State University East Bay Mario Dueñas is a first-generation, Latino PhD student in physics. While attending California State University East Bay, Mario was involved in multiple research projects, most recently working on Yb nagnetometers advised by Leo Hollberg at Stanford University, previously working on THz spectroscopy of semiconductors advised by Ryan Smith at Cal State East Bay, researched methods of measuring the Newtonian gravitational constant advised by...

Undergraduate institution: University of New Mexico Shantae Gallegos is a Hispanic, first-generation PhD student in biomedical engineering. Shantae was involved in a series of impactful research projects at the University of New Mexico. Through the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, she aided in the synthesizing and 3D printing of biopolymers with implications in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. This project began a desire for her to use...

Undergraduate institution: University of New Mexico Christine Gleicher is a Latina, first-generation PhD student in environmental engineering. While attending the University of New Mexico, she participated in various research projects and groups ranging from finding new surface disinfectants to help relieve the negative impacts of COVID-19 with Eva Chi to investigating fungi that can potentially clean up toxic mine waste with Anjali Mulchandani. She believes in providing support and mentorship...

Undergraduate institution: University of Colorado Boulder Céu Gómez-Faulk is a PhD student in the autonomous systems focus area of aerospace engineering sciences. While attending the University of Colorado Boulder for his undergraduate degree, he worked with the Integrated Remote and In Situ Sensing laboratory developing and operating autonomous aerial weather research platforms in collaboration with the University of Nebraska Lincoln, the National Severe Storms Lab, the Department of Energy and...

Undergraduate institution: Lewis University From the community of Security-Widefield, Colorado, Miles Mena is a PhD student in computer science. He received dual degrees in mathematics and data science from Lewis University. Miles has worked on several research projects such as optimally tiling DNA self-assembly, quantifying the volume of police arrests by race and charge, and evaluating an after-school program's effectiveness. In addition, he has published research on the predictive modeling...

Undergraduate institution: Fort Lewis College Arielle Platero is a Diné (Navajo), first-generation PhD student in mechanical engineering. While attending Fort Lewis College for her bachelor’s degree in engineering, Arielle was involved in different research projects including nuclear engineering research, working on calculating the flow of liquid metals, and environmental engineering research looking to quantify E.coli levels in the tributaries of the Animas River. Arielle also worked in a post-bachelor high-energy...

Undergraduate institution: Fort Lewis College Dakota Rodriguez is a first-generation PhD student in mechanical engineering. While at Fort Lewis College, Dakota participated in undergraduate research in the nanofabrication and characterization lab under Jeff Jessing. Dakota started with the Lung-on-a-Chip project, where he worked with a team to construct a microfluidic device for in-situ testing of human lung cells against different drug therapies. For his capstone project, he worked on a...

Undergraduate institution: University of Arizona Rudolph Rodriguez is a PhD student in physics. Rudolph attended the University of Arizona to earn his undergraduate degrees, beginning with a major in neuroscience and cognitive science and conducting research in non-invasive brain stimulation techniques with Ying-hui Chou. After his first year, he decided to switch his area of study to physics and mathematics, taking on a double major and beginning research on the...

Undergraduate institution: Northeastern University Yassmeen Youssef is a North African, first-generation PhD student in mechanical engineering. While pursuing her bachelor's degree at Northeastern University, Yassmeen completed various internships at NASA, Boeing and GE Aerospace. She was involved in several research projects, including materials research with Randall Erb at the DAPS Lab and biomedical research with Antonie Van Den Bogert at Cleveland State University. Yassmeen also held several positions of leadership...