ACTIVE, the CU Engineering Faculty Development and Leadership Intensive, is an expense-paid, three-day program open to doctoral students whose identity community/ies are underrepresented in STEM and who are interested in pursuing engineering faculty careers. In November 2018, CU engineering welcomed 14 graduate students from across the country to spend three days on campus learning about future careers as engineering professors and researchers. Scroll down to meet our fellows and learn more about them.
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College of Engineering & Applied Science
Malena Agyemang
Malena completed her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at Norfolk State University in 2013 and her Master’s degree in Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University in 2016 focusing on technoeconomic analyses of global development efforts. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Clemson University in the Mechanical Engineering department in the Clemson Engineering Design Applications and Research (CEDAR) Group. Her research interests are at the intersection of engineering design theory and methodology, humanitarian engineering, and community and global development. Her dissertation research investigates considerations for consumer culture in design projects, exploring the extent consumer culture is reflected in design requirements, engineering design methods, and student designer’s design considerations and perceptions. Her objective is to develop a new engineering design method and investigate how the method effects the extent consumer culture is reflected in designer’s considerations, perceptions, and design outcomes.
Brianna Benedict
Brianna Benedict is a Graduate Research Assistant in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. She completed her bachelor’s and Master’s of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. Her research interest focuses on exploring interdisciplinary engineering program as hybrid spaces to foster identity development and belonging among students with diverse interests.
Molly Carton
Molly is a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington (Seattle). She has a MSc in Applied Math from UW and her Bachelor’s in Physics from Princeton University. Her current research is in additive manufacturing and computational design. In her free time she mentors at the UW makerspace, teaches her friends to sew, reads science and science fiction, and studies any language she can get her hands on. She firmly believes in breaking the barriers to entry and between disciplines in STEM and the arts. Her goal is to become a professor and establish her own interdisciplinary design and manufacturing research lab.
Maria Castaño
Maria Castano was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She moved to Miami, FL when she was 11 years old and received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Florida International University in May 2014. She started her PhD studies at MSU in August 2014 and her current research is focused on control of robotic fish.
Sabrina Diemert
Sabrina is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. In her research, Sabrina looks at the pathogens (bacteria and viruses) in wastewater to determine community disease trends and inform public health responses. She is also interested in the fate of pathogens through water and wastewater treatment. Sabrina received her B.Sc. in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University (Canada) in 2008 and her M.A.Sc. from the University of Toronto in Civil Engineering in 2012. Between degrees, Sabrina worked as a researcher in Barcelona, Spain, as an environmental advisor in Honduras, and as a water process engineer in Vancouver, Canada. She is passionate about diversity across multiple axes in higher education (particularly inclusive teaching approaches and increased representation) and is committed to improving science communication training within universities.
Amani Ebrahim
Amani is from Queens, NY. She is a PhD student in the department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering at Stony Brook University. Her research is focused on the synthesis and characterization of decontamination materials using complimentary spectroscopic and scattering techniques. She uses the light source at Brookhaven National Laboratory to study the interactions of gases with engineered nanomaterials. In her free time, she engages with the community. Whether it be through mentoring, tutoring or networking events through ASAP, BWIS, GWIS, WISE, NYA, NOBCChE, SACNAS and other great groups and societies, Amani is active in connecting with people and believes that these platforms create a great community that enables and brings together a group of devoted people from various backgrounds that can share good times and contribute to the overarching goal of bringing together science and the community. Amani also enjoys the outdoors, travelling, playing chess and catching up with friends and family.
Javier Martinez
Javier is a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and currently completing graduate certificates as part of the Energy, Analysis and Policy (EAP) Program and DELTA Program in Research, Teaching and Learning. He was born and raised in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and completed his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with Honors at the University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez. His passion for sciences and path of learning led him to the decision of pursuing a PhD degree in order to expand his capabilities as a scientist, and in the long-term start a research group in academia that would contribute with renewable energy, air quality and atmospheric modeling research initiatives.
Danielle Perdue
Dani is a GEM Fellow and doctoral candidate at Rice University in Houston, TX. She completed her BS in mechanical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh in 2016 and her MS at Rice University in 2018. Her research interests focus on computational fluid dynamics and heat and mass transfer for Energy-Water Nexus applications such as thermally-driven membrane distillation systems. Dani also is the president of the Black Graduate Student Association at her university where she helps black graduate students cultivate relationships with black faculty on campus for mentorship and professional development. Outreach and community service are extremely important to Dani and she looks forward to having the opportunity to do more within a faculty position.
Rebecca Pinals
Rebecca is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow pursuing her PhD in UC Berkeley’s Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department. She graduated with her BS in Chemical Engineering from Brown University in 2016. Her current research in the Landry Lab focuses on designing fluorescent carbon nanomaterial-based sensors to probe biological systems. Rebecca is actively involved in leading local science outreach programs to encourage participation in STEM, including Expanding Your Horizons and Bay Area Scientists in Schools. She is passionate about mentoring research students and teaching college and graduate level courses.
Robyn Ridley
Robyn is a PhD candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at University of California—San Diego (UCSD). She earned her MS from UCSD in 2017 and her BS from Columbia University in 2015. Currently working under Prof. Olivia Graeve in the CaliBaja Center for Resilient Materials and Systems, Robyn studies the molecular level interactions of surfactants and solvents in aqueous and non-aqueous microemulsions used as nanoparticle synthesis systems. Broadening participation in STEM through outreach and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives is important to Robyn. She has worked as a Graduate Advocate for the Summer Training Academy for Research Success and represents the Black Graduate & Professional Student Association on the Black Academic Excellence Initiative (BAEI) Advisory Committee among other EDI activities. During graduate school, Robyn has also discovered a love of teaching which she plans to put to use in a faculty career at a primarily undergraduate institution after completing her PhD. When not working, Robyn can usually be found reading on the beach, baking or painting at home, or working out in her favorite yoga/bootcamp classes.
Leila Saleh
Leila is a Ph.D. student in chemical and biological engineering at University of Colorado Boulder studying the foreign body response to tissue engineering scaffolds. She was a department teaching fellow and has served as the department recruitment chair for three years, dedicating her efforts to increasing recruitment and retention of women in chemical engineering graduate programs. Leila received her B.S. in chemical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and grew up in Houston with Palestinian immigrant parents who taught her the importance of community organizing and activism. Leila now lives in Denver and can be found volunteering with the ACLU, catching live comedy shows, or lounging at the closest coffee shop with her dog.
Danny Sanchez
Danny is a PhD Candidate in Materials Science & Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering also at UT Austin. He is funded as a Graduate Education for Minorities (GEM) Fellow and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) Fellow. His research focuses on the mechanics of two-dimensional (2D) materials and the adsorbed chemicals that collect at their surfaces and interfaces. He recently published his first first-author paper on the mechanics of blisters that form at 2D material interfaces in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, and he’s currently working to analyze the chemical contents of these blisters.
Outside of the lab, Danny devotes time towards making STEM education and professions more inclusive for the LGBTQ+ community. He re-established the UT Austin chapter of Out in STEM (oSTEM) in 2015, and led the student organization as president for two years. He has had a variety of roles with Out for Undergrad, a nonprofit that hosts four annual conferences for LGBTQ+ undergrads in Business, Marketing, Engineering, and Tech, after attending the inaugural O4U Engineering Conference in 2015. Danny has since served the O4U Engineering Conference as Admissions Director, Sponsorship Director, and Lead Sponsorship Director. He currently works to bridge partnerships between O4U and other LGBTQ+ organizations as the Peer Organization Partnerships Director.
Sarah Schoonraad
Sarah is currently a PhD student in the Materials Science and Engineering program at CU Boulder and is a recipient of a National Institutes of Health training award in Molecular Biophysics. Sarah's PhD research is focused on the development of a biomaterial platform for the regeneration of growth plate tissue. She has also completed her Master's degree in educational research while at CU Boulder. Prior to her work towards a PhD, Sarah taught general and organic chemistry co-seminar courses to students at the University of California in Santa Barbara. She has continued teaching chemistry and engaging in educational research with educators in the Student Academic Success Center at CU. This is a program that seeks to support a community of students from historically underrepresented groups, students from low-income households and those that are first generation college students.
Darrin Schultz
Darrin Schultz is a PhD candidate in the Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics department at the University of California Santa Cruz, and is a graduate researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. After completing his BA at Oberlin College, he was a US Student Fulbright Fellow at Nagoya University in Japan. Darrin's doctoral research aims are to learn more about the bioluminescence biochemistry of deep sea animals, to develop novel bioluminescent systems into useful molecular tools for biomedical and neuroscience research, and to write novel genome assembly software to enhance our ability to study invertebrate organisms.
Kinsey Skillen
Kinsey Skillen is currently a Ph.D. candidate in The Lyles School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University and is also a structural engineering research engineer at Purdue Universities Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research. He completes his B.S in Civil Engineering from Montana State University, and M.S. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University. His Ph.D. research focused on improving the bond and shear strength of existing reinforced concrete columns with poor lap splice and transverse reinforcement detailing. As a research engineer, he is actively involved in large-scale testing of bridge expansion joints for fatigue and fracture resistance, and remote monitoring of civil infrastructure. Following completion of his Ph.D. this fall, he plans to pursue tenure-track faculty positions due to his love for teaching undergraduate and graduate students in the classroom and on the lab floor.