20-21 Graduate Mentors

Biography: Rachel is a third year PhD student in Astrophysics. Her doctoral research examines the origins of the universe by finding hidden patterns in galaxy motions. Specifically, Rachel focuses on how galaxy motions are correlated and how these motions relate to cosmological phenomena such as gravitational waves, galaxy clusters, and the expansion of the universe. Rachel is originally from Twin Falls, Idaho and completed her BS at Rice University. She...

Biography: Tristan is a second year graduate student in Geological Sciences at CU Boulder. He is excited about questions involving life in the deep subsurface. For example, where does nutrition and energy come from when there is no light? How can studying these ecosystems inform our search for life on other worlds? Originally from upstate New York, Tristan moved to California and completed his BS in Molecular Biology at University...

Biography: Gaeron is a 2nd year PhD student in RF and Electromagnetics. Prior to joining CU, Gaeron completed an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering at Virginia Tech. While there, he helped develop CubeSat testing infrastructure as a NASA VSGC Undergraduate Research Fellow. He also pursued other electromagnetics and RF related research with Rolls-Royce, Alion Science and Technology, and the Hume Center for National Security. Gaeron is now a National Science...

Biography: Growing up in rural North Carolina, Jasmine found solitude in the rich Appalachian Mountains and developed a deep connection with the natural environment. As a result, she became interested in energy consumption and resources. Jasmine earned her BS in Building Science and Building Systems with a minor in Sustainable Technology from Appalachian State University. She is currently a PhD student in Architectural Engineering,concentrating in Building Systems Engineering, under the...

Biography: Chris is a Ph.D. student in Creative Technology and Design advised by Ann Eisenberg and Daniel Leithinger. He is a McNair Scholar, a Google CS Research Mentorship participant, and he received honorable mention in the 2020 Computing Research Association Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher awards. His research interests lie in human augmentation, sensory extension, transhumanism, biohacking and educational technology. These interests have led to the development of open-source sensory extension and...

Biography: Molly is a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Environmental Studies and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. She studies biogeochemistry, also understood as nutrient cycling through the earth system. Molly’s PhD research examines how alpine wetland soils contribute to nutrient cycling and water quality at the Niwot Ridge LTER high-alpine site west of Boulder. Her research involves lots of time in the lab and the...

Biography: Joewie is a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science under the mentorship of Professor Alessandro Roncone. In the Human Interaction and Robotics Group, he works primarily on problems at the intersection of robotics and reinforcement learning. Joewie is a graduate of Reed College (BA in Mathematics) and the Georgia Institute of Technology (MS in Computer Science).

Biography: Tim is a PhD student in the McKenzie Lab in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He studies host associated microbial communities (mainly in amphibians), and his work often falls at the intersection of ecology, microbiology, and conservation. For example, Tim is developing probiotic treatments to help amphibian species that are afflicted by the recently emerged chytrid fungal pathogen. This pathogen is causing the decline of amphibian populations...

Biography: Olivia is a physicist who studies ion-neutral gas phase chemical reactions in ultra-high vacuum conditions. She earned her BS in Physics as a Smittcamp Honors Scholar at California State University Fresno. Olivia worked with CSU Fresno Professor Yongsheng Gao on a collaborative project with the ATLAS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. This work sent her to Switzerland for an exciting summer of High Energy Physics...

Biography: Dillon is a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Behavioral Neuroscience program at CU Boulder. Dillon’s research focuses on how stress and/or drug experiences dysregulate neuronal circuitry and cellular signaling. Techniques such as optogenetics, chemogenetics, and fiber photometry are used to monitor and manipulate cell types within the mouse brain while the animal engages in motivated behaviors. The objective is to determine how prior stress events influence neuronal signaling...

Biography: Raúl is a PhD candidate in the Department of Ethnic Studies. He studies Chicanx (Mexican American) art and activism post-World War II, specifically addressing how Mexican Americans have engaged in cultural politics and social justice activism to articulate coalitional forms of racial justice. Before attending CU, he earned a BA in History from San Francisco State University and an MA in Chicana and Chicano Studies from California State University,...

Biography: Jorge is a 1st generation Venezuelan immigrant. He is passionate about research, books, rock climbing and dogs. After completing a BS and MS in Civil Engineering, Jorge is now a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering. His focus area is the development of inorganic binders for applications such as 3D printing and chloride sensing.

Biography: Anthony is a 4th year PhD student in the Department of Information Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he is advised by Dr. Jed Brubaker. Anthony's research focuses on how identity is translated to and represented in sociotechnical systems during and after life transitions. He is most recently interested in romantic break-ups, which is the focus of his dissertation work. His favorite break-up album is Turnover's "Peripheral...

Biography: Michelle is a 1st year PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering at CU Boulder. Before starting graduate school, Michelle completed a BS in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Biology at the State University of New York at New Paltz. During this time, she participated in research on kinematics in the Biology department and antenna design in the Engineering department. Additionally, she completed an internship studying ferrite material behavior. These...

Biography: Alejandra is from Colorado Springs and earned a BA in Transborder Chicana/o Latino/a Studies with an emphasis in Media and Expressive culture from Arizona State University. She earned an MA in Sociology from University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Her MA research focused on Latinx undocumented immigrants’ experiences while detained in the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) detainment facilities. She also analyzed the collateral consequences for friends and...

Biography: Justin earned dual undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and Philosophy with a minor in Mathematics. During his undergraduate studies, he researched environmentally inert oxidation catalysts that could reduce the level of pollutants in our water system from industrial manufacturing. Justin’s interest in environmental conservation led him to CU Boulder’s graduate program in Theoretical Chemistry. He works with Professor Andrés Montoya-Castillo on developing methods to capture optical spectroscopy in the condensed...

Biography: Jennifer is a 4th year PhD candidate in Geological Sciences. But … she didn't take a single geology course before her PhD! Jennifer completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Haverford College, where her thesis focused on organic geochemistry. She then conducted chemical oceanography research in the Arctic while earning her MS from the University of Victoria. At CU Boulder, Jennifer’s doctoral research focuses on the experimental evolution of...

Biography: Ashley Torres Carrasquillo (she/her- they/them) is a queer Black Boricua first-generation college student. Before becoming a Ph.D. student, they worked in human services for five years, coordinating an underage shelter for youth experiencing homelessness. Ashley’s research interests are influenced by her childhood living in public housing in Santurce, Puerto Rico. They have been involved in anti-Racist art-based research projects with youth in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Puerto Rico...

Biography: Annalissa is a McNair Scholar Alumna from Portland State University. She is currently a fourth year, Tejana, roller-skating, PhD student in Chemistry developing novel hydrogel composite material system to study how tendon cells resurrect themselves under stress and pressure.

Biography: Cindy is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program under the mentorship of Dr. June Gruber. Her research seeks to understand emotion processes in individuals with a history of mood disorder difficulties such as bipolar disorder and depression. Her current research project is focused on studying emotion differentiation (i.e., how specifically people are able to identify and label their own emotions) and how this relates to psychological...