Spotlights

I study soft composites and soft robotic systems for use in minimally invasive biomedical devices.

I’ve been in Electrical Engineering for nine years where I’m now the Director of Student and Academic Services.

My parents, who are both doctors, instilled in me a love of biology.

#IAmAnEngineer: To me, engineering is all about using scientific principles to design and improve our natural world.

I’m the Director of Finance and Operations (DFO) for the Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering (ICME), which is a degree-granting interdisciplinary institute where students study mathematical modeling, scientific computing and advanced computational algorithms for engineering and science applications.

I’ve been at Stanford for 16 years, with the last four as director of engineering research administration.

I came to analytics after earning a PhD in linguistics, where I learned I love working in universities and solving logic puzzles but also that applied problem-solving was a better fit for me than academic research.

I’m a group lead responsible for the Mechanics and Computation and the Biomechanics groups in the Mechanical Engineering department.

I am a senior research aerospace engineer at the Center for Turbulence Research at Stanford Engineering, and the associate director of the Stanford PSAAP-III Center dedicated to exascale computing in rocket propulsion.

#IAmAnEngineer: I work on developing algorithms that help robots understand the world around them, and that teach them how to move safely around humans.

When the pandemic happened, I started watching videos on the water situation in developing nations – and I was really surprised that even here in the Caribbean, where I’m from, we have countries with serious water issues.

Ethiopia, my country, is endowed with precious gifts of nature: fertile soil, a favorable climate with thirteen months of sunshine, and abundant water.

#IAmAnEngineer: I’ve always had an appetite for both math and language, but for years I struggled to figure out how I’d balance these two things.

When I was a kid, I went to my older brother’s Lego League practices all the time. That’s really where I fell in love with the concept of building things that do something else.

I’m from a very small city in Turkey where my parents were physics professors at its only university.

Stanford was my second job out of college but I’ve been here 31 years – and every single one of those has been spent in SoE in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department.

#IAmAnEngineer: I work in biotech, where I make experiments more efficient and hands-off using automation and robotics.

After a childhood seeing loved ones with mental health issues struggle with incorrect diagnoses and testing out many different types of medications, I originally went to school for psychology to help advance our knowledge of mental health.

I think of myself as a pivot between university decisions and the school student services staff in the departments and the dean’s office.

#IAmAnEngineer: As an undergraduate I was passionate about math and physics, and I knew I wanted to do work that really impacted society.

One of the things that’s really important to me is working to support marginalized youth to build the technical confidence they need to feel empowered in pursuing a STEM education, or really anything they’re passionate about.