Graduate Engineering Showcase Speakers
Alan G. Sanchez
Host
Alan G. Sanchez is a Ph.D. student in robotics. His research focuses on designing and implementing ultraviolet germicidal irradiation robots for surface disinfection. He is interested in developing technology to improve work conditions in a health care setting by reducing the amount of virus transmission.
Alfiya Orman
Topic: Validating spectral lighting simulation tools
Alfiya Orman is a master’s student in civil engineering, specializing in architectural engineering. They study spectral lighting simulation tools and their validation for future use in improving built environments for human health and well-being.
Eric Slyman
Topic: Social bias in multimodal artificial intelligence
Eric Slyman is a Ph.D. student in artificial intelligence and computer science. They conduct research at the intersection of multimodal artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and fairness, building tools that enable human interaction with artificial agents to audit and understand their behavior. They are a member of the Outstanding Scholars Program, recipient of the Norman Evelyn Wildish Distinguished Graduate Fellowship, and co-president of the Artificial Intelligence Graduate Student Association.
Javier Corona
Topic: Optic-based thermal characterization
Javier Corona is a Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering. His research has focused on using optic-based thermal characterization to improve and develop concentrating solar renewable energy technology. He has presented in SPIE: Optics and Photonics and is currently working on other publications. He has been awarded the GEM fellowship and will continue his research during a summer internship at the Department of Energy.
Jessee Svoboda
Topic: Bacterial strain engineering
Jessee Svoboda is a Ph.D. student in bioengineering. Their research focuses on genetic tool development and bacterial strain engineering for heterologous expression of natural products, primarily for drug discovery. Their favorite bacteria are cyanobacteria, despite how much easier Pseudomonas is to work with. Jessee received the 2022 Curtis and Isabella Holt Graduate Fellowship from the College of Pharmacy. They plan to graduate in June 2023 and transition to postdoctoral research.
John Ste. Marie
Topic: Antimicrobial resistance in wastewater
John Ste. Marie is a Ph.D. student in environmental engineering. His research investigates the seasonal and geographic variation of antibiotic pollution and antimicrobial resistance in wastewater treatment systems in Oregon. He has also explored the impact of wastewater effluent and biosolids reuse on the prevalence of antibiotics and resistance in the receiving environment.
Juliana Huizenga
Topic: Remediation and toxicity of hydrocarbon contaminants
Juliana Huizenga is a Ph.D. student in environmental engineering with a graduate minor in toxicology. Her research focus is on the development of novel bioremediation strategies for aromatic hydrocarbon contaminants, and how best to monitor and assess remediation success with analytical chemistry tools and toxicity assays.
Karina Puente
Topic: Underwater robotic gripper development
Karina Puente is a Ph.D. student in robotics. Her research is focused on the development of a soft robotic gripper with jamming for the use of underwater exploration, construction, and data collection. She received the Promising Scholar Fellowship in 2021 and has dedicated her time to the advancement of diversity and inclusion in colleges.
Logan Scott-Deter
Topic: Bicycle crash mitigation
Logan Scott-Deter is a Ph.D. student in civil engineering. He is passionate about transportation safety and is currently studying how to improve efficiency in the transportation network for large trucks. He will present work from his master’s thesis that was recently published in Accident Analysis and Prevention.
Nicole Fronda
Topic: Learning specifications for cyber-physical systems
Nicole Fronda is a Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering and robotics. Her current research focuses on using neuro-symbolic learning methods to infer logical specifications for cyber- physical systems, particularly systems with AI-driven components (e.g., self-driving cars or autonomous delivery drones). Her aim is to characterize the behavior of such systems and enable reasoning and identification of undesirable and unsafe outcomes.