About Us

Mission and Values

UCSD MAE Graduate Women strives to promote community and encourage diversity and inclusivity within the MAE Department.

Membership

While our focus is on issues surrounding women, we are not a women-only group! Membership is open to all graduate students and post-docs at UCSD.

MAE Graduate Women group is a non-profit organization. There are no dues required for membership and new members are welcomed with open arms year-round.

Interested in receiving emails about upcoming events? Contact us!

Leadership

President

Jenny Nicolas

I am a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Materials Science program. My research is multi-disciplinary focusing on understanding lithium metal battery failures, in addition to exploring the relationships between social factors and US solar PV deployment. I am happy to serve as President to foster community in the UCSD MAE Graduate Women group and grow our individual professional strengths.

VP Internal

Kimberly Inzunza

My name is Kimberly Inzunza and I'm a second year PhD student in MAE! My research focuses on plasma physics and fusion energy.

VP Corporate

Jess Healey

My name is Jess Healey and I'm a first year PhD student in MAE! My research focuses on soft robotics and haptics.

Mentorship Coordinator

Hannah Walker

I am a PhD candidate in MAE with an emphasis in Applied Ocean Science in the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Lab. My work involves modeling and validation of a small-scale Wave Energy Converter for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. I also have implemented 3D Particle Tracking Velocimetry on a novel, in situ sensing tool developed in the Jaffe Laboratory at SIO.

Mentorship Coordinator

Emma Hopkins

My name is Emma Hopkins, and I am a 5th year PhD student in the Materials Science Program. My research focuses on lithium metal batteries and nanomaterials for renewable energy.

Secretary

Emma Fickett

Outreach

Anna Xu

Treasurer

Andrea Borrego

Social Media/Website Coordinator

Azra Begzadić

My name is Azra Begzadić and I am a second year PhD student in MAE working on safety-critical learning-based control.

Volunteer

Nikita Sahu

My name is Nikita Sahu and I'm a first year PhD student in Nanoengineering. My research focuses on developing ultrasensitive nanoscale devices to detect faint acoustic signatures.

Volunteer

Julia Dominesey

Faculty Advisor — Tania Morimoto

Tania Morimoto

Tania Morimoto is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and in the Department of Surgery at the University of California, San Diego. She received the B.S. degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering, followed by the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University, also in mechanical engineering. At Stanford, she worked with Allison Okamura on designing personalized flexible, continuum robots for surgical applications, as well as on the creation of a low-cost, educational haptic device. She is a recipient of the Hellman Fellowship (2021), the NSF CAREER Award (2022), the Beckman Young Investigator Award (2022), and the ASEE Outstanding New Mechanical Engineering Educator Award (2023).

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