My name is Trisha Joy Francisco and I am a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). I am a Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) Scholar and a Grand Challenges Scholar. Currently, I am an undergraduate research assistant in the Atmospheric Science Department where I am the lead for low cost air quality sensor assessment. Aside from air quality monitoring, I have worked on satellite data validations where I compared the measurements taken by CFH sondes and NASA's MLS satellite on water vapor mixing ratio in the stratosphere.

I chose to participate in the Grand Challenge Scholars Program because of its emphasis on interdisciplinary and global experiences. Exposure to a variety of topics is what drew me to mechanical engineering. I enjoy seeing how different disciplines focus on a problem and seeing how it affects their approach to a solution. Collaboration between different disciplines is a main part of engineering and as a student, I want to immerse myself into the field and gain a taste of what it is like interacting with different field of studies and integrating that into my approach to a problem. I like how the program encourages its students to figure out how to strengthen their skills by exposing them to multiple perspectives and figuring out how to utilize their different areas of strengths in solving a problem.

This website serves as my electronic portfolio of my experience in the Grand Challenges Scholars Program.