As a woman, I am passionate about promoting the recruitment and retention of other women in STEM fields, especially in Ph.D. programs.  

From 2017 - 2021, I served as a founding member of the University of Southern California Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Ph.D. Advisory Board. The WiSE PhD Advisory Board aims to improve the Ph.D. experience of WiSE graduate students through mentorship and peer support networks, innovative programming, and other resources to foster a positive Ph.D. experience that will ultimately improve Ph.D. student retention. I helped in establishing and growing the initiatives of the Board as well as set expectations of future members.

In 2019, I co-developed the first ever WiSE Ph.D. mentorship program in support of women studying science or engineering across both STEM Ph.D. programs at USC. I established mentor-mentee pairs, arranged orientations for new mentors and mentees, and planned a series of four professional development events to provide the necessary support and tools for students to achieve success in their programs. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I helped to ensure the continuation of the WiSE Mentorship Program. Despite being virtual in 2020-2022, the program grew by more than 30%. Since 2019, the WiSE Mentorship Program served over 300 Ph.D. students to promote the success and retention of women in Ph.D. programs at USC. 

On April 21, 2022, I was awarded the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Award for my efforts on the WiSE Ph.D. Advisory Board.

Diversity of thought leads to better engineered solutions. That is why I believe it is important to provide a path forward for students with limited access to educational resources. 

From July 2020 - March 2022, I served as an online tutor for School on Wheels, a non-profit in Los Angeles that assists students at-risk of homelessness. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, I tutored three different students weekly in topics ranging from mathematics to reading and writing. Even after my students graduated from the School on Wheels program, I continued to tutor several of my students who needed extra help on a weekly basis. Through this experience, I was able to hone my communication and presentation skills to effectively convey ideas and difficult concepts. I learned patience in re-explaining tasks and loved witnessing the progress my students made in strides both big and small. 

In the Fall of 2021, I participated in USC's Center for Excellence in Teaching Future Faculty Teaching Institute. As part of the 14 week course, I attended weekly seminars and discussions focused on developing effective and inclusive teaching methods as well as classroom management techniques. I learned how to develop a syllabus, create meaningful and inclusive assignments, and write effective policies for inclusive and constructive learning.

I am dedicated to educating and inspiring the next generation of students for the betterment of our future society. 

Over the summer 2021, I served as a research mentor and advisor to a high school student as part of USC's Summer High School Intensive in Next-Generation Engineering.  I developed a research agenda for my bright student and guided her in the research process to unveil new insights about neural signals. She learned about systems and signals as well as coding in MATLAB. I was proud when my student confidently presented her work at the final symposium.

Over the 2021-2022 school year. I advised a talented undergraduate student in developing an algorithm to predict seizure onset in epileptic patients. I developed the methods and explained to him the procedure for analyzing large amounts of data. He learned how to apply statistical procedures to accurately predict a seizure for a given patient eight seconds in advance. Through this experience, I learned what it takes to train a student to be an effective researcher, and I believe this student will go on to be a great Ph.D. researcher if he so chooses.