I've had a lot of different projects over the past few years! Though this Google Drive folder has my favorite projects I've done, here's a summary of (almost) all of my projects.
I included the class/organization the project was for, the project's title, and a link to the projects' home in the Drive folder when applicable.
Senior Impact Project
Systematic Parallel Processing of Point of Use Ceramic Water Filters
Fall 2024 - Spring 2025
I worked with two other students, Will Gotanda and Alice Huang, to design a system of ceramic water filters working in parallel to be implemented for families in rural Ghana. We were advised by Professor Ali Salifu, who does much of his research around the ceramic gravitational filtration systems. Though these ceramic filters are inexpensive, accessible in remote and poor communities, and effective at filtering water, they have a very slow filtration rate. We worked on developing a system of several filters used in parallel to optimize flow rate while also allowing for better storage of water, so a family in rural Ghana may have access to clean drinking water. These communities do not have access to an adequate supply of clean drinking water, so we had to consider all the limitations that gave rise to this issue. Some of our main research topics included existing water supplies, community dynamics, social impact, material availability, and economic conditions. From here, we determined material strength, material safety, and environmental impact. To determine approximate spending on water in rural Ghana, we used related data from the Accra Metropolitan Area and rural Ghanaian communities. We scaled values, adjusted for inflation, and performed a statistical analysis to determine the maximum cost of upkeep. We could not exceed this budget, because that would render this another inaccessible solution. We designed and built a prototype which underwent testing and data collection as we made improvements and confirmed our final design.
Throughout the year, we gave presentations on progress updates at least every other week, as well as a large presentation at the end of the year. The presentation was in the Heights Room at BC, so we had a large audience of professors, students, friends, advisors, CEOs, board members, deans, and other professionals. We also produced a final report, detailing exactly what we spent our year doing and our final product. We were hoping to publish the report after further data collection, but were unable to due to the timeline constraints of graduation.
This project, from its start to finish, is not only my favorite project I have been a part of at BC, but also one of my proudest accomplishments. Though I typically would work with more technologically advanced problems, this project posed to be challenging in new ways. I was able to see how many calculations were still necessary, even though this project did not require intricate circuitry. We were a team consisting of three members with different engineering backgrounds (computational, mechanical, and social) who were each able to lean into these specialties and come together for one cohesive project. I also became much more comfortable presenting, both throughout the year from the bi-weekly presentations but also from the large final presentation. The late nights in the lab, early morning advisor meetings, midday team meetings, and everything in between were all worth it.
Mathematical Modeling
December 2025
For my Mathematical Modeling final project, I worked in a group with Mia Tellers, Kacey Osbourne, and Helen Lee to model and predict outcomes for Men's Beanpot 2026. Professor Katherine Slyman showed us how analysts use math to predict sports outcomes, which we applied to successfully predict the Men's Beanpot winner months before the tournament took place. Beanpot is a NCAA Division 1 hockey tournament, consisting of the 4 Boston-area hockey colleges: Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern University, and Harvard University. We used data from the matchups amongst the four teams from 2022 through 2026 seasons, and correctly predicted that Boston College would win the tournament.
Human-Centered Aerospace Engineering Fundamentals
Flock, A Bird Migration Pattern Tracker
October - December 2025
I worked in a group with Echo Panana and Amelia Male, supervised by Professor Avneet Hira, to build a drone from its basic parts. We designed our drone to be used in conservation efforts; the drone would be used to gather data on birds, including migration patterns and species populations. The drone’s camera collected data whenever it detected a bird within frame, and that data was saved to be examined using our program. We developed an AI model in MATLAB to capture and identify images of birds to gain further insights into local bird populations.
Digital Signal Processing
Over-the-Air Acoustic Modem for Message Transmissions
December 2025
Francisco Cervantes and I worked together to create an acoustic modem which would use MATLAB to take a message, play it as an audio signal, and decode the audio signal to reveal the original message. More specifically, a user would input their message on Computer 1, which was converted to binary and processed into an audio signal. Then, the audio was played on CPU 1 and received by CPU 2, where it was processed and converted back to binary, then converted to characters, returning the original message. To see what we did and get a quick idea of how it works, I'd recommend watching the demo video, linked here.
Collaborative Service Engineering Project
E-waste and Lithium-Ion Battery Fires
January - May 2024
During Junior year, I was part of a group researching e-waste disposal and safety, with a focus on Lithium-Ion batteries. We learned how they worked, what went into them, the sourcing of these materials, potential hazards, battery fires, and their disposal at end of life. We worked with waste-disposal experts to develop a prototype of a LiB disposal box to reduce fire hazards. We gained a deeper understanding of inner workings and hardware of smart phones and laptops, while also learning about government regulations, Right to Repair, and e-waste disposal. We gave about 2 presentations each month, culminating in a final presentation and paper.
Quantitative Sustainable Design
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Buses
March - May 2024
Also in Junior spring, I worked as a member of a team to model a public transportation system which implemented hydrogen fuel cells. To do this, we performed life cycle assessments, economic analyses, as well as uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. We produced a final report and gave a final presentation.
Engineering Foundation Studios V
January - May 2023
During my Sophomore year, I worked as part of a team to research air pollution, plumes, their models, and outdoor air quality. My team and I designed an experiment to model plumes and observe how presence of wind and plants may impact volatile organic compound concentrations. We collected data on VOC concentration via an Arduino, and exported it to Excel to analyze it. An interesting result was that even a small houseplant (pothos) can impact VOC concentrations. We produced a final report to summarize our findings and gave a final presentation.
Introduction to Human-Centered Engineering
March - May 2022
Going farther back in my engineering education to my Freshman spring, I worked as a group in collaboration with caregivers and teachers from BC’s Campus School to develop a way for students with special needs to learn about and engage with the weather. The Campus School is a publicly-funded K12 school for students with disabilities. My team developed a physical design and programmed a supplementary app to utilize textures, colors, and sounds. It was a bear that had magnetic clothes to change depending on weather, and an in-app bear that walked through the weather with clothing coordinating to the physical rendering, as well as the sounds associated with that weather. We incorporated a physical design which was easy to clean for teachers, colorful and captivating for students with a variety of textures to keep students engaged, and modular so that pieces can be changed or upgraded as needed. The app used graphics the students were already familiar with, had sounds, and graphics with high-contrast for easy visibility. We gave a final presentation, and the physical and online prototypes were introduced in the classrooms at the Campus School.
Engineering Foundation Studio III
AM Radio Receiver
November - December 2022
During Sophomore year, I worked with two classmates to use a bread board and make an AM radio receiver which we could listen to music over. We had to calculate current, voltage, capacitance, resistance, etc. needed to make the receiver work, then connect all the circuitry on a bread board.
Women in Science and Technology
February 2023
In my sophomore spring, I volunteered with Women in Science and Technology, a program of BC volunteers to get more girls involved in science and technology. I gave a lesson introducing engineering to high school girls from the local community. I taught girls about design, coding, prototyping, and 3D printing.