Eferoghene Okakuro
Tulane University
Eferoghene Okakuro, popularly known as Roghe, is a rising Junior at Tulane University, where she majors in Biomedical Engineering with an Economics minor on a pre-medical track. While at Tulane University, she has participated in a handful of programs and occupied various leadership positions. These include but are not limited to the Emerging Leaders Program, for which she is now a second-time mentor, and the College Scholars Program, which fosters a community among sophomore honors college students. She is also a global ambassador for Tulane University, answering
questions from international students and advocating for diversity. She is actively
involved with the National Society of Black Engineers chapter at Tulane and will be serving as a program chair for the 2022-2023 academic year. Last summer, she participated in multidisciplinary research with The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking where she worked with a team comprising biological scientists, architects, and landscape architects to repurpose a 2,800-acre plot of land in Mississippi as an outdoor learning center. In the end, she co-authored a paper on the research findings. She recently joined the Neural Microengineering lab at Tulane University, where she shadows a graduate student and is acquiring skills ranging from wet lab skills to more specifics like writing Gcode for a bioprinter to increase the throughput of nerve-on-a-chip experiments. This research is a step forward to achieving her future goal of becoming a physician-scientist.
Jaselin Rodriguez
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Jaselin Rodriguez is a rising fourth-year student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology studying biomedical engineering with hopes of becoming an emergency medicine physician. She started her research working in a cardiovascular tissue engineering and stem cell lab under Dr. Alice Lee where she was able to contribute to a scientific study dedicated to developing Type 1 diabetic treatments, which focuses on the angiogenesis of mouse embryonic stem cell-derived endothelial cells. Jaselin is a member of the Center of Excellence for Latina Health (CELH), a committee dedicated to improving access to quality healthcare for the underserved population in Newark NJ, and is involved in a research project that aims to identify at-risk asthmatic patients to optimize their care and improve their quality of life. Apart from research, she is a volunteer EMT and Vice President of her local Cedar Grove Ambulance and Rescue Squad where she developed a passion for emergency medicine. In her free time, Jaselin loves running, drinking green juices, and binge-watching movies.
Jasmine Martin
Jackson State University
Jasmine is a native of Madison, Mississippi. She is currently a student at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, seeking a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering with a minor in Biology. While in her undergraduate career, Jasmine studied the colorimetric detection of azides with a dinuclear polyamine macrocyclic metal complex in Dr. Md Mhahabur Rhaman’s laboratory. Jasmine spends her time volunteering at her local pregnancy crisis center, socializing with her friends, and playing with her dog, Piper. After graduation, she plans to attend medical school to receive her Doctorate in Medicine. Jasmine joins us with the passion for lessening women’s health disparities concerning healthcare. She also focuses on making healthcare for individuals living in low-economic and rural areas more accessible through the advancement of technology
Schidza Cime
City College of New York
My name is Schidza Cime. I was born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I came to the United States in 2018 and first joined the Borough of Manhattan Community College to pursue an associate degree in engineering science. I later joined the City College of New York in 2020 and declared chemical engineering as my major. Since then, I’ve performed research at The Advanced Science Research Center with Dr. Brian Giebel where we investigated the degradation of microplastics in different soil systems. After graduation, my goal is to go to graduate school, obtain a PhDinchemical engineering and perform research to develop sustainable and environmental-friendly energy sources
Vanessa Gonzalez
Florida State University
Vanessa Gonzalez is a rising senior at Florida State University. She is majoring in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in biopolymers and biomaterials. After completing her bachelor’s degree, she hopes to attend an MD/PHD program with hopes of becoming a surgeon. At Florida State University, she is secretary of the Biomedical Engineering Society where she searches for impressionable speakers to discuss the various opportunities that exist in biomedical engineering, thus helping new members find a career path most suitable to them. She began her research her freshman year working in Dr. Jingjiao Guan’s lab where she was tasked with designing microcrystals that would be used to study the mechanism of phagocytosis by macrophages to better understand how to treat common diseases like arthritis and gout. She is now working with Dr. Yan Li for her honors thesis, and she has shifted her focus to conducting research in hydrogel encapsulation and controlled release of human stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles.
Yoojin(Terry) Chung
California institute of Technology
Terry is a graduating senior at Caltech. She is majoring in Applied Computational Mathematics and minoring in computer science. Terry is looking forward to pursuing a graduate degree in data science at NYU. She is interested in using her skills as an applied mathematician and data scientist to find new aspects of any given data. Outside of research, Terry loves to cook and eat, and to fangirl the LA Rams.
MERRIT is a collaborative training program bringing together nephrology researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the engineering educators at The Cooper Union to promote advances in the development of kidney disease treatment.