Spotlights
![Portrait of Thomas Colburn in a gray suit, standing outside on a sunny day in the engineering quad.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/square_1900/public/media/image/thomascolburn_0.jpg?h=2cb9d2f9&itok=3KtOE9Vi)
Thomas Colburn
PhD candidate
I was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. We were …
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![Portrait of Kayla Patterson wearing gray and black, looking into the camera, standing outside the Huang Engineering Center.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/kaylapatterson_1_0.jpg.png?itok=lCqDlgvg)
Kayla Patterson
MS ’24
Computer Science
I was born and raised in Robbinsville, a small town in central New Jersey …
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![Adrienne sitting outside at a table, wearing a blue coat and smiling at the camera.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/adriennepropp_0.jpg.png?itok=ofkXZ5cg)
Adrienne Propp
PhD candidate
Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering
I never planned to become a mathematician. I liked math growing up because it made sense to me – …
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Lara Weed
PhD candidate
Bioengineering
I was always interested in how the world worked, and looking back now, I can see my interest in …
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![Portrait of Sebastian Fernandez, wearing a black coat and top, standing outside.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/sebastianfernandez_0.jpg.png?itok=BrdENxx7)
Sebastian Fernández
PhD candidate
Electrical Engineering
I was born in Cusco, Peru, located at an altitude of 11,000 feet in the Andes, where we lived with …
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![Gradudate student Tinevimbo Ndlovu, standing outside, smiling, and looking directly into the camera.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/rsd24_003_0057a_0.jpg.png?itok=-Zl_SCXg)
Tinevimbo Ndlovu
MS ’24
Aeronautics and Astronautics
I’ve always thought planes were cool. I went on my first flight when I was 6, from my hometown of …
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![Portrait of Gregory Zaborski in a blue shirt standing next to a tree.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/gregoryzaborski_0.jpg.png?itok=czJBwfE5)
Gregory Zaborski
PhD candidate
Materials Science and Engineering
I was raised by my Sicilian mother in the small town of Saugerties in upstate New York …
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![Portrait of Edward Apraku in the SEQ.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/edward_apraku_0.jpg.png?itok=norNMczI)
Edward Apraku
PhD candidate
Civil & Environmental Engineering
I was born in Kumasi, Ghana, and moved to the U.S. with my parents and older sister when I was 2 …
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![Portrait of Emma Kaeli standing outside in the Science and Engineering Quad](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/spotlight_emmakaeli_0.jpg.png?itok=5ZDzHaAe)
Emma Kaeli
PhD candidate
Materials Science and Engineering
When I first started college, someone asked if I wanted to join the Society of Women Engineers, but …
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![Portrait of Skyler St. Pierre in the SEQ](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/skyler_st_pierre_0.jpg.png?itok=gDs0Zveq)
Skyler St. Pierre
PhD candidate
Mechanical Engineering
I study how we can use neural networks and machine learning to better understand the mechanics of …
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![Portrait of Michael Kwara in the SEQ.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/rsd23_035_0014a_0.jpg.png?itok=CE5giTRj)
Michael Kwara
PhD candidate
Aeronautics and Astronautics
During the peak of COVID when large gatherings were rare, I joined thousands of people on a beach …
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![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/benjaminband_neil_3_0.jpg.png?itok=1T71Qg7m)
Neil Band
PhD candidate
Computer Science
I was born in Boston, but I grew up in the Midwest, and lived in Chicago for a while before our …
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![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/casadesusvila_guillem_1_0.jpg.png?itok=iuxI1LXU)
Guillem Casadesús Vila
MS ’24
Aeronautics and Astronautics
When I was around 14, NASA landed the Curiosity rover on Mars and it was an aha moment for me …
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Kavya Sreedhar
PhD candidate
Electrical Engineering
I grew up in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, but by the time I was in eighth grade, my family had moved …
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![" "](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/huang_rachel_2_0.jpg.png?itok=rAEcvXTn)
Rachel Huang
PhD candidate
Materials Science and Engineering
I was born in China’s Hunan Province and came to the U.S. alone when I was 17 …
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![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/simialuko_0.jpeg.png?itok=GiIbGRPn)
Simi Aluko
PhD candidate
Civil & Environmental Engineering
My first trip to London opened my mind to the idea that buildings can tell stories …
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![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/aaron_brown_0.jpeg.png?itok=c5Ylz_C2)
Aaron Brown
PhD candidate
Mechanical Engineering
I work in Alison Marsden’s lab, where we study computational modeling of the cardiovascular …
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![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/navah_spotlightphoto_0.png?itok=XNDz7dMV)
Nava Haghighi
PhD
Computer Science
I’m a designer by training …
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![" "](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/aaronhuisunlingbrown_1.jpeg.png?itok=ZpucwCp4)
Aaron Brown
MS ’23
Mechanical Engineering
I think I first became curious about space and science in middle school …
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![" "](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/christopher_hoyt_07_0.jpg.png?itok=c128CgC0)
Christopher Hoyt
PhD
Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering
I was born in Salinas, and in those first few weeks I had episodes when I stopped breathing …
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![" "](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/bianca_jurewicz_07_0.jpg.png?itok=CUoPAhit)
Bianca Jurewicz (Aumann)
M.S., ’23
Mechanical Engineering
My curiosity about engineering has been a part of me since I was a little girl …
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![" "](https://cdn.statically.io/img/engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large_headshot_circle/public/media/image/juliaolivieri_0.jpg.png?itok=JHrH3wzW)
Julia Olivieri
PhD candidate
Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering
I never used to think of myself as someone who’d study computer science, and I didn’t think of …
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