Hometown: Palos Verdes, CA
High School: Palos Verdes Peninsula High School
What made you decide to attend USC: The opportunities to get involved in research even as a freshman, the diversity of campus activities and students, the school spirit, and the wonderful outreach programs USC students can participate in the local community are the main reasons I chose USC. I was looking for a well-rounded college experience!
Best experience/interaction with a professor: I was extremely ill and hospitalized at the end of my sophomore year. As a result, I missed five weeks of class and my final exams. My professors were very supportive and went out of their way to give me all of the class notes, review materials, practice exams, and study tips. They checked up on me and kindly allowed me to make up my finals at my convenience. It meant a lot to have their support because their great attitudes towards my prolonged absence made me much less worried and stressed about not completing my semester with all of my classmates.
Favorite class: PSYC 201 (The Science of Happiness) and MASC 350 (Nanostructured Materials)
Involvements/extracurricular activities: Alpha Delta Pi sorority, Merit Research, Engineers Without Borders, Freshman Academy Coach, Tau Beta Pi, CiSOFT, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Volleyball, AIChE, many USC philanthropies (Pass the Can, Relay for Life, ALS Walk, Spirits in Action, Friends and Neighbors Day, etc...)
Favorite on-campus event: Apart from anything related to USC football, I love attending concerts by the various USC acapella groups like the SoCal Vocals, Reverse Osmosis, USC Sirens, The Trojan Men, and more!
Best off-campus experience: I had a blast travelling to Honduras during Spring Break 2008 with fellow USC engineering students through Engineers Without Borders for our water filtration assessment trip.
Favorite Memory from Freshman Year: Trip to the Getty Museum during Welcome Week and The Weekender in
What you like about being in LA: I like living near the beach and being close to home, so I can still see my family when I have some free time. The weather is great, and there are so many fun activities to do around the city on weekends.
Research/study abroad experience: For the past two years, I have been doing Merit Research in Dr. Tsotsis’ lab on SiC reaction membranes and in Dr. Madhukar and Dr. Brutchey's labs on nanoparticle synthesis. These lab experiences have been fun, rewarding, and amazing supplements to my classroom learning.
Although this is not technically study abroad, I went to China this summer for three weeks on an engineering delegation where we visited Chinese universities, interacted with engineering students, and toured their labs. We also visited engineering marvels in China and learned from the senior engineers on the projects. Some of those projects include the Three Gorges Dam, Jin Mao Tower, and Beijing National Theatre.
Hobbies/Interests: Spending time with family and friends, traveling the globe, skiing, snowboarding, volleyball, the beach, extreme sports, piano, USC Football
Fight on!
