We are in awe of these brilliant PhD students/candidates for their dedication in supporting women in STEM at USC.⁠⠀
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Nina Yang
” I am a 4th year PhD Candidate in Marine and Environmental Biology with David Hutchins. My research studies how marine phytoplankton respond to warming ocean temperatures to understand the implications of climate change for marine biogeochemistry. I grow cultures of phytoplankton in the lab and measure their physiological response as well as use molecular techniques to uncover the mechanisms of their response. I hope to be able to apply what we learn in the lab to assess how phytoplankton communities are responding to climate change across the world’s oceans.“
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Megan Franke
“I am a third year PhD student in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, advised by Dr. Adam MacLean. My work focuses on understanding how progenitor cells decide what type of specialized cell to become. I use many tools to approach this problem, including mathematical modeling and single cell RNA sequencing data analysis.”
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Angineh Zohrabian
“I am a fifth-year PhD candidate in environmental engineering advised by Dr. Kelly Sanders. My research focuses on the decarbonization of the electric power systems; particularly, using electricity demand management strategies that can help to integrate more renewable energy from solar and wind.”
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Emily Reed
“I am starting my fourth year of the PhD program in Electrical Engineering at USC. I am interested in studying nonlinear systems, optimization, control and estimation theory to gain a better understanding of human neuromechanical systems and overall brain behavior.”⠀
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Sarah Cooney
“I am a fourth year PhD candidate in computer science, advised by Professor Barath Raghavan. My research falls into the sub-discipline of human computer interaction (HCI), and sits at the intersection of computer science and urban planning. Specifically, the goal is to use techniques from HCI and AI to create technological tools to help ordinary citizens, imagine, design, and implement urban repair and community building projects in their neighborhoods.”
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Kylie Trettner
“I am a 3rd year Chemical Engineering PhD Student co-advised by Dr. Andrea Armani and Dr. Jerry Lee. My project focuses on developing a novel magnetic hydrogel that can be dynamically tuned to better mimic the viscoelastic changes present in human pancreatic cancer tumors. The project goal is to better understand the biophysical cues that govern pancreatic cancer progression by growing organoids in this dynamic matrix and measuring the oncogenic exosome release.”