Personal Statement: As a high school student, I decided to major in electrical engineering based

on two basic thoughts: (1) Renewable energy technology, such as solar panels and wind turbines,
is absolutely fascinating and (2) circuits are kind of cool. Coming from a small rural town in
Florida, I had little exposure to engineering and had surprisingly never met an electrical engineer
in my life. When I began college, I firmly believed I would most likely change my major but
instead, I decided to throw myself into undergraduate research the fall of my freshman year. And
I soon realized it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Immediately, I was introduced to the vast and interdisciplinary area of nanotechnology
and became fascinated and excited about energy efficient nanoelectronics and how they could
positively impact both urban and rural environments. Using the concepts learned from my
introductory physics courses and beyond to real-world research made me realize how much I
enjoy fabricating technology that can be used to create more energy-efficient systems that are
better for the environment. I discovered my own passion and curiosity in scientific research and
found that I loved the atmosphere of never-ending learning, discovery, and challenges.
Discovering my passion in science and engineering so late in my life has made me
wonder how my path would have differed if my high school offered a robotics or coding class, or
if I grew up knowing that there were women out there just like me who were leaders in their
scientific fields. Realizing that many of my peers and I have never met a woman engineer until
we entered college inspired me to be a part of educational outreach programs aimed at girls and
underrepresented populations. Volunteering at STEM outreach programs and mentoring
incoming freshman girls has reminded me that a significant element of research is in fostering
the development of the next generation of future scientists.
By pursuing a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, I hope to create technology that not only
promotes sustainable urban development and decreases the harsh environmental impacts of
human growth but is also more accessible to vulnerable populations to help improve their
standard of living. I want to provide mentorship and encouragement to students of all educational
levels so they don’t have to wonder if their life would be different if they grew up knowing all
the opportunities the STEM field provides.

Relevant Background and Intellectual Merit: I began my journey in electronics research with
Professor Tania Roy at the University of Central Florida in my freshman year and each new
project I have worked on has made me a better researcher in all aspects. In my first year, I
learned how to transfer a monolayer of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) graphene to a silicon
substrate and measured its electrical characteristics using the transfer length method and
fabricated molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and boron nitride (hBN) stack devices using the dry-
transfer method to evaluate their interface trap densities using the Terman Method. Working on
these projects taught me the importance of being able to work in uncharted areas that may not
always have an answer, learn concepts that go beyond my own knowledge, and find
interdisciplinary solutions to challenges.
Utilizing the skills I learned from these past projects, I started working on fabricating an
Ag/MoS2/Au threshold switching memristor to emulate the four critical behaviors of neurons:
all-or-nothing spiking, threshold-driven firing, post firing refractory period, and stimulus
strength-based frequency response. I independently tested the innate stochastic behavior of the
devices to see if they are voltage dependent, making them a possible application in the integrate
and fire neuron. I presented this work at UCF’s Annual Undergraduate Showcase where I won
the Judge’s Choice award and will be defending my honor’s thesis this semester on these results.
This project has also resulted in a co-authored conference presentation at the 77th Device
Research Conference.
To strengthen my interdisciplinary research experiences, I joined the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) club at my university where I became the Project
Chair. In this position, I led a group of fifteen students from different majors to build a fully
automated greenhouse system based off of MIT’s opensource Personal Food Computer. We
designed an indoor system that could control and monitor the temperature, humidity, and plant
growth. As the project chair, I had the responsibility to organize weekly meetings where group
members could share ideas of how we could improve and design the system as well as making
sure the project was completed. At the end of the semester, we successfully built a fully
automated indoor greenhouse system that grew herbs and lettuce and had the opportunity to use
our work as a demonstration for elementary and middle school students in my university’s
STEM day. This project strengthened my ability to work outside of my comfort zone and lead an
interdisciplinary team that combines design and engineering.
Wanting to expand my knowledge in electronics, I participated in the Research
Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at University of California, Berkeley through the
Energy Efficient Electronics (E3S) Center. Though my work with Professor Roy had piqued my
interest in attending graduate school, I was still unsure if research was the right path for me. The
experience of focusing just on research full-time and working with graduate students helped me
realize my excitement in device electronics and solidified my decision in pursuing a graduate
degree.
During the REU program at UC Berkeley, I got to work with Professor Sayeef
Salahuddin on using Boltzmann Machines to implement invertible Boolean logic. Over the
summer, I wrote my own code from scratch in Python that used stochastic probabilistic units (“p-
bits”) that can be interconnected to implement Boolean logic with the unique property of
invertibility. More specifically, I wrote an algorithm that used Boltzmann machines to implement
Full Adders that could interconnected to create larger logic operations and tested how robust the
system was by adding different kinds of gaussian noise. I also learned how to test the dynamic
range of activation by clipping the sigmoid activation function to different values to mimic
circuit implementation. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to continue my research with the
Salahuddin group during my junior year where I worked on using Restricted Boltzmann
machines (RBMs) to implement invertible Boolean logic. In addition to adding different kinds of
gaussian noise to test the robustness of the system, I wrote a quantization scheme to quantize the
weights from floating point to different sized bits of precision. Participating in this program
greatly improved my communication and presentation skills and was a turning point in my
undergraduate career where I realized that I wanted to attend graduate school and pursue
research.
Wanting to expand my knowledge in two-dimensional materials (2D) and their
applications, more specifically in device electronics, I participated in the Material Research
Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) REU program at Columbia University this past
summer. Over the course of ten weeks, I worked with Professor Vinod Menon where I learned
how to find the planar dipole orientation of the layered 2D material Rhenium Disulfide (ReS2) by
using Fourier space imaging. I also learned how to gate monolayer Tungsten Disulfide (WS2)
using an ionic liquid and monitored the excitonic states as a function of gate voltage.
Broader Impact: Growing up a small rural town with little to no exposure and opportunities in
science and engineering has made me a huge advocate in education outreach. Before I entered
college, I realized that I have never even met a woman engineer and this fact made me
understand just how impactful outreach programs and role models are in all education levels. I
immediately got involved in my university’s Society of Women Engineers (SWE) chapter and
university’s honors college where I had to chance to participate in many outreach events that are
specifically targeted for girls and students who come from low-socioeconomic status households.
For example, I had the chance to teach a group of elementary students from a Title I school every
other week on important topics such as organization, how to set goals, and why college is
important.
In my second year, I had the opportunity to travel to Japan through an alternative spring
break program focused on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster and how
technology can be utilized to mitigate its effect and help the communities impacted. While in
Japan, I got to meet and talk with people affected by this disaster and witnessed their resilience
and hope for a better future. This experience has made me realize why I am pursuing research: to
develop technology that can be utilized to help all populations, especially those underserved and
affected by disasters.
This year, I have become a mentor through the Girls EXCELing in Math and Science
(GEMS) program through my university and member of the Student Undergraduate Research
Council (SURC). As a SURC member, I promote undergraduate research at workshops, tabling
events, and speaking engagements. I provide advice and resources to students who want to get
involved in research and work on expanding and strengthening the undergraduate research
community at UCF. As a mentor, I meet with and advise seven freshman girls majoring in a
STEM discipline and offer the necessary support they need to have a smooth transition from high
school to their first year in college. I have the chance to share my own experiences and hardships
and provide them with advice to help them have a successful first year. I also plan bi-weekly
social activities to help solidify the bonds among each other which can be difficult to form as a
freshman, especially in the large general courses that have upwards of three hundred students.
Going through this same program when I was a freshman to now becoming a mentor has been an
incredibly rewarding experience. I am committed to helping students throughout my whole
career by providing encouragement and mentorship to all people, especially to those who have
little access to resources and opportunities in STEM.

Future Goals: Watching myself grow from not knowing anything about engineering to wanting
to pursue a Ph.D. in electrical engineering is a feat that still baffles my family and I to this day.
These past four years have opened my eyes to all the different opportunities there are in
engineering and has provided me the foundation needed to be successful in graduate school.
Each project I have worked on has made me become a better researcher, communicator, and
critical thinker. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship will allow me to use my knowledge to
develop solutions that can revolutionize electronics and help others be able to stand up for
themselves and for their environment. I want to continue mentoring and encouraging students of
all educational levels, especially women and underserved populations, in the plethora of
opportunities the STEM field offers.