Electrical engineering student encourages young women in STEM

First and foremost, I chose electrical engineering professor Andrew Steckl as my adviser, and so I enrolled in the Ph.D. program in electrical engineering. I wanted a mentor who had experience collaborating with industry, sourcing funding and pursuing interdisciplinary research. When we first met, I told Dr. Steckl that I didn’t mind so much what my research focused on, I just wanted it to be relevant and related to materials. Approaching graduate research with an open mind has allowed me to explore various collaborative projects, all of which address critical medical problems.

My research focuses on a fabrication technique known as electrospinning. Electrospinning allows us to make nanofibers from polymer solutions. What makes these nanofibers unique is the ability to load them with useful compounds, such as medicine, for targeted drug delivery. My dissertation work primarily focuses on loading these nanofibers with bioagents to keep transplanted cells alive and applying this to treatments for Type-1 diabetes.

Solving tangible problems interests me. Working through iterations to find a direct solution to a problem that is sustainable is a very rewarding part of my research.

The UC Undergraduates Pursuing Research in Science and Engineering (UPRISE) program has had a significant impact on me. This program provides STEM research opportunities to UC undergraduate students from groups that have been historically excluded from the field. Most of my involvement with UPRISE has been with women students in STEM. Witnessing them get their feet wet in research and become passionate about the field is very encouraging. When I look around in engineering classrooms as a student, or when I speak at technical engineering conferences as a professional, I mainly see men. I once spoke at an aerospace conference in Seattle, and of the 300 attendees, only five were women.

After that experience I made it a personal mission to engage with younger women. I wanted to share with them the many professional avenues of STEM and encourage them to believe they have the capacity to pursue these types of degrees. My graduate assistantship with UPRISE has given me a place to get involved with young women in STEM and support them during their undergraduate careers.

I am proud that I took the step of coming back to school in my 30s. It may not seem like much but leaving the known for the unknown and embarking on a new and uncertain path takes courage. I’m also proud of the technical accomplishments in my career. Recently, I was selected as a 3-minute thesis finalist and competed in the final competition at UC. Under Dr. Steckl, I was a part of interesting research and had the opportunity to share my knowledge through consulting and numerous conferences.

I am expecting to graduate in Fall 2023. After my degree I hope to work at a national laboratory or go back into industry.

In my free time I like to keep a vegetable/herb garden and collect orchids and house plants. When there is time for vacation my husband and I enjoy traveling to new cities or taking our two German Shepherds camping and hiking. My favorite travel experience was my trip to Iceland, the landscape is unlike anything else!

Featured image at top: Brooke Campbell in the lab. Photo/provided