Student Profile
Candice Giusti

Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering '09

Candice Giusti had mechanical influences in her life long before she decided to pursue a mechanical and aeronautical engineering major at UC Davis. “My dad is the mechanical type, and I used to watch him,” she says. “I just always had a knack for taking things apart, and I love being able to take them apart and put them back together.”

Giusti, who grew up in the Bay Area, chose to attend UC Davis primarily because she loved the atmosphere and the feel of the campus. Since she is pursuing an environmental field, possibly engine design for environmentally friendly airplanes, the ecologically aware campus has been very appealing to her.

There are many things that Giusti finds unique to the campus, but undergraduates participating in research stands out. “You just don’t find undergraduates doing research on other campuses…the professors either don’t have the patience or they don’t have the time.” This experience has been particularly valuable, since she is most proud of her research under the mentorship of Bruce White, professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering. At the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel, Giusti has simulated wind conditions on the surfaces of Mars and Titan so that rovers and other surface devices can be designed for NASA.

Giusti epitomizes her college philosophy in all of her work. When asked about the most important lesson she’s learned, she responds simply: “Make the first move. People won’t give you what you want, so you have to go out and get it.” Whether it be her undergraduate research, her active participation in the Davis Honors Challenge, her former internship with NASA Ames Research Center, or even the writing and photography she does in her spare time, Giusti actively pursues her goals and never waits for anyone to hand her anything.