Women in STEM

Reiko Yoshizawa is finishing her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at UC Davis. After graduating, she will start a full-time job as a manufacturing engineer at the medical device company Penumbra.

One of her favorite memories from her time at the College of Engineering was building a gearbox that could carry a couple of textbooks up a ramp in her mechanical design class. Reiko and her friends faced a myriad of challenges when manufacturing and assembling the components, but she enjoyed the work and it was rewarding to see the final project in action.

Reca M. Caballero is a biomedical engineering student at UC Davis and is our 2020 M.S. Ghausi Medal award winner. The award, named for former College of Engineering dean, Mohammed S. Ghausi, is the highest honor bestowed upon a graduating senior in engineering.

Some of Reca’s favorite memories from the College of Engineering was representing the Biomedical Engineering Society and volunteering at Decision Day.

Melissa Johnson is graduating with degrees in mechanical engineering and design. After graduation, she plans to start working in either design consulting or STEM education, ideally at a job where she can use both of her degrees, before returning to higher education to get her master’s.

Harshita Kaushal is a fourth-year UC Davis student finishing her undergraduate studies in computer science and engineering. After graduation, Harshita will be a software engineer for Optimizely, a startup in San Francisco that provides A/B testing through their platform.

UC Davis electrical engineering students Veronica Contreras and Michelle Acoba placed second in the International District Energy Association’s (IDEA) Campus Energy Student Video Contest.

Dr. Jennifer Nill is this year’s recipient of the Zuhair A. Munir Award for the best doctoral dissertation in the College of Engineering. She received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering in December 2019.