Voices of Baskin Engineering
Degree Progam
Bachelor of Science, Robotics
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Hometown
Petaluma, CA
"I want to work in integrating robotics into the emergency response system so if a hurricane hits, or something like that, the first responders would be helped out by a variety of robotic tools that they could use."
Degree Progam
Ph.D., Statistics
Undergraduate Institution
Penn State
Graduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Statistics
Hometown
Pennsylvania
"I study functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. They’re basically brain scans that are done while people are doing something. We’re trying to figure out what parts of the brains are being used for different things."
Degree Progam
Ph.D., Computer Engineering
Graduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Computer Engineering
Hometown
Dhaka, Bangladesh
"If you look at the power consumption of the microprocessor or the CPU, a big chunk of power comes in by the clock network so I proposed a new paradigm of clocking that utilizes current rather than voltage."
Degree Progam
Bachelor of Science, Technology and Information Management
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Computer Science and Engineering
Hometown
Germany
"When we got the opportunity to start Engineers Without Borders, it really touched my heart that we could help this community in Cameroon, and especially help with young people’s education. That’s something really important."
Degree Progam
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering
Undergraduate Institution
BSE Duke University, MSEE North Carolina State University
Graduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Electrical Engineering
"The most important thing a student needs to learn in their education is not to memorize this or that formula, or do certain calculations at this speed, but really to develop an intuitive understanding and knowledge of what they are learning about."
Degree Progam
Ph.D., Technology and Information Management
Undergraduate Institution
NYU
Graduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Computer Science and Engineering
Hometown
Seattle
"I’m working on this human trafficking project. The broad question was whether environmental events affect human traffickers. We found an increase in mentions of certain ethnicities after hurricanes in these ads, especially ethnicities from Caribbean countries."
Degree Progam
Bachelor's Degree, Electrical Engineering
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Graduate Institution
UC Santa Barbara
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Hometown
Accra, Ghana
“Within BSOE there are many outlets for getting yourself established and that’s a really great thing about UC Santa Cruz. You can always find a place you can consider your home.”
Degree Progam
Ph.D., Computer Engineering
Undergraduate Institution
UC San Diego
Graduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Hometown
Los Angeles
"People in the Baskin School of Engineering are willing to collaborate and talk about their projects and be open about the things they’re doing."
Degree Progam
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering
Undergraduate Institution
University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Hometown
Philadelphia
"I decided I wanted to work with optofluidics. My principal investigator, Holger Schmidt, wrote the handbook on optofluidics, so I thought, 'I should go work for him.”
Degree Progam
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering
Undergraduate Institution
University of Arkansas
Graduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Hometown
Fayetteville, Arkansas
"I get to work with UCSC astronomers who pursue knowledge about the stars purely for knowledge and I feel like that is so noble. It’s awesome that I get to have a project with a similar philosophical framework.”
Degree Progam
Bachelors of Science, Robotics Engineering
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Hometown
Antioch, CA
"I was drawn to robotics because it’s the intersection of different types of engineering all coming together so you get a splash of flavor from different worlds that prepare you to go into many different aspects of engineering."
Undergraduate Institution
Princeton University
Graduate Institution
Stanford University
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
“I like having an influence on the students I meet. Here, I can really help launch students’ careers in a direction they might not have thought about. I’m really proud of the students."
Degree Progam
Bachelors of Science, Bioengineering
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Biomolecular Engineering
Hometown
Temecula, CA
"I’m on the iGEM team. We’re developing a cheap and maintainable contraceptive for women in third world countries."
Degree Progam
Bachelor's of Science, Computer Engineering
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Computer Engineering
Hometown
Salinas, CA
“If you really understand something, that’s better than a grade. Concentrate on learning the foundations.”
Department
Computer Science and Engineering
"One thing I’d like to tell students has to do with the genius myth. They often feel like, 'I’m not that genius and therefore, I cannot contribute.' It’s really important to bust that myth."
Degree Progam
B.S., Electrical Engineering
Department
Electrical Engineering
Hometown
New Delhi, India
I would say to any incoming students, if you see any club or any activity that really inspires you or seems like something you would want to do, even if you are not really sure, just go for it. When I started school here, I was a very shy person so I pushed myself to become a global leader, and that really pushed me outside of my comfort circle.
Degree Progam
B.S., Bioengineering, M.S., Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology
Undergraduate Institution
UCSC
Graduate Institution
UCSC
Department
Biomolecular Engineering
Hometown
Huntington Beach, CA
Currently, my project is engineering zymomonas mobilis, a unique organism that has a specific metabolic pathway that helps increase the production of biofuels, specifically ethanol and butanol... Fossil fuels are quickly becoming depleted and are very toxic, so if we were able to find a sustainable synthetic source of fuel, it would be extremely beneficial for overall environmental health.
Department
Computer Science and Engineering
Students tend to work too hard. Take care of yourself and learn to give yourself time. Making sure your brain is in good shape means giving it a rest.
Degree Progam
Ph.D., Computer Engineering
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Graduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Hometown
Lima, Peru
It’s important to have diversity in engineering because it brings different experiences and ways of thinking to a project, allowing for new and different approaches to problems.
Degree Progam
B.S., Technology Management
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Computer Science and Engineering
Hometown
Sacramento
Getting involved with student orgs really helps you build community, whether it be a sorority, fraternity, an internship or becoming a BESA ambassador. It helps you find support wherever you go and it’s super helpful.
Degree Progam
B.S., Computer Science
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Computer Science and Engineering
Hometown
Fremont, CA
I like having the freedom to solve problems in multiple ways. There’s never just one way in computer science to solve a problem.
Degree Progam
B.S., Bioengineering
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Biomolecular Engineering
Hometown
San Mateo, CA
The faculty here are really remarkable in the field and it’s kind of surprising when you can just walk by someone who worked on the Human Genome Project. That’s probably the coolest part about the school.
Degree Progam
M.S., Computer Engineering
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Graduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
You’re definitely going to struggle a lot while you’re trying to achieve something. At the beginning of a project, we consider the final result as our goal but after we finish, the things that happen during the process become your treasure.
Degree Progam
B.S., Computer Science
Undergraduate Institution
UC Santa Cruz
Department
Computer Science and Engineering
Hometown
Mountain View, CA
The mind of an engineer is very versatile because it’s problem solving. If you’re good at problem solving and you’re a good engineer, you can be good at a lot of things and you can take that thinking cap with you to a lot of fields.