In the past four years at the Jacobs School, Celine Liong has done research in three different labs, including work on drug delivery to solar cells. She also was the president of the UC San Diego chapter of the Society of Women Engineers. She plays badminton and likes to cook. Liong, who is the first in her family to go to college, said she was drawn to nanoengineering because of the field’s potential. “You can do so much,” she said. This fall, Liong will explore more of this potential at Stanford, where she will work toward a Ph.D. in translational medicine.
When Pooja Makhijani first visited the Jacobs School, she didn’t know if she wanted to be an engineer. “I went on lab tours during my visit and was amazed that professors were willing to mentor me that fall,” she recalls. Makhijani signed up for bioengineering. A Jacobs Scholar, she took an unpaid research position her first year and worked on an independent project, which became the seed for her senior thesis. She served as TESC president in her junior and senior years. She created a peer mentorship program and spearheaded the creation of a scholarship fund to help students attend conferences and present their work. She plans to attend medical school at the Mayo Clinic this fall.
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