STEM (page 8)

Spotlight on Alumnae: Rachel Odessey ’17, Awarded National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship

Rachel Odessey ’17, a first-year PhD student in the electrical and computer engineering group in the School of Engineering at Brown University, has won a three-year National Defense Science and Engineering (NDSEG) Graduate Fellowship. Odessey earned her bachelor of arts in physics at Scripps.

Class of 2018: Carmen Abbe ’18: 5C Roller Derby Team Founder Is on a Track to Medical School

Carmen Abbe ’18, a human biology major from Seattle, has balanced her time at Scripps between taking science and humanities courses and playing on the roller derby team she founded as a first-year student. After graduation, she hopes to continue incorporating her passions; Abbe has her sights set on attending medical school, expanding on her thesis research, and engaging with the derby community in Seattle.

The 5C Women’s Roller Derby team, which began as a casual club with a few intermittent members, has grown into an official intramural 5C sports team, now 25 members strong. It is one of only four collegiate teams in the U.S. and regularly participates in monthly Inland Empire scrimmages. In 2018, the team attracted enough members to be able to host about against another team from Arizona State University. The event was the first-ever interstate, intercollegiate roller derby match.

Capstone Day: Mandeep Sandhu Brings a Religious Perspective to STEM

Growing up in Granada Hills, California, Mandeep Sandhu ’18 was “the kid digging in the garden identifying insects or creating mini science projects in the kitchen,” as she recalls. While her interest in science grew out of a desire to “better understand the physical world,” Sandhu was also drawn to learning about spiritual aspects of existence.

Awards and Honors: Erin Matheson ’18 Awarded Davis Projects for Peace Fellowship to Pursue Diabetes Prevention in Chile

Erin Matheson ’18, a biochemistry major from Golden, Colorado, has always had an inclination toward the sciences and public benefit. “All my life, I’ve been inspired by people who have used scientific applications to improve the everyday lives of others,” she says. This summer, funded by a $10,000 grant through Davis Projects for Peace, Matheson will travel to Chile to establish a preventative diabetes program there. Her project, “Community Health: Comprehensive Approaches to Diabetes Prevention in Valparaíso, Chile,” will take a holistic approach to prevention, focusing on nutrition and exercise as well as pre-screenings and medical care.

Ulysses J. Sofia: Weinberg Family Dean of Science of the W.M. Keck Science Department

Dr. Ulysses J. Sofia, or U. J., as he prefers to be called, is a scientist and an adventurer. During the week, his work as an astrophysicist has him probing the secrets of the universe through the study of interstellar dust. And, on weekends, he and his wife, Heidi, regularly trek to far-flung places across the globe in search of new experiences.