Our Graduate Fellows

Sandile Dube

Program Advisor: Geoffery Parker, Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth

sandile_dube_gr.jpg

Sandile is a gradute student in the Master of Engineering Management program at the Thayer School of Engineering. Prior to joining the program, he worked in health sciences equipment manufacturing, where he led a wide range of high-impact projects in new product development, new product integration, and manufacturing process improvement. Sandile holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Engineering from Dartmouth College. His interests include machine intelligence for manufacturing operations, supply chain optimization, and semiconductor fabrication. As an E.E. Just Graduate Fellow, Sandile aims to help students majoring in STEM fields prepare for careers in industry and technology entrepreneurship.

Brian Galaviz Sarmiento

Research Mentors: Kristina Godek and Duane Compton, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

brian_galaviz_sarmiento_gr.jpg

Brian Galaviz Sarmiento is a graduate student at Dartmouth's Molecular & Cellular Biology graduate program and a E.E. Just Liftoff Fellow. He was born in Mexico and moved to California, where he obtained his bachelor's in Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California Santa Barbara. His interest in cell biology and developmental biology carried over to his graduate work under Kristina Godek and Duanae Compton. In their lab, Brian studies the mechanism of erroneous chromosome segregation during early human development. Using human pluripotent stem cells as a model of early development, Brian comparares stem cell's cell division to that of somatic cells using quantitative microscopy with the goal to identify differences between the two that explain erroneous cell division in early development.

Miriam Janssen

Research Mentor: Matthijs van der Meer, Psychological & Brain Sciences

miriam_janssen_gr.jpg

Miriam Janssen (she/her) is a second-year graduate researcher in the Psychological and Brain Sciences Department at Dartmouth College. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor's in economics and bioengineering. During her post-baccalaureate she worked at the National Institute of Mental Health in Dr. Bruno Averbeck's Section on Learning and Decision-Making. Currently, she works in Dr. Matthijs van der Meer's laboratory to investigate potential coupling between memory replay and reward-teaching signals in the brain using electrophysiology and fiber photometry techniques. She is broadly interested in learning, memory, and value-based decision-making.

Rayna Rampalli

Research Mentor: Elisabeth Newton, Physics & Astronomy

rayna_rampalli.png

Born and raised in California, Rayna (she/her) is a second-year graduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth. She graduated from Wellesley College with a bachelor's in astrophysics and spent two years doing astronomy research through Columbia University's Bridge to the Ph.D. Program in STEM. With Prof. Elisabeth Newton, she uses stars as tools to understand the evolution of planets and our own Milky Way. Rayna is committed to making science more inclusive and accessible for undergraduates and is excited to engage in this effort as an E.E. Just Graduate Fellow.

Jannitta Yao

Research Mentor: C. Brenhin Keller, EARS

jannitta_yao_gr.jpg

Jannitta Yao (she/her) is an Earth Science Ph.D. student at Dartmouth studying the geochemical evolution of Earth's continents with Professor Brenhin Keller. Prior to Dartmouth, Jannitta obtained a B.A. in Geosciences and Computer Science from Wellesley College. Jannitta is excited to join the E.E. Just community as a Graduate Fellow and is committed to increasing representation and accessibility in STEM at Dartmouth.

Juan Mercado Del Valle

Research Mentor: Scott Gerber, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

juan_mercado_del_valle.jpg

A graduate of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Juan earned a bachelor's degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology. A RISE scholar and a Ryan Fellow studying in the Department of Molecular and Systems Biology. In the Gerber Lab, Juan uses the auxin-inducible degron (AID) technology as a means to rapidly and specifically degrade endogenously degron-tagged Plk2, in conjunction with quantitative phosphoproteomics to identify potential substrates of Plk2 and decipher its signaling in basic biology and disease.
 

Nabila Riaz

Research Mentor: Mary Lou Guerinot, Biological Sciences

nabila_riaz.png

Nabila received a B.S. in Biology from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan, in 2015.  She also received a master's degree in Plant Sciences from the University of Bonn, Germany in 2017. Nabila is a graduate student in Mary Lou Guerinot's lab in the Biological Sciences Ph.D. program. She is studying the regulation of Iron homeostasis and abiotic stress adaptations in plants. Outside Lab, she enjoys kayaking, hiking, and baking cakes. Nabila, who is originally from Pakistan, believes that her experiences as an international student have given her insight into the importance of exchanging ideas, and is looking forward to opportunities in building a diverse and inclusive community in STEM. 
 

Monika Roznere

Research Mentor: Dr. Alberto Quattrini Li, Computer Science

monika_roznere.jpg

Monika is a PhD candidate in the Computer Science department at Dartmouth. She graduated from SUNY at Binghamton with a major in Computer Science and a minor in Graphic Design. She is a member of the Dartmouth Reality and Robotics Lab where she focuses on designing and deploying low-cost robotic systems for conducting vision-based tasks in low lighting environments, usually underwater. She also collaborates on projects, such as shipwreck analysis, lake algae bloom monitoring, and plant-pollinator detection. She enjoys mentoring graduate and undergraduate students in designing exciting robotic field projects on the water, as well as helping grade school classrooms through the SEPA partnership. Outside of the lab, she enjoys backpacking, photography, and – if time allows it – a good jigsaw puzzle.