Current Scholars

Sidney Crockett

Sidney A. Crockett (he/him) is from West Virginia and plans to focus on Public Health. He would love to do club soccer as well as maybe participate in ROTC. He looks forward to getting on the slopes and FINALLY learning to properly snowboard, and he would like to write for People Places Pines to share his experience at Dartmouth.

Kris Garcia

Kris Garcia (they/them) is from the southwestern city of El Paso, Texas and hopes to study music composition during their time at Dartmouth. Although their focus is on the arts, they have a strong background in organismal biology as they studied and experimented under the International Baccalaureate program. Specifically, they have conducted research in botany and soil science with an application in sustainable farming systems, such as electroculture and the effects of diammonium phosphate. In the future, they hope to continue their research in agricultural systems and the importance that soil health plays in the quantity and quality of our food. But as for now, they mostly spending time writing music, hanging out with OPAL and the First-Gen Office, and working under the theater department.

Melissa Ballesteros

Melissa Ballesteros (she/her) is from Houston, Texas, planning to major in Biomedical Engineering. She is particularly interested in researching racial and ethnic disparities in reproductive health. During high school, Melissa served as Co-President of SolX, a Latine affinity group, where she worked to promote inclusivity and awareness. She also completed an internship with the City of Houston in the Fire and EMS records department. Since arriving at Dartmouth, Melissa has joined the FUERZA Farmworkers Fund, and has taken an active role in the North Park Programming Board. 

Shahi Dost

Shahidullah Dost '26 is majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Neuroscience. His research focuses on the conditions under which individuals adopt different learning strategies in social networks. Using computational models, Shahi explores how environmental factors, such as network size, connectivity, uncertainty, and attentional cues shape belief updating. His work also examines how attention biases influence information-seeking, with implications for belief formation in settings like social media, political discourse, and education. With support from the Coulter Scholarship, Shahi spent his junior fall as a visiting researcher at UCLA's Izquierdo Lab, where he investigated the neural mechanisms of flexible decision-making. Driven by a curiosity about how we adapt choices over time, he designed a behavioral task in which rats learned to associate shapes and spatial locations with rewards. These experiments were paired with brain interventions, including targeted inactivation and calcium imaging, to identify the neural circuits involved. Shahi also applied machine learning tools to track behavior from video, automating movement analysis. Working directly with animals and data gave him a clearer sense of how computational ideas play out in the brain, and reinforced his interest in studying how behavior, brain activity, and belief formation all intersect.

Faculty mentor: Alireza Soltani, PSYC

Victoria Ruiz at Boston Scientific

For Victoria Ruiz '26, biomedical engineering is more than just a field of study—it's a mission. Growing up in Mexico, she witnessed firsthand how healthcare infrastructure disparities affected access to quality medical treatment. Inspired by a passion for science and a deep desire to make a tangible impact in patient care, she has pursued every opportunity to contribute to medical innovation. This drive led her to a Research & Development Co-op at Boston Scientific this past fall term, a position she secured through an onsite interview at the Society for Professional Hispanic Engineers (SHPE) Conference the year prior. Victoria's time at Boston Scientific further shaped her biotech and medical technology career aspirations. Whether in medical devices, cell and gene therapy, or another emerging field, she remains dedicated to making a tangible impact on patient care. Now, she is continuing her passion for medical technology and treatment development through the Coulter Scholars Program, where she is currently conducting research on hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The analytical and problem-solving skills she refined during her co-op have provided a strong foundation for her continued work in biomedical innovation. 

Faculty mentors: Douglas Van Citters, ENGS and Afton Limberg, ENGS

Christian Nyamekye

Christian Nyamekye '26 is majoring in Computer Engineering, with a focus on human-computer interaction and applied software systems. Christian is passionate about the intersection of technology and accessibility, driven by a desire to create solutions that empower individuals and improve educational outcomes. From a young age, he was inspired by how technology could serve as a bridge to greater understanding and equality, fueling his commitment to harnessing technology for positive social change. Since his first term at Dartmouth, Christian has actively engaged in innovative research and development. One of his most notable projects is the Gaze-Aware Reading Aid for the Browser (GARB), an assistive tool designed to enhance reading attention, comprehension, and webpage navigation for individuals with reading difficulties and mobility impairments. GARB resonated with Christian due to his personal experiences observing childhood friends struggling with reading difficulties. This led him to understand the significant impact that enhanced tools could have on their confidence and academic achievement. Through coursework in engineering systems, software development, and web applications, he has built a strong foundation for this interdisciplinary project. His hands-on involvement at the Magnuson Center's Cable Makerspace, where he worked with 3D printers and laser cutters to prototype and refine physical components, has further solidified his technical expertise. Under the guidance of Professor Tim Tregubov, Christian's research journey began with an extensive literature review of existing assistive technologies and gaze-tracking mechanisms. This groundwork revealed significant gaps in current solutions, motivating him to develop a prototype that incorporates customizable visual aids and real-time feedback to maintain user focus. Although the product is still in development, Christian finds fulfillment in envisioning its potential impact on users, using simulations and feedback from peers and advisors to guide his iterations.

Faculty mentor: Tim Tregubov, COSC