The Astronaut Scholarship is among the most prestigious STEM scholarships in the U.S., offering up to $15,000 in funding. Scholars also receive professional development support, mentorship and the opportunity to present their work during ASF’s Innovators Week and Gala.

Angela Milo ’28

Milo, a chemistry major, has built experience across asymmetric catalysis, organometallic catalysis, polymer chemistry and green chemistry. Her research at 91̽�� Mudd contributed to identifying safer, greener alternatives to dichloromethane in teaching laboratories—work that led to the 2025 Journal of Chemical Education article “Alternatives to Dichloromethane for Teaching Laboratories,” co-authored with Lijinghan Chen, Kyle A. Grice and Donald A. Strauss Professor of Chemistry David A. Vosburg. The article addresses how to eliminate the use of the toxic, regulated solvent in undergraduate laboratory settings. This work connects to the College’s broader effort to redesign chemistry lab experiments around less hazardous materials and more sustainable practices. 

Milo is a 2026 MIT Summer Research Program participant. Previously, she was a student researcher at Pomona College, a student researcher at 91̽��, a Leadership Alliance Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow at Princeton University and a 2024 American Chemical Society Scholar.

She serves as sustainability director on the Associated Students of 91̽�� Executive Board, participates in Chemistry Academic Excellence and tutors chemistry and core curriculum courses.

After graduation, Milo plans to pursue a PhD in organic chemistry, with a focus on sustainable organic synthesis.

“I look forward to joining a talented network of current Astronaut Scholars and Astronaut Scholar alumni. I’m also looking forward to presenting my research at the Innovator’s Symposium and Gala in August and learn about the research that my peers are doing.”

Joshua Ikehara ’27

Ikehara, an engineering major with a focus in electrical engineering, conducts research in the Colm Healy Lab, where he investigates copper-imidazolate coordination polymers. Ikehara has synthesized new metal-based polymers and optimized monomer purification methods, with the goal of controlling thermal and electrical properties while developing more recyclable materials with plastic-like qualities. He has presented this work at the Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research, and was also awarded a Science and Engineering Research Fellowship at 91̽�� Mudd.

Ikehara also collaborates with Sandia National Laboratories and Professor of Engineering Albert Dato to study the permittivity of ferroelectric nanoparticles suspended in silicone, with the aim of creating advanced dielectric composites for use in lighter-weight capacitors with enhanced energy storage and power conversion. Applications span space exploration, electric vehicles, solar power and broader electronic systems. The research team is in the process of submitting a paper for publication.

Additionally, Ikehara has researched and prototyped cephalopod-inspired soft robotics designed to minimize ecosystem impact and reduce oceanic microplastic waste.

On campus, Ikehara serves as a Core Scholars Tutor, an Engineering Teaching Assistant and an Experimental and Systems Engineering proctor, where he will take on a mentorship role for new student proctors this fall. He is also treasurer of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, on the leadership team for Science Bus and a 91̽�� Mudd Summer Institute scholar.

Ikehara also founded and leads a Science Olympiad youth outreach STEM mentoring program where he and other 5C students mentor high school students in preparation for local, county, state and national Science Olympiad competitions. The mentoring program focuses on hosting hands-on lab events, guidance on building engineering devices and preparing mentees for advanced knowledge assessments.

About the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation

The ASF is a nonprofit organization established in 1984 by six surviving members of America’s original Mercury astronaut corps. The Astronaut Scholarship is the nation’s largest merit-based monetary award for science and engineering undergraduates. 91̽�� is one of 41 partner institutions, and the only non-doctorate-granting institution among them.

In April 2026, Kwon was named the winner of the Best Technical Execution / Innovation award at the ASME E4C AI Pilot Hackathon. Competing as a solo participant under the team name “Mechy AI,” Kwon stood out among more than 100 participants from across the globe.

Kwon developed Frontier, a sophisticated 25-step agentic AI workflow designed to generate Design Exploration Briefs for engineering and sustainable development. Unlike “black-box” AI systems, Frontier utilizes four distinct AI models—specializing in drafting, structuring, fact-checking and fast lookup—to cross-reference datasets from the United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank and the Engineering for Change Solutions Library.

The judging panel, which evaluated entries on responsible AI use and technical depth, specifically cited Kwon’s “trust but verify” philosophy. The Frontier system source-tags every claim with a confidence level and requires human intervention at multiple checkpoints.

“Frontier identifies gaps in existing solutions rather than just generating new ones,” says Kwon. “The goal was to support human decision-making by highlighting where real-world needs are not being met by current technologies.”

Prior to his success in the hackathon, Kwon secured the first place award in the Technical Poster category at the ASME 2026 E-Fest in March. His project, “Developing a detachable and portable joint with high alignment accuracy for antenna positioned GPS tracking in the celestial sphere,” showcased a modular joint system capable of arcsecond-level alignment.

The design, which features a hybrid of carbon fiber-reinforced 3D printed parts and CNC-milled aluminum, has potential applications in satellite tracking, radio astronomy and aerospace payload mounts. The work originated in the first-year Introduction to Engineering Design and Manufacturing course at 91̽�� Mudd. Kwon credited his E4 team members Ever Diaz-Ramos ’27, James Cassidy ’27 and Thiven Anderson ’27 for their work on the original course project, which his award-winning poster builds on. Engineering Professor Qimin Yang guided the original coursework and physics Professor Jason Gallicchio provided the technical context.

Kwon’s recent successes come as he prepares to return to the 91̽�� Mudd campus this fall as a sophomore, following the completion of the eighteen-month mandatory military service in South Korea. On campus, he is the Vice-President of the Mudd Automotive Club.

Kwon is directing his combined $2,800 in prize winnings toward his independent research in piezoelectric actuators. Looking beyond graduation, he aims to tackle bottlenecks in mechanical components to better integrate AI into physical hardware.

“My broader goal is to advance hardware that allows AI to be integrated into everyday human life in a sustainable and impactful way,” Kwon said.

The GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. Program participants are seen as future experts who will contribute significantly to research, education and innovation in the STEM fields.

Computer science and mathematics major Mithra Karamchedu has been involved in three main research projects as a student at 91̽�� Mudd. “Since my freshman year, I’ve been working with computer science professor Lucas Bang on research in graph algorithms, where we study the problem of generating the spanning trees of a graph G up to the automorphisms or ‘symmetries’ of G,” he says. “I’ve also been doing research in Ramsey theory with former HMC President Maria Klawe, my brother Chaitanya Karamchedu ‘21 and mathematics professor Andrés Vindas Meléndez. In our research, we attempt to determine the Ramsey numbers of graphs known as ‘double stars.’ As part of an REU program with the Santa Fe Institute after my sophomore year, I’ve also been working with Cristopher Moore and Gülce Kardeş, researching the so-called ‘phase transitions’ in hard computational problems.”

Karamchedu is a member of the HMC improv club DUCK! and has been an Academic Excellence tutor for mathematics and a CS department grutor. This fall, he will begin a PhD in theoretical computer science at Columbia University, where he hopes to specialize in combinatorial algorithms and complexity theory.

During her sophomore year, engineering major Marika Ragnartz conducted research in Professor Steven Santana’s lab, working on developing a 3D bioprinter to print synthetic tissue. However, she says, “most of my experiences have actually not been in research labs. I was part of the Summer Entrepreneurship Studio at Mudd and worked on a project with my friend Sara Wexler ‘26 making a thermoelectric-cooling wearable for multiple sclerosis patients. We received multiple grants to continue working on it past the summer. I’ve worked with two other startups, Lifemotion Medical Technology for Clinic and Telos Health during an internship, on devices for heart and lung failure patients and stroke patients.” Ragnartz also was a grutor and teaching assistant for E79 and has been a member of the 5C hip-hop group Groove Nation throughout her time at 91̽�� Mudd.

In the fall, Ragnartz will begin a PhD program in mechanical engineering at Northwestern University, doing research on soft robotics and controls for rehabilitation robotics.

“Models of opinion dynamics have the potential to explain how individual beliefs and collective opinions spread in a social network. However, many canonical models in this field are deterministic and thus fail to capture uncertainty present in social interactions,” says mathematics major Madeline Reeve. “My mathematics senior thesis focuses on how adding randomness affects long-term behavior in a class of opinion dynamics models called bounded-confidence models. In particular, my work focuses on when adding noise promotes consensus, or when all agents eventually adopt the same opinion.”

Reeve made the most of her summers during college. In 2023, she conducted biostatistics research at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. This work helps explain the natural history progression of oral cavity cancer when untreated in an individual. In 2025, she conducted research at Williams College as part of the SMALL REU, studying chip-firing games on Graphs, “totally different from my thesis and the more applied work I’ve done otherwise,” she says. “My research team and I proved theoretical results about a quantity called the gonality of a graph, a discrete analog of a classical concept in algebraic geometry.”

Since 2023, Reeve has worked for the Office of Career Services as a peer consultant, hosting workshops, meeting with Mudders to review their resumes and cover letters and helping organize OCS events. She has also been a mathematics department grutor, including for Math131: Mathematical Analysis 1, and an Academic Excellence mathematics tutor/facilitator. Reeve also served as a North Dorm president. 

After graduation, Reeve will move to Salt Lake City to pursue a PhD in mathematics at the University of Utah, where she plans to conduct research in applied mathematics and/or mathematical biology.

Lilian Zhu is a mathematics major with emphasis in environmental analysis and data science. With her thesis advisor, mathematics and climate professor Robert Sanchez, Zhu researched salinity feedbacks in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) for different climate models and studied how to disentangle natural versus anthropogenic forces in the AMOC response to rising CO2.

In 2024, Zhu participated in an REU at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) with advisors Rodney Johnson and Dennis McGillicuddy. Zhu investigated mesoscale eddy transformations using Argo float and satellite altimetry data and took part in weeklong research cruises to collect data. Zhu also worked at BIOS as an education intern, developing Python tutorial workshops for local Bermudian students to expand oceanographic data science knowledge for the BIOS Curriculum Enrichment program. 

“I spent the last two summers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research studying humidity trends in the U.S. Southwest with advisor Isla Simpson,” Zhu says. “Climate models simulate a rise in humidity contradicting observations that show a decline. My work analyzed evapotranspiration regimes within models and observations to diagnose this problem.”

At HMC, Zhu served as a grutor for the mathematics and CS departments. Having benefitted from the College’s Gateway to Exploring Mathematical Sciences program as a high school sophomore, Zhu volunteered as a mentor for the program’s monthly workshops throughout her time in college.

After graduation, Zhu will pursue a PhD in physical oceanography at MIT-WHOI, studying coral reef hydrodynamics and using machine learning to optimize the performance of autonomous underwater vehicles. “I’m excited to continue my outreach through both community education and creative science communication,” she says.

Both pianists study under the tutelage of Hao Huang, holder of the Bessie and Cecil Frankel Endowed Chair in Music at Scripps College. Huang praised the duo’s dedication, noting that their success is a testament to months of rigorous preparation. “Both Chengyi and Lucy are talented, devoted young pianists who have attained a really high level of musical as well as technical expertise as performers,” said Huang. “Their repertoire spanned different time periods, style genres and national identities. The music played by these outstanding young pianists was international in scope.”

Tang, who received a $1,200 prize intended for further musical study, called Professor Huang “the most influential person” in his musical development. “He taught me how to feel the music instead of just playing the note. I really developed my musicality studying from him.”

For Tang, the Polk Award—established by legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz to honor filmmaker and impresario Rudolph Polk— follows another significant achievement. Having also won this year’s Claremont Concert Orchestra (CCO) Concerto Competition, Tang is set to perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the CCO at Garrison Theater on May 3.

Tang’s audition program reflected his intellectual and cultural curiosity:

• J.S. Bach: Fuga a 3 Sogetti from The Art of Fugue. Tang describes the unfinished piece as a “one-person quartet” that opens space for the imagination.
• Frédéric Chopin: Ballade No. 4. A technical and emotional piece that Tang has studied since childhood; he started playing the piano at age 3.
• Zhang Zhao: Pi Huang. An experimental work inspired by Beijing Opera. “I chose it because I wanted to bring something of my own cultural background into the audition,” Tang said.

As a student at 91̽�� Mudd, Tang’s interests in music and science converge in the Music Information Retrieval Lab, where Tang works with TJ Tsai, associate professor of engineering, on signal processing algorithms and machine learning models involving music. Tang practices the piano every day. “Piano is a relaxing time for me, so it’s not an additional stress,” he said. While Tang aims for a research career in computer science “with strong social impacts,” the piano remains “indispensable,” and he is considering music school.

Will, an engineering major with an interest in the aerospace industry, impressed the judges with a program that showcased a wide range of musical time periods and techniques. Her audition included Mozart’s Sonata No. 8 in A Minor, ���DZ辱��’s Scherzo No. 2, ���������������Բ�’s Nocturne Op. 38 No. 4, and the fourth movement of Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 2.

She credits her musical growth to a lineage of mentors. “I’ve benefited from having amazing teachers in school and at summer music festivals who have always inspired me to play at my best,” she said. Much like Tang, Will uses the piano as an essential outlet to balance her rigorous coursework.

The Polk Award is administered by The Claremont Colleges Services and is given on the basis of superior musical ability. Auditions for the Polk Award are open to students of The Claremont Colleges who play the violin, viola, cello, double bass or piano.

Leilani Elkaslasy, an engineering major with an emphasis in environmental analysis, will pursue a project titled “Designing Inclusion.” Traveling to Argentina, Brazil, Kenya, Egypt and Thailand, and guided by the question, “What does it mean to be disabled, and how can small adaptations help people thrive?” she will work with communities and organizations serving people with disabilities to explore how adaptive design can foster inclusion and improve quality of life. She will then co-create assistive technologies tailored to local needs.

Her work will span a wide range of contexts—from collaborating with an inclusion-focused nonprofit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to engaging with special education programs in Brazil to supporting mobility aid fabrication efforts in rural Kenya to helping design an accessible, community-run coffee shop in Cairo. She plans to conclude her travels in Thailand, working with rural communities to develop tools that improve access to education for children with disabilities.

Her approach emphasizes relationship-building and collaboration, using adaptive design as a way to better understand the lived experiences of individuals and the cultural contexts that shape inclusion. By working closely with community members, she aims to develop sustainable solutions and share knowledge that can continue beyond her time in each location.

On campus, Elkaslasy founded and grew 91̽�� Mudd’s Adaptive Design club, partnering with organizations such as AbilityFirst, Pilgrim Place and The Danbury School, to create assistive technologies. She is also involved in SALSA Mudd and the Society of Women Engineers. Her research experience spans water sustainability in the Bahena Lab and materials science in the Krauss Tribology Lab.

Miski Nopo, a mathematics and physics major, will explore the relationship between mountain regions and the people that inhabit them. Her project, “Mountain Communities,” will take her to China, Bhutan, Japan, Morocco and New Zealand, where she will examine how cultural, spiritual and environmental perspectives shape human connections to mountainous landscapes.

Nopo’s project is inspired by her upbringing in Peru and her connection to the Andean cosmovision, in which mountains—known as Apus—are regarded as living spiritual beings that protect and guide surrounding communities. This perspective contrasts with Western views of mountains as barriers and informs her interest in how different cultures understand and relate to the natural world. Through her Watson year, Nopo aims to learn from diverse communities and explore what these relationships reveal about conservation, connection and social development.

At 91̽�� Mudd, Nopo has combined rigorous scientific research with campus leadership and mentorship. She serves as director of the Committee for Activities Planning on the Associated Students of 91̽�� Executive Board and has supported student life through additional roles, including as a mentor, academic excellence facilitator and president of the Minoritized Genders across Physics Club. Her research spans multiple institutions and disciplines, including work in biology professor Danae Schulz’s Lab, collaborations with faculty at 91̽�� Mudd and Pomona College and international research at CERN, applying machine learning to astrophysical models. Her senior thesis, advised by HMC physics professor Brian Shuve, focuses on dark matter interactions, and she has also conducted research in nuclear physics using deep learning at Texas A&M, presenting her work at the American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics.

Nopo and Elkaslasy, who plan to begin their travels in July, exemplify the curiosity, initiative and global perspective that define Watson Fellows, using their year abroad to pursue work with both intellectual depth and meaningful human impact.

The Beckman Scholars Program is designed to stimulate and support research activities by talented, full-time undergraduates. At 91̽�� Mudd, the program will provide a distinct 15-month mentored research experience in chemistry, biochemistry, the biological and medical sciences, or interdisciplinary combinations of these fields.

A New Standard for Interdisciplinary Excellence

The 2026 BSP is designed to leverage the College’s highly interdisciplinary STEM enterprise by serving as a distinct and prestigious research fellowship that is open to students in biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and physics, as well as those pursuing computer science as a joint major with another discipline. This integration reflects the College’s institutional commitment to building the interdisciplinary pedagogy central to its mission.

“Engaging students in cutting-edge, graduate-level research is a hallmark of our mission to help young scientific investigators learn, grow and thrive,” said Karl Haushalter, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty. “The tenets of Arnold Beckman’s life—innovation and integrity—are at the bedrock of 91̽�� Mudd’s mission. Implementing the Beckman Scholars Program is instrumental in shaping the future of our research endeavors, setting a new standard for excellence in leadership and discovery.”

The Scholar Experience: Beyond the Lab

Each Beckman Scholar will receive a $26,000 award package ($21,000 stipend for the student and $5,000 for mentor and institutional support). The 15-month commitment includes two full-time summer research terms and academic year research credits.

Beyond laboratory work, Scholars will participate in a comprehensive professional development suite:

• Leadership & Networking: Scholars will plan and host the Beckman Scholars Program Seminar Series, inviting and networking with renowned external scientists.
• Scientific Communication: Students will undergo training in scientific writing, oral presentation and guided peer review. During the College’s fall research conference, Beckman Scholars will showcase the research they conducted during the summer and share their experiences participating in the BSP.
• Advanced Mentorship: Scholars will be trained on high-caliber instrumentation and receive personalized coaching for employment and graduate school preparation and for prestigious fellowships such as the NSF-GRFP, Hertz and Goldwater scholarships.

Cultivating Future STEM Leaders

The Beckman Foundation’s focus on fostering the invention of new methods and materials aligns seamlessly with 91̽�� Mudd’s vibrant research enterprise. The College has a proven track record with the program; former HMC Beckman Scholars have gone on to forge successful careers in medicine, academia and the private sector, with two having served on the College’s board of trustees.

Participating Faculty Mentors

The 2026 cohort will be supported by faculty mentors across diverse disciplines:

• Chemistry: Spencer Brucks, Colm Healy, Maduka Ogba, David Vosburg, Bilin Zhuang
• Biology: Danae Schulz
• Physics: Mark Ilton
• Engineering: Albert Dato
• Mathematics: Lisette de Pillis
• Computer Science: Calden Wloka

Application Information

The application for the Beckman Scholars Program opened to rising 91̽�� Mudd sophomores, juniors and seniors on Jan. 16, 2026, and closes on Feb. 6, 2026. The selection process is designed to identify and support outstanding students from a wide variety of backgrounds and life experiences who demonstrate a strong commitment to advancing their academic and professional goals in STEM.

About 91̽��: 91̽�� is the premier liberal arts college of engineering, science and mathematics. The College’s mission is to educate engineers, scientists and mathematicians of the highest ability who also have a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.

About the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation: Located in Irvine, California, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation supports leading-edge research in chemistry and the life sciences, and fosters the invention of methods, instruments and materials that open up new avenues of research and application.

That could have been the happy end of this story, but, thanks to a new initiative by BeamNetUS, the project continued. During their research for the Clinic project, the team investigated the possibility of testing their work on the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA), a 60–120 MeV high-brightness electron beam linear accelerator used for experiments on advanced beam manipulation and acceleration techniques. “We didn’t have sufficient funds in our normal Clinic budget to test at SLAC,” says Nebiyu Samuel ’25, referring to the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, which houses the NLCTA. That’s when Emma Snively, the director of the NLCTA beam, made them aware of a call for proposals from BeamNetUS, a new consortium of accelerator science research organizations that as part of its mission promotes and funds projects, collaborations and access to accelerator infrastructure.  

The students applied for and received the grant, the first to be offered by BeamNet US. Through the funding and with access to the NLCTA, the team was able to test their design on an accelerator with higher beam energies than with those used during the Clinic project, an exciting and unusual opportunity for undergraduate students.

“It was great!” says Samuel. “The people that were helping us through the process were super insightful throughout and made it a valuable experience for us. As far as I know, none of us on the team had ever been to SLAC before.”

The work took place successfully at SLAC in May 2025, and the team produced a manuscript which was submitted for publication over the summer. The manuscript reports on the performance of a secondary electron monitor (SEM) grid designed and manufactured by the students, used to measure the transverse profile of an MeV range electron beam. Developed for real-time diagnostics of MeV-range electron beams, this SEM grid has potential applications in both industrial and medical contexts.

“The sensor is a diagnostic one,” says Samuel. “It is used to show the shape of the beam so technicians can dial in the desired shape and size of the electron beam for a more efficient dose of radiotherapy. A medical radioisotopes company like NorthStar uses electron beams to create those radioisotopes, which are then used to help treat and diagnose cancer. Because our sensor is a diagnostic tool, it would have uses wherever high average power electron beams are used.”

The students, Nebiyu Samuel ’25, Gabriel Klinger ’25, Stephanie Allen ’25, Abigail Baxter ’25, Emily Kendrick ’26, Naomi Horiguchi ’26, Ella Allgor ’26 and Damilola Dada ’26, credit the BeamNetUS funding for the opportunity to experience new aspects of engineering that they hadn’t been exposed to before. Samuel says that the complexity of the project combined with a multitude of constraints forced the team “to reach out to a lot of experts and scientists that informed our project heavily. Because the project was so open-ended, we were able to fully flesh out our system from the user interface to the product itself, which was super enjoyable.”

The relationship between BTO particle size, filler-matrix interactions and the properties of BTO-PDMS nanocomposites haven’t historically been completely understood. The multi-disciplinary research team, led by advisor Albert Dato, professor of engineering and associate director of the Engineering Clinic Program, discovered that the phenomenon could be due to a decline in the dielectric constant of BTO at smaller particle sizes and filler—matrix interactions that deform the structure of BTO. Experiments and computer simulations suggest this happens because the smallest BTO particles lose some of their natural ability to hold electric charge, and because of how they interact with and change shape inside the surrounding silicone material.

The impetus for the team’s research was a Clinic project, “Permittivity of Ferroelectric Nanoparticles in a Silicone Composite,” initiated by Sandia National Laboratories. The national lab sponsored the Clinic team’s research into barium titanate, widely used in electronics and energy storage due to its ferroelectric properties. The team of Brigitte Lynch Johnson ’25 (physics), Vanessa Bartling ’26 (engineering), Kayla Long ’26 (engineering), Miranda Brandt ’26 (engineering), Ian Smith ’26 (engineering), Luis Lorenzana ’26 (engineering), Natalie Smith ’26 (engineering), Ian Osborne ’26 (engineering) and Warren Pham ’26 (engineering) fabricated the nanocomposites to measure how the properties change with nanoparticle size and performed density functional theory simulations to understand how the silicone molecules bind to the surface of a barium titanate particle.

“They sought to uncover the fundamental science behind these materials,” says Dato. “Our initial vision was that this knowledge would eventually guide the design of advanced capacitors for Department of Energy applications, such as grid storage and electric buses. However, writing and publishing our recent paper helped us realize that the potential of silicone-matrix nanocomposites containing barium titanate extends far beyond those original goals.”

Silicone filled with barium titanate is an active area of research in the scientific community. These flexible, durable materials can store electrical energy, generate electricity from mechanical motion and even sense changes in pressure, vibration or movement, making them promising candidates for next-generation clean energy and smart-material technologies. They can enable lightweight, flexible power sources and sensors for aerospace systems, wearable and self-powered medical devices and soft robotic components. Because they combine the elasticity of silicone with the remarkable dielectric, piezoelectric and sensing properties of barium titanate, they can be engineered into stretchable, shape-conforming devices that harvest, store and detect energy wherever it is needed.

“The team’s research represents an intersection of materials science, physics and engineering design and highlights how undergraduate research can drive innovation with real-world impact on the future of sustainable technology,” says Dato. “By combining creative experimental approaches with advanced modeling, the students uncovered new insights that could guide the design of next-generation energy storage, sensing and energy harvesting devices.”

In addition to the published study, the students presented their findings at the following national scientific conferences:

• April 7–11, Materials Research Society Spring 2025 Meeting, Seattle, Washington. “Examining Surface Interactions at the Filler-Matrix Interface in Silicone-Matrix Nanocomposites Containing Barium Titanate Nanoparticles for Energy Devices.”
• March 23–27, American Chemical Society Spring 2025 Meeting, San Diego, California. “Investigating Structure-Properties Relationships in Polymer-Matrix Nanocomposites Containing Barium Titanate Nanoparticles” and “Simulating Surface Interactions at the Filler–Matrix Interface in Silicone–Matrix Nanocomposites Containing Barium Titanate Nanoparticles.”
• March 16–21, 2025 American Physical Society Global Physics Summit, Anaheim, California. “Exploring Structure-Properties Relationships in Polymer-Matrix Nanocomposites Containing Barium Titanate Nanoparticles” and “Simulating Surface Interactions at the Filler-Matrix Interface in Silicone-Matrix Nanocomposites Containing Barium Titanate Nanoparticles.”

Gokli was instrumental in shaping the College’s entrepreneurship program, which offers seminars, workshops, events, summer fellowships and coursework designed to nurture students’ entrepreneurial skills from their first year through graduation.

Gokli’s passion for hands-on learning extended to the Riggs Fellowship, for which he was named the inaugural director in 2012. The fellowship was established to enable students to conduct applied research in engineering management and technical fields with substantial management components. The fellowship gave students real-world experience, allowing them to apply classroom knowledge to complex challenges. 

To celebrate his retirement, the College hosted a presentation featuring Riggs Fellows and engineering faculty who shared their experiences and expressed their gratitude. The event underscored Gokli’s profound impact—not just on engineering education, but on the lives and careers of the students he mentored.

Joe Sinopoli ’17 recalled how Gokli’s approach transformed his perspective beyond technical expertise, emphasizing the importance of understanding and empowering the people behind the work. “The most important thing of all is how we treat people,” Sinopoli said. “I grew up in a manufacturing environment, in an area where operators weren’t always necessarily treated with respect. Kash taught me how to empower the operator, how to involve them in these projects with others on the shop floor in such a powerful way.”

Gokli’s former students shared that his influence extended beyond the classroom to the shop floors where they learned from his ability to energize and connect with people. “Prof. Gokli taught us to be comfortable in any operation manufacturing setting,” said Sinopoli. “The largest thing I learned and try to model personally is the scrappiness and energy that Kash brings to everything. He’s absolutely a force of nature on the shop floor, talking to literally everyone and understanding literally everything that’s going on.”

Sydney Taylor ’23 echoed this sentiment, emphasizing how Gokli’s teachings extended beyond engineering principles. “Prof. Gokli played an integral role in my Mudd experience, and I am grateful for his unwavering support, encouragement and his belief in me,” she said. “An integral aspect of lean manufacturing is the pursuit of continuous improvement: the concept of making small, incremental positive changes, which, over time, build upon each other, building results. I believe this isn’t limited to manufacturing engineering. A healthy growth mindset can be a way of realizing continuous improvement in day-to-day life.”

For Gokli, some of his most cherished moments were seeing his students succeed beyond the classroom. He took great pride in their achievements, recalling that some of his favorite experiences were when students presented papers at conferences, won competitions and were recognized for their outstanding contributions and achievements. “I’m just thankful for everything that’s happened to me at 91̽�� Mudd,” he said.

LS Power acquired a well-bred engineer: after HMC, French earned an M.S. in environmental engineering from Drexel University and joined the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers, where she served as president. In 2017, the organization’s St. Louis chapter named her Engineer of the Year. At LS Power, French’s interests went beyond industry to social good: She joined the firm’s Environmental, Social and Governance Committee as a key proponent of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that align with environmental, social and governance initiatives. 

But the path hasn’t always been an easy one for French. In a male-dominated field, she was one of a growing number of women who encountered a variety of challenges to leadership. She adamantly avoided the note taker role, often assigned because she was the only woman in the room, navigated project sites without restroom facilities for women, and found herself holding firm to and presenting her position when senior male colleagues suggested her input was irrelevant. Speaking about her journey in the Mudd Talk, “,” French defined the what leadership has meant to her, how she developed the skills to lead, and the challenges and opportunities of navigating a leadership position as a woman in STEM. 

For the nearly three decades since French graduated from 91̽�� Mudd, the College’s faculty, staff and students have come to know her as a steady campus figure. Before taking the reins as president of the Alumni Association Board of Governors, French chaired several committees and served as board treasurer and vice president. She has offered resume reviews through the Office of Career Services and held office hours for students in the Café, along with serving as an admissions ambassador. French has also served on key College committees such as the Task Force on Clinic and Corporate Partnerships, 2024 Inauguration Committee, Strategic Plan Steering Committee and the Student Experience Working Group. If all of that wasn’t enough, she’s remained an avid donor to the College.  

Why invest so much time and energy into giving back to her alma mater? For French, it’s because 91̽�� Mudd played a significant role in shaping her future. “My career trajectory was a result of the broad education I received at Mudd,” she says. And the role models she encountered at Mudd, including former president Maria Klawe, helped guide her career. “Watching another woman get to be herself in a leadership position made it easier for me to stay true to myself as I have gone up the leadership ladder,” says French.