Innovative Early-Career Engineers Selected to Participate in The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering 2023 Symposium of the National Academy of Engineering

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wed, June 21, 2023

Washington, DC, June 21, 2023 —

Eighty-one highly accomplished early-career engineers have been selected by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) to take part in The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering 2023 Symposium. Engineers who are performing exceptional research and technical work in a variety of disciplines will come together for the two-and-a-half-day event. The participants — from industry, academia, and government — were nominated by fellow engineers or organizations.

“The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering symposium helps foster a collaborative spirit in early-career engineers by bringing together a diverse group from different technical areas and work sectors to spark innovation, broaden perspectives on new approaches to engineering problems, and develop long-term relationships that are critical in advancing engineering efforts that are critical to our nation’s future,” said NAE President John L. Anderson.

The symposium will be hosted by the University of Colorado, Boulder, Sept. 10-13, 2023, and will explore four themes:

  • Engineered Quantum Systems
  • Mining and Mineral Resource Production
  • Resilience and Security in the Information Ecosystem
  • Complex Systems in the Context of Health Care

“The ability to envision what is not yet possible, to create solutions to today’s problems that benefit all of society in the future, and to be open, inclusive, and diverse in our thinking and the abilities of ourselves and others — these are the hallmarks of outstanding engineers,” Anderson said. “The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering symposium opens the door for collaborative efforts across all engineering disciplines and, in doing so, helps build engineer leaders.”

Since the program’s inception in 1995, more than 5,000 early-career engineers have participated in previous symposia, many of whom have gone on to become national leaders in the engineering community.

The following engineers were selected as general participants for 2023:

Qadeer Ahmed Ohio State University
Nikhil Ajotikar Cummins Inc.
Miltiadis "Miltos" Alamaniotis University of Texas at San Antonio
Angela Alexander-Bryant Clemson University
Lauren Alger STV
Ava Amini Microsoft Corp.
Rahul Anilkumar Quanta Technology
Selin Aytar Bristol Myers Squibb
Bruno Azeredo Arizona State University
Michael Bartlett Virginia Tech
Stephanie Bojarski Intel Corp.
Christopher Brinton Purdue University
Xu Chen University of Washington
Jennifer Church IBM
Kathryn Cifa Bechtel
Kathleen Coderre Lockheed Martin
Stacy Copp University of California, Irvine
Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena Georgia Institute of Technology
Sybil Derrible University of Illinois, Chicago
Jay Devkota Procter & Gamble
Christine Duval Case Western Reserve University
Chuchu Fan Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Marwa Farag Ford Motor Co.
Caitlin Friedman Sandia National Laboratories
Yanjie Fu University of Central Florida
Veda Galigekere Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Maha Haji Cornell University
Zachary Haralson Collins Aerospace, a Raytheon Technologies Company
Robert Jansen U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
Jeffrey Katalenich Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Laure Kayser University of Delaware
Brennan Kelly Brunswick Corporation
Brent Kenney L3Harris Technologies
Prashant Khare University of Cincinnati
Evelyn Kim HRL Laboratories
Jennifer King National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Eric Konicki Lockheed Martin
Arkadeep Kumar Applied Materials Inc.
Jason LeFevre Xerox Corp.
Joseph Lessard Apple
Lihong Li Amazon
Jennifer Mahan Thornton Tomasetti
Sarah Mastroianni DuPont
Megan McGovern General Motors Research and Development
Sally Mei Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories
Eric Meshot Atomic Machines
Andrew Metcalf Air Force Research Laboratory
Petro Junior Milan SambaNova Systems
Emily Mills Design Interactive Inc.
Ismaeel Muhamed Matica Biotechnologies
Saoni Mukherjee Dell Technologies
Yorie Nakahira Carnegie Mellon University
Kerri Phillips Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Eric Pierce Medtronic
Brandon Pitts Purdue University
Elizabeth Qian Georgia Institute of Technology
Mu Qiao IBM Research
Caitlin Race 3M
Marina Radulaski University of California, Davis
Jeyavijayan Rajendran Texas A&M University
Jaime Renedo Anglada GE Vernova Research
Carla Reynolds Boeing Co.
Mark Rodarte Los Alamos National Laboratory
Farshid Roumi Parthian Energy
Gen Satoh Raytheon Technologies Research Center
Alix Schmidt Dow
Charles Shields University of Colorado, Boulder
Lauren Smith Northrop Grumman
Yuan Tian University of California, Los Angeles
Mathias Unberath Johns Hopkins University
Phebe Vayanos University of Southern California
Julea Vlassakis Rice University
Hua Wang University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Julian Wang Pennsylvania State University
Zhiyi (Kelly) Wang Nokia Bell Labs
Matthew Webber University of Notre Dame
Johnny Worthy MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Judy Yang University of Minnesota
Hua Zhang BASF
Chumin Zhao U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Renee Zhao Stanford University

Speakers:

Nina Astillero Ioneer Ltd.
Turgay Ayer Georgia Institute of Technology
Isabel Barton University of Arizona
Rodrigo Cristofoletti University of Florida
Deen Freelon University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Guadalupe Hayes-Mota Healr Solutions
Alicia Kollar University of Maryland, College Park
Yoel Roth University of California, Berkeley
Robert Smith HRL Laboratories
Kathy-Anne Soderberg U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory
Kate Starbird University of Washington
Sze-Chuan Suen University of Southern California
Rebekah Tromble George Washington University
Joshua Werner University of Kentucky

Organizing Committee:

Timothy Lieuwen (Chair) Georgia Institute of Technology
Cody Buntain University of Maryland
Joshua Combes University of Colorado, Boulder
Sara Gamble U.S. Army Research Office
Fiorella Giana Freeport McMoRan
Mariel Lavieri University of Michigan
Aaron Noble Virginia Tech
Parika Petaipimol Upstream Bio
Ewa Syta Trinity College

In addition to The Grainger Foundation, sponsors for the 2023 U.S.-based symposium are the University of Colorado, Boulder, National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, and Cummins.

The mission of the NAE is to advance the welfare and prosperity of the nation by providing independent advice on matters involving engineering and technology, and by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and public appreciation of engineering. To accomplish its mission, the NAE proactively identifies and addresses issues by engaging engineers and individuals from a variety of professional and community networks and with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, traits, and skills. Informed by these engagements, the NAE promulgates the value of an engineering mindset for business, education, government, and daily life. The NAE is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, an independent, nonprofit organization chartered by Congress to provide objective analysis and advice to the nation on matters of science, engineering, and health.

###

Sabrina  Steinberg
Contact Sabrina Steinberg
Communications/Media Associate
National Academy of Engineering
Phone202.334.2622
SSteinberg@nae.edu
Janet  Hunziker
Contact Janet Hunziker
Director, The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
Phone202-334-1571
jhunziker@nae.edu