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Sophia is currently an honors student and active member at the University of San Diego (USD) pursuing a BS/BA degree in Integrated Engineering (Sustainability emphasis) with a minor in Mathematics. She is passionate about and inspired by creative approaches to ideas, an example being the field of biomimicry.

Beginning in June 2019, Sophia interned for 15 hours a week as a Marine Robotics Engineer and Project Manager for Clear Blue Sea. She led a team of 15 engineers from across the country to create an autonomous FRED (Floating Robot Eliminating Debris) with a sensor-equipped navigation subsystem by adapting drone software, a solar powered battery management subsystem, and a data management and communication subsystem capable of displaying information and live data gathered by a network of FREDs to a website accessible by the public. More specifically, she led the team in creating a project plan, defining key requirements, performing in-depth research and analysis, presenting a preliminary design powerpoint and critical design review, finalizing a bill of materials, creating and assembling custom motor mounts and a solar panel saddle on the 16ft Hobie catamaran they were working with, and writing weekly status reports and press-releases.