Fellow:Sophia Austin
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.
At the University of San Diego, she is one of four students nominated and selected as a University Innovation Fellow for Stanford University's Design School. She is also an Event Coordinator for SWE (Society of Women Engineers), the Vice President of ADA (Alliance of Disability Advocates), a My Story Speaker and Mentor, a Changemaker Student Committee and Student Support Services member, a guide for Outdoor Adventures club, and a volunteer for Pancakes: Serving Up Hope for the Homeless club. She also served as a student leader representative for the University’s Changemaker Hub at the AshokaU Exchange Conference in February 2019.
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, as well as writing weekly status reports and press-releases.
Sophia is constantly looking for opportunities to continue to grow and learn in a supportive environment that utilizes innovative approaches to strategies. She strives to perform at her best in order to be an effective and essential asset to any organization and team of which she is a part.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-austin-9769a3174/
University of San Diego: http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/University_of_San_Diego#Related_Links
Session 4 Strategic Priorities
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