Whole rock sample preparation in the Bucholz lab of the Caltech Geology and Planetary Sciences Department. Processed the whole rocks into fine power with a chipper and a ball mill, and then turned the powder into glass beads for XRF analysis.

Developed the ADEOS subsystem of the Mars Sample Return Mission, which is responsible for retaining the sample canister (OS) until launch, and then ejecting the OS into orbit to be collected by a later mission. I tested mechatronic components for the baseline prototype, tested components for the gravity offloaded test bed, set up the VICON Machine Vision system for data collection in the test bed, and developed CAD for an alternate prototype.

Studied Comet NEOWISE with the Blake group in the department of Geologic and Planetary Sciences at Caltech. We used data reduction software from the Goddard Space Flight Center to clean our infrared spectra. Spatial profiles were made of the unidentified spectral peaks and the identified signatures to compare and identify the unknown lines.

I worked with Valère Lambert, Caltech graduate student in geophysics at Seismolab to model the stick-slip mechanism of ice flow in the Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica. The model considered the interplay between the tidal forces downstream and the viscoelastic loading of the upstream ice.

Computational Immunobiology Research with Dr. Hannah Meyer as a Partners for the Future fellow. In order to better understand the mechanism of T-cell training in the Thymus, I worked on compiling the subset of ninemer peptides (immunopeptidome) derived from the human proteome that would become antigens as part of the MHC bound antigen presentation pathway.

Under the mentorship of Dr. David Green in the Department of Applied Math and Statistics, I worked on an 6.5 week independent project investigating the quantitative nutrient requirements for supporting life on Mars. Using Euler's method and built in integration functions, I derived and solved differential equations to model the population dynamics of different species of bacteria, including photosynthetic, nitrogen fixing, and denitrifying bacteria. The purpose of the model is to be representative of an established closed ecosystem on Mars, and eventually will be able to determine what quantities of different nutrients must be supplied to support a colon of a certain size.