Who am I?

I grew up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Like most budding engineers, a large portion of my childhood was spent tinkering with Lego and slowly evolving into more ambitious woodworking and Arduino projects. This early curiosity led me to earn my Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at Penn State in 2018 and work as a professional, project engineer for 3 years post-graduation.

In addition to my passion for building, I have always been infatuated with nature and the environement, mountains in particular. In 2021, I took action and moved west to live among the Wasatch Mountains and begin working on my first Master's thesis within a Mechanical Engineering lab at the University of Utah, focused on studying the mechanical failure mechanisms of brain vessels during traumatic brain injuries.

Soon after moving to Utah, I became acutely aware of how much air quality and dust affect both daily life and access to the outdoors. I wanted to do anything I could to contribute to our understanding of these issues, and so I ultimately joined two different labs in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Utah that were focused on dust storms, drying saline lakes, and environmental monitoring in the mountains (while simultaneously completing my Master's in Mechanical Engineering).