STEM Ambassadors Team

Sophia Hamdan

Before arriving at Tufts in 2021, Sophia earned her Bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Mary Washington, and a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from Boston College. She oversaw the Campus Activities Board at Boston College and promoted inclusive programming practices. Sophia also interned at both the University of California - San Diego and Curry College; at the former, she supported a latitude of student needs through a Residence Life capacity, and, at the latter, she implemented Restorative Justice practices and created resources benefitting survivors of sexual assault.

After graduating with her Master’s degree, she worked with Wellesley College to create multi-week, comprehensive courses for all faculty, staff, and students to educate them on anti-racist practices, sexuality and gender topics, and how to be an effective ally. Sophia is also an accomplished public speaker; she has delivered speeches, presentations, and trainings to audiences of over 1,000 people on topics of leadership, advocacy, empowerment, and inclusive habits.

As the Program Administrator overseeing the STEM Ambassador program, she is responsible for the successful execution of the program and the development of the Ambassadors. Sophia is the main contact for Tufts' community partners regarding the STEM Ambassadors program and within the Engineering Ambassadors network for Tufts.

Cristina Arellano Chiroque

Human Factors Engineering
Class of 2023
Tuscarora High School
Virginia

Extracurricular Activities: Christians on Campus member // COE Elohim Videographer/Bible Study Member // LC Peer Leader

Internship/Research Experience: Having worked in a fellowship under a branch of Red Ventures last summer and a STEM camp this summer, I feel that the skills I have obtained have been tremendously fruitful. I feel so very grateful to have met the individuals I have.

Why did you choose to be a STEM Ambassador? Just as much as I believe technology is never neutral and is always shaping our social fabric, I believe that embracing this tool of the future will prove to be a feat. I can see us rebuilding and refurnishing both the technological and social construct we live in by closing the distance between action and impact. As an aspiring web designer/consultant, I find that seizing this opportunity is what motivates me. Similarly, I believe that this effort is not done in the hands on one individual but rather a generational effort. I believe that by being a STEM Ambassador, I will be able to aid in this pursuit by helping others grow at their pace.

Dennis Bazan Tello

Civil Engineering
Class of 2024
Ooltewah High School
Tennessee

Extracurricular Activities: Questbridge Chapter, Society Of Latinx Engineers and Scientists (SOLES), Tufts InterVarsity, Association of Latin American Students (ALAS)

Internship/Research Experience: BDBS Research Intern at Tufts Medical Center (Dr. Wallingford's Lab); Kaplan Lab; MLSC Summer Intern at WPI Biophysics Lab

Why did you choose to be a STEM Ambassador? I believe everyone has their own story to tell; I always believed that every story could be inspiring for someone. Therefore, I want to share my passion for engineering and personal experiences with underrepresented and first-generation students like myself. I want to inspire them to not be afraid to pursue their interests in STEM because no matter the background one comes from or their life circumstances, anyone with the willingness to serve others and improve their talent can be successful in the field.

Cansu Birsen

Computer Science & Engineering Psychology
Class of 2025

Extracurricular Activities: Tufts Women in Computer Science, Tufts Turkish Student Association, Social Media Intern for the Center for STEM Diversity, JumboCode

Internship/Research Experience: Astrophysics Research at the Summer Science Program, Software Development Engineering Intern at Siemens Advanta

Why did you choose to be a STEM Ambassador? I am grateful for people who supported me through my journey of becoming a Computer Science student as a female, low-income, international student, and I would like to be there for student from difficult backgrounds like me to keep this chain of support going.

Roshni Bhat

Biopsychology
Class of 2024

Extracurricular Activities: Pulse (current co-captain), Committee on Student Life, Tour Guide, Best Buddies

Internship/Research Experience: As an Education Intern at Tufts University School of Medicine, I've worked on creating and evaluating science curriculum content in public schools in order to promote increased focus on critical thinking, inquiry-based problem solving, and to also address misconceptions in cross-domain ideas in biology.

Why did you choose to be a STEM Ambassador? I chose to be a STEM Ambassador because I am passionate about making STEM fields and content more accessible to underrepresented students. I still remember the role models and mentors I've had that have helped me along my path in a STEM-related course of study and I hope that being a STEM Ambassador will allow me to fulfill that role for someone else so that they, too, can envision themselves in a STEM-related career.

Tallia Dudley

Biomedical Engineering
Class of 2024

Extracurricular Activities: Biomedical Engineering Society Webmaster, Founder of BIPOC in BME

Internship/Research Experience: The YES for CURE internship through Dana-Farer/Harvard Cancer Center where I spent two summers researching at Boston Children's Hospital.

Why did you choose to be a STEM Ambassador? I want to inspire and provide resources to students like myself. Having attended Lynn public schools for all of my education leading to Tufts University, there were not many opportunities to meet people in STEM who looked like me or had grown up in similar environments. That being said, I understand the impact of representation on one's confidence in their own ability. As a young biracial woman who was raised by a single mother in a low-income household, I know just how far out of reach things may seem. Because of this, I want to make sure kids in similar situations know that they are capable of anything they put their mind to.

Hamida Giwa

Biomedical Engineering
Class of 2024
Wachusett Regional High School
Massachusetts

Extracurricular Activities: Tufts Muslim Student Association (MSA), Resident Assistant, National Society of Black Engineers

Internship/Research Experience: BDBS Research Intern at Tufts Medical Center (Dr. Wallingford's Lab); Kaplan Lab; MLSC Summer Intern at WPI Biophysics Lab

Why did you choose to be a STEM Ambassador? You might come from an unrepresented background and you might doubt yourself. But have confidence, find your role models and support system! Besides, you don’t have to be a genius to pursue STEM. Of course you need to be able to problem solve, ask the right questions, and be willing to learn, but you don’t need to have some crazy IQ or really high test scores to succeed.

Bijan Harandi

Biology
Class of 2023
Newton South High School
Massachusetts

Extracurricular Activities: Quiz Bowl, Undergraduate Academic Journals, Research Labs

Internship/Research Experience: Astrobiology and Epigenetics lab work at several institutions

What I want students to get out of our visits: I hope that students understand the importance of STEM's impact on the world and furthermore attain the confidence in themselves to pursue their respective STEM interests, regardless of their background.

Genevieve Hayes

Biochemistry
Class of 2025

Extracurricular Activities: I am currently apart of SOLES (Society of Latin American Engineers and Scientists), ALAS (Association of Latin American Students), and ISOT (Indigenous Students' Organization of Tufts).

Internship/Research Experience: I currently do not have any internship or research experience, but I am looking forward to starting down that road this school year.

What I want students to get out of our visits: As someone who found an interest in STEM in high school, I immediately wanted to be a part of the mission to share with students of the many opportunities and fields STEM has to offer. I firmly believe that if STEM education was accessible to younger kids, more would be willing to pursue scientific careers and think differently about our universe. The chance to reach out to high school students, to develop individual science projects, and to learn more about my own interests drew me to become an ambassador.

Joshua Leferman

Math and Music
Class of 2023

Extracurricular Activities: Tufts Tap Ensemble, Tufts Travelling Treasure Trunk, Tufts Tutoring, and Tufts sQ!

Internship/Research Experience: Head Residential Advisor at SMASH, Residential Advisor and Instructor at EXPLO, Presentation Editor and Researcher at Amplify.

What I want students to get out of our visits: I am very passionate about the inequity within education in general. Many students cannot obtain a quality education due to financial constraints, and others are discouraged due to stereotypes. Furthermore, I believe that the current curriculum in schools are not conducive towards sparking interest in learning or creating passionate scholars. By being a STEM Ambassador, I can hopefully provide students with that spark and allow them to transcend their financial or racially induced barriers.

Maximo Mateo

Chemical Engineering
Class of 2023
School of Science and Engineering Magnet
Texas

Extracurricular Activities: AlChem, Tufts Tutoring

Internship/Research Experience: Air Quality Monitor Design UTD/UNT

Why did you choose to become a STEM Ambassador? I want to help other first-generation student to become excellent scientists, researchers, and engineers. Growing up, I didn’t see many engineers that looked like me. I want to inspire other students that are not well represented in STEM fields to contribute to the scientific community! As an ambassador, I want to help student think outside of the box through many hands-on projects.

Nery Matias Calmo

Biomedical Engineering
Class of 2025

Extracurricular Activities: UIJ (United for Immigrant Justice) // ISOT (Indigenous Students at Tufts) // SOLES (Society of Latinx Engineers and Scientists) // Latinx Center Programming Intern

Internship/Research Experience: GBM Research at Harvard P. H. Chan of Public Health

Why did you choose to become a STEM Ambassador? Coming from the Greater Boston Area, I know what’s it like being brought up in the public education system and how difficult it may be for students to be exposed to beneficial programs that make getting a higher education possible. Being a stem ambassador would not only help me gain the confidence to lead and teach, but also give me the ability to spark change in the community by providing information that helped me navigate through high school and college.

David Michel

Civil Engineering
Class of 2024
Santee Education Complex
California

Extracurricular Activities: Society of Latinx Engineers and Scientists, First-Generation Collective, United for Immigrant Justice, Association of Latin American Students

Internship/Research Experience: Visiting and Early Research Scholars Experience (Tufts' Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning Department)

What inspired you to pursue STEM? Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, I was constantly amazed by the skyscrapers, freeways and infrastructure that make up downtown Los Angeles. At the same time, however, I was frustrated by how different these were for low-income communities compared to more affluent areas. This has invoked a drive to hopefully one day be able to transform the lives of people through the engineering of the built environment that values and respects the needs of those communities that are often left unheard like my own.

Fatimah Mumuney

Biomedical Engineering
Class of 2024
New Horizons College
Niger State, Nigeria

Extracurricular Activities: Research Chair BMES, Kaplan Research Lab, MSA member, SWE member

Internship/Research Experience: Tissue Engineering Research Assistant at Kaplan Lab

Why did you choose to become a STEM Ambassador? I had heard it all before. "You got this!", "You can achieve anything you set your mind to!'", "Nothing is impossible! and the likes of other popular motivational phrases. It was not until I met another black Muslim woman, who had achieved great feats in the world of STEM, that these words of ‘empowerment’ really began to sink in. She had come to give a presentation back in my local high school in Nigeria, where she talked us through her journey into the STEM field. That was the eye-opening moment for me. If this young lady, with the same skin shade, same beliefs, and same background as me, could do it, then what excuse did I have for not doing the same? It was with this newfound determination that I began to apply to colleges in the United States with the hope of studying engineering. What seemed like such a faraway dream is now a reality in the making. I want to be, to another person, as this lady was to me. If there is a chance that someone might feel empowered by my experiences and learnings into the world of STEM, then I will more than gladly grab on to that opportunity.

Britnie Nguyen

Engineering Psychology
Class of 2023
South High Community School
Massachusetts

Extracurricular Activities: Asian American Center Peer Leader, Chinese Students Association, Jumbo Talk, Vietnamese Students Club

Internship/Research Experience: Research in Levin Lab

What I want students to get out of our visits: A new sense of curiosity and another perspective on topics! STEM is highly interdisciplinary - while the field may seem black-and-white on paper sometimes, there are many different ways to attack a single problem.

Christina Nguyen

Biochemistry
Class of 2025

Extracurricular Activities: Cancer Outreach Club, Tufts Biology Research Club, Leonard Carmichael Society, Vietnamese Student Club

Internship/Research Experience: Student Researcher Assistant in the Freudenreich Lab; Research Intern at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center part of the YES for CURE program; Intern at Harvard School of Public Health in Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention); Student in Visiting and Early Research Scholars' Experiences Program (VERSE) program

What I want students to get out of our visits: I want to use my interest in biology, passion for scientific research, enthusiasm for inquiry, and background as a first-generation college student to promote learning and scientific curiosity among underrepresented youth populations. I strive to empower and mentor students to explore their unanswered questions, to participate in active learning, and to pursue STEM fields in higher education. Through leading creative STEM activities for students, teaching novel topics, and engaging with the community, I hope that students can realize their potential to problem solve, overcome challenges, voice their passions, and have fun!

Wanda Schlumpf

Biology & Biotechnology
Class of 2024
Mid-Pacific Institute
Hawaii

Extracurricular Activities: Choir, Tufts 1+4, French Club, Hawaii Club

Internship/Research Experience: Global Citizen Year (Teach for India), National Academy of Future Physicians & Medical Scientists, Congress of Future Science & Technology Leaders

Why did you choose to become a STEM Ambassador? Students should choose STEM because it encompasses every aspect of our lives. Behind every new product or innovation, there is a team of scientists and engineers making it possible; there is a true impact on society. Furthermore, there are so many different, exciting paths one could follow within STEM that the opportunities are seemingly endless.

Zainab Yaqub

Computer Science
Class of 2024

Extracurricular Activities: Engineering Student Council (VP Of Finance), Society of Women in Engineering (ESC Rep), Robotics, Cheese Club

Internship/Research Experience: Internship with Autodesk in a project management type role for 4 months, worked with the JEDI as an ES2 Learning Assistant for their Computing in the World portion

Why did you choose to become a STEM Ambassador? I've struggled quite a bit over the years as someone going into a STEM career but I've really learned from all of it and I want to show that you don't have to be any specific "type" of person to succeed in STEM!

Gustavo Alvarez

Electrical Engineering
Class of 2024

"I hope that students can feel a lot more confident about themselves when thinking about pursuing STEM."

Marianne Chuy

Biomedical Engineering
Class of 2023

"I hope students learn that STEM can be an outlet for creativity, a place that allows them to think critically but also helps them dream big. STEM can push you to think in ways that feel completely foreign and confusing at first, but those concepts can later inspire you to think boldly and confidently when approaching a new problem."

Leslie Jaramillo Martinez

Mechanical Engineering
Class of 2023

"Although my neighborhood wasn’t full of scientists or engineers, it was full of people who greatly inspired me. Their dedication and ambition have fueled my own. To me, engineering is much more than a career choice. It is a way I can help the people who raised me. Through designing and building, I will be able to provide some form of support to the community that has given up so much for me."

Steph Karam

Civil Engineering
Class of 2023

"For most of my childhood, I was that student. It was not until my sophomore year of high school, when a teacher recommended me for the Cooper Union Summer STEM Academy and the TA of the course was a woman of color currently pursuing a degree in civil engineering at the institution. It was after that experience, that I seriously began to think of engineering as a possible career. I truly believe that this experience was a defining factor in why I am a civil engineering major today and hopefully I can do the same for students of color as a STEM Ambassador."

Zainab Olushoga

Biomedical Engineering
Class of 2023

"I chose to become a STEM Ambassador because I grew in an underrepresented community. Many of the kids I grew up with were so discouraged by the many obstacles in their path, that they never bothered to pursue their interests in STEM. I want to be there for younger generations and cheer them to overcome whatever stands in their way; to show them that someone who has shared their struggles, who looks like them, and someone that they can relate to has made it this far in their life. To show them how cool STEM really is and show them how STEM is an option for them too."

Enrique Rodriguez

Biomedical Engineering
Class of 2023

"As a first generation, latinx and queer identifying student in engineering, I never saw anyone like me growing up and involved in STEM in my local community. By being able to participate in STEM Ambassadors, I hope to impact and inspire someone like me."

Vanesa Gonzalez Torres

Human Factors Engineering
Class of 2023

"I want to show students like me that pursuing a profession in STEM is possible and to not let anything hold them back from doing so, even if the people in STEM fields do not look like them."