Dani Gonzalez

Growing up with her large Mexican family in Inglewood, California, she has always had a deep pride for her heritage and community. This pride, in combination with the passion for engineering that she discovered through her local robotics team, gave Dani the desire to pursue engineering to solve biomedical problems and leave an impact on the communities that need it most. This drive led her to MIT where she majored in Mechanical Engineering and minored in Biomedical Engineering.

Every semester of her undergraduate career, Dani participated in undergraduate research projects, many of which were self-led. Research outside of her classes allowed her to expand her knowledge base in exciting ways that weren’t always possible in the classroom setting. Throughout her years there, she was able to use research to pursue a wide array of interests, including: biomaterial development, prosthetic liner analysis, artificial muscle creation, and assistive technology development. Because of her research experience, Dani was invited by one of her professors to travel to India and help teach assistive technology workshops. At UCSD, Dani hopes to continue conducting research and other activities that allow her to serve historically underrepresented communities. She is grateful to have the support of the Sloan community as she pursues these goals and works towards a PhD in Bioengineering.