Ryan Belfer Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, 2016 Ryan Belfer is from Cherry Hill, NJ, and graduated from Rutgers University in 2016 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a major in Astrophysics. He was involved in many facets of the School of Engineering, including as an SOE Ambassador, EGC class representative, AIChE member, and was in honors societies including Omega Chi Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi, and Phi Beta Kappa, the latter of which was through a concentration in Japanese. Ryan also performed research in the Materials Science department through the Aresty Summer Science Program, as well as in the Chemical Engineering department, both in pharmaceuticals and catalysis. He completed the Slade Scholars program under the direction of Professor Celik. Ryan has held internships at NASA's Goddard Institute and at Henkel, and worked as a computer technician, tutor, and tour guide during the school year. He accepted a position at AIG as a technical analyst, starting shortly after he graduated. He also plans to pursue a Master's degree part-time in Chemical Engineering while working, with a Master's thesis under his undergraduate research professor. While at Rutgers, Ryan helped to organize Interns Present, Rutgers Open House, and participated in other events including community outreaches. Rutgers was a good fit because it offered so many possibilities, such as different fields of research and a large array of languages, including Japanese. After studying at Rutgers for three years, Ryan's fourth year was spent as an enthusiastic recruiter for Rutgers as an SOE ambassador. He hopes to continue to be involved in the Rutgers community, both as a graduate student and alumnus. Linh Chieu Biomedical Engineering, 2016 Linh Chieu grew up in a small town of Merchantville and after fifth grade, she moved to a neighboring town called Pennsauken. She then graduated from Pennsauken High School as the Valedictorian of her class of 400 students. She continued to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in the field of Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers University, with a focus in tissue engineering. Throughout her college career, she was active on campus by participating in several academic and non-academic associations. She was an academic leader in the B.E.S.T Dormitory Hall, an executive board member in the Rutgers University Pre-Optometry Professions Society, and a member of the Rutgers’ chapter of the Biomedical Engineering honor society: Alpha Eta Mu Beta. During her junior year, she was involved in a research project with Dr. Prabhas Moghe through the ARESTY Program; studying the targeting effects of amphiphilic nanoparticles on low-density lipoprotein derived plaques in patients with atherosclerosis. The following year, she joined Dr. Joseph Freeman’s Musculoskeletal Tissue Regeneration Laboratory to study how to enhance the mechanical properties of a biomimetic bone scaffold as part of her Senior Design project. She most enjoyed the friendships that she made during her stay at the School of Engineering and the professors that she had the chance to interact with away from the classroom. She is excited to start a new chapter of her life by pursuing a Doctor of Optometry degree at the State University of New York for the next four years, located in midtown New York. Maxine Deines Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2016 Maxine Deines is a software engineer and has been working professionally since 2016. She is originally from South Brunswick, where she attended South Brunswick High School. She then graduated with highest honors from Rutgers School of Engineering, where she double majored in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science. During her time at Rutgers, she was involved with the student club Women in Computer Science, and she was elected to serve as Project Manager. Her duties included creating projects to introduce club members of all skill levels to different technologies. Additionally, she was a member of the Rutgers Alumni Industry Scholar Program, where she helped with events such as Interns Present. She interned at a variety of companies, including Eisai Inc., SNP GL Associates, and Bright Cloud International Corporation. Maxine's current skillset includes proficiency in Java, Python, JavaScript, PHP, HTML and CSS as well as developmental experience with Unity3D. Most of her work has involved designing and developing front end interfaces. Her current post-grad plans include further developing these skills as well as gaining more experience in backend development. She is also interested in further pursuing virtual reality technologies. She is grateful to Rutgers School of Engineering for helping her develop the technical and personal skills necessary for starting her career. She remembers her enthusiasm when she was able to apply the skills she learned to projects both in and out of the classroom, and how this passion helped drive her to learn more and reach for the best possible results. Maxine Deines currently lives in Jersey City, New Jersey and works for Google. Sofia Hernandez Industrial Engineering, 2016 Sofia Hernandez received her Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering in 2016. She is from Middletown, NJ and went to High Technology High School, a pre-engineering high school in Lincroft. After graduating high school, she started her college career at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where she initially pursued game design, then switched to chemistry in her second year. During the summer of 2011, between her first and second year at RIT, she interned at International Flavors and Fragrances, where she worked with an analytical chemistry team to determine the properties of fragrance ingredients. She switched out of chemistry due to health concerns during the spring of 2012. After this, she transferred to Rutgers and started in the industrial engineering program in the fall of 2013. During the summer of 2014, she interned at Pioneer Industries, where she looked at determining the current efficiency of two of the processes to make door jambs and ways to improve those areas. During her time at Rutgers, she was involved with Alpha Pi Mu, the Industrial Engineering honor society, which she joined in her junior year. During her junior year she served as the group’s Engineering Governing Council Society Representative. For the last three semesters of her time at Rutgers, she served as the group’s Treasurer. She was also very active within the industrial engineering department. She acted as a mentor to industrial engineering underclassmen during her junior year. Over her junior and senior year, she also spoke to both current freshmen and prospective students about her experiences at several sections of the Introduction to Engineering course and during several department tours. At Rutgers, Sofia learned not only the tools and principles of her field, but also the skills to adapt to a variety of circumstances. She also learned the importance of building a professional network. She excelled in her classes due to her strong work ethic, which was reflected in the awards she received. In addition to the Alumni-Industry Scholarship, she won an award from her department for being the highest ranked junior in her class. She also won the German Center for Research and Innovation Foundation Engineering Prize in 2016. After graduating from Rutgers, she started pursuing her PhD in Operations Research at North Carolina State University Kevin Kastner Mechanical Engineering, 2016 Kevin Kastner is a graduate from Rutgers School of Engineering with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a concentration in Aerospace. He grew up in Brick Township, New Jersey, and attended high school at Brick Township Memorial High School. During the summers leading into his junior and senior years of college, he partook in an internship at Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., where he worked in Customer Engineering and expanded his knowledge in the utility industry. Focusing on the load density of electricity usage in Manhattan, his typical workday involved reading cable layouts and estimating the demands of new customers. In his time at Rutgers School of Engineering, Kevin enjoyed taking on the challenges of the Mechanical Engineering curriculum, while also creating memories by spending time with friends, playing intramural sports (volleyball, flag football, ultimate frisbee, basketball), and enjoying the excitement of every Rutgers football game. Upon graduating with highest honors of Summa Cum Laude, he accepted a full time offer with Lockheed Martin with the title of Associate Systems Engineer. His department works with integrated weapons systems and sensors as a part of Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Training business sector, their main customer being the United States Navy. Kevin is looking forward to meeting the new wave of Alumni Industry Scholars and is open to any questions that his new peers may have for him, so please do not hesitate to reach out. Marcos Luna Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2016 Marcos Luna majored in civil and environmental engineering and received his Bachelors of Science degree from Rutgers in the spring of 2016. He is originally from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and is a graduate of Stroudsburg High School. During his time at Rutgers, he was an active member of the Steel Bridge Team, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Salsa Club. He has also served as a peer mentor for the Society of Hispanic Engineers and as a student tutor for the School of Engineering. In the last four years, he has received a total of 13 academic awards and scholarships. In addition to his academics and involvement at Rutgers, Marcos has also completed two civil engineering related internships during the summers of his sophomore and junior year. The first internship was with Dynamic Engineering Consultants in Chester, New Jersey. Here he worked on a variety of projects in the land development sector and dealt with numerous local and state government agencies to acquire the necessary permits and approvals for construction.