Meet the 2022 Knights of St. Patrick

Christina Garcia

Christina Garcia is a junior in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a minor from the Hoeft Technology and Management Program. 

Christina is currently the external vice president for the Society of Women Engineers and taking part in ISEE’s Environmental Leadership Program. She has been involved on campus as a T&M student ambassador, ARISE scholar, Chi Epsilon member and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers member. 

Throughout her academic career, she has conducted research in the CEE Water Resources department and is currently part of the Sychterz Modular Adaptive Resilient Transformable Infrastructure (SMARTI) Lab, focusing on structural engineering research with tensegrity structures. 

Last summer, she interned with ExxonMobil in Houston as a cost engineering intern working on developing tools for carbon capture, transportation and storage initiatives. This summer, she will join Burns & McDonnell as an intern in their Construction/Design-Build division.

Erika Jarosch 

Erika Jarosch is a fourth-year senior studying Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Germanic Studies. 

She currently works as a Grainger Engineering tour guide and Aerospace course grader. She served as the assistant director and director of the Illinois Space Society, where she also participated in multiple technical engineering projects and educational outreach. 

She served as treasurer for Girl Up United Nations, a part of the Women in Aerospace GLASS Day committee, and a mentor for multiple Women in Engineering events. She currently participates on the Engineering Council service committee.

Erika has worked as a systems engineering intern at Collins Aerospace and an automation and operations software and systems intern at SpaceX. This summer she will work as a test engineering intern at Sierra Nevada Corporation.

Grace Levita

Grace Levita is a senior in Materials Science and Engineering with a minor in Technology & Management. 

Grace is currently a TA for MSE 183, a laboratory for first-year students in MatSE. For the past two years, she was also an ELA for ENG 100, serving the last year as the lead ELA for the MatSE department.

She is currently a member of Class XXVI of The Hoeft Technology & Management Program, and through this is a T&M student employee where she is the lead CA for ENG/BADM-261. In this role, she has played a significant role in revamping the course curriculum and program recruitment process to be more human-centric and equitable. 

Grace is also the chapter representative for Alpha Omega Epsilon and the Material Advantage secretary/social media chair. After graduation, she will start full time at Procter & Gamble as a sustainable packaging engineer for Olay Skincare.

Linda Nguessan

Linda Nguessan is a senior in Industrial Engineering specializing in Human Factors/Ergonomics.

Since first coming to campus, she has been involved in the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), where she served in various roles, including junior chair, senator, chapter advisor, and currently as vice president. She also serves on the executive board for RISE UP @ Illinois.

Linda has been actively involved in the Morrill Engineering Program as a peer mentor for the freshman mentoring course, a coordinator for the EMBARK early freshman move-in program, and a member of the MEP Welcome Committee. She worked as an engineering learning assistant for ENG 100 and is currently conducting soft robotics research as a member of Dr. Holly Golecki’s research group.

In the future, Linda looks to continue her education in human-centered design or engineering education.

Ali Nunes

Ali Nunes is a senior in Materials Science and Engineering with a concentration in biomaterials. 

Ali has strived to amplify student voices within the Grainger College of Engineering and better relations between faculty and students. Currently the president of the Engineering Council, she has also served as the director of the Dean’s Student Advisory Committee and as a head engineering learning assistant for the Grainger Engineering First-Year Experience (GFX), where she instructed sections of ENG 100 and ENG 398. She also worked as a course assistant for ENG 177. 

She continues to be heavily involved in Material Advantage, serving as social chair, two-term president and the current Engineering Open House (EOH) director. Additionally, she has worked closely with the department as the MatSE Undergraduate Advisory Committee chair, undergraduate recruiter and department communications intern. 

Throughout her academic career, she has conducted research in the Harley Lab, where her work focuses on better understanding the intricacies of cellular microenvironments. At the 2021 Materials Science and Technology Conference, she presented this work and placed first in the undergraduate speaking competition. 

After graduation, Ali plans to join the Peace Corps as a health extension volunteer.

Ege Gungor Onal 

Ege Gungor Onal is a senior in Bioengineering. 

He has worked in the Laboratory of Professor Brian T. Cunningham studying point-of-care diagnostics for early detection of cancer biomarkers. He has published multiple publications and was named a Ronald H. Filler Scholar in 2021.

Ege has served as an active member and mentor for the Cancer Scholars program, co-founder and president of the Cancer Center at Illinois Student Organization (CCIL-SO), founder and president of COVID-Pals.com and vice president of the Turkish Student Association. He also served as an engineering learning assistant and lead engineering learning assistant for Grainger Engineering First-Year Experience. 

He interned in Koc University's Brain Cancer Research Lab and participated in Mayo Clinic's SURF program, working with Kathryn A. Knoop, Ph.D., to develop a theoretical mouse model study to investigate the gut microbiome's role in CAR-T cell therapy toxicity and Venkatesh R. Bellamkonda, M.D., to investigate sex-based disparities in healthcare delivery. More recently, he served as a co-facilitator of the online portion of Mayo Clinic’s SURF program and worked with Michael F. Romero, Ph.D., to study the role of Ano4 in calcium oxalate stone formation using drosophila models.

He plans to pursue a career in developing novel diagnostics/therapies for cancer. 

Yvonne Smith

Yvonne Smith is a senior in Computer Engineering with a minor in Leadership Studies.

Yvonne is currently a member of the National Society of Black Engineers and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She is also a member of the Morrill Engineering Program and has worked as a peer mentor and student coordinator. 

Yvonne is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion, especially within engineering education. She serves as an undergraduate representative on the Grainger College of Engineering Diversity Committee and the ECE Broadening Participation Committee. As a member of these committees, she represents the perspectives and experiences of undergraduate students, advises the college and department on effective methods of recruiting and retaining diverse groups of students, faculty and staff, and promotes a sense of community.

This summer, she will be interning with Microsoft as a program manager.

Anthony Valiaveedu 

Anthony Valiaveedu is a third-year student in Mechanical Engineering.

He is currently president of the Society for Engineering Mechanics and a teaching assistant for the course Digital Making. 

Previously, Anthony was part of the Illini Journal of International Security, where he published two research papers about artificial intelligence and United States treaty law. He has also worked at the Maker Lab for three years as a CAD designer.

Anthony is currently interning at the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where he works with rulemaking and plans to continue his work there.