Paloma Alcala
Paloma Monserrath Alcala is the recipient of the Stanley H. Pierce Student Award. She is studying Materials Science and Engineering and will graduate in 2021.Paloma is the technical chair and lead of the Midwestern Robotics Design Competition for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the vice president of the Engineering Ambassadors. She conducted research on frontal polymerization with the Sottos Research Group, led by Dr. Nancy Sottos, is a member of the Morrill Engineering Program’s Welcome Committee, and interned with Natural Fiber Welding, Inc.
Kayra Yasa
Kayra Yasa is the recipient of the Andrea J. Culumber Award. She is a Materials Science and Engineering student who anticipates graduating in 2023.
Kayra has been involved in numerous academic and scholastic activities, and has been developing a rapid, low-cost, highly scalable COVID-19 diagnostic technology as the first employee of an early stage biotechnology company. She also interned at P&G for the past two summers and has since put much of her focus toward becoming an entrepreneur and non-profit development.
Kayra co-founded DesignLab Give, and acts as Director of Growth & Strategy. She is also the co-founder of an eCommerce platform in the process of applying to accelerator programs and is on the interim founding team of a consumer-packaged goods company developing sustainable wet wipes.