Spotlights
Yujie Tao
PhD candidate
My research is motivated by the goal of building systems that actually reconnect us to the present …
Read Yujie Tao's story
Somil Bansal
Assistant Professor
Aeronautics and Astronautics
I want to put robots in every home in America.
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Read Somil Bansal's story for February 25, 2026
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Michelle Ho
PhD candidate
Aeronautics and Astronautics
As a kid, I wore the same Halloween costume for three or four years straight: an orange NASA …
Read Michelle Ho's story for January 13, 2026
Juliette Woodrow
PhD candidate
Computer Science
When I took my first computer science course at Stanford, CS106A, I was hooked. I loved the …
Read Juliette Woodrow's story for December 10, 2025
Jay Sim
PhD candidate
Mechanical Engineering
I've always loved working with my hands. As a kid I played with building toys like Lego and …
Read Jay Sim's story for November 04, 2025
Matt Strong
PhD candidate
Computer Science
I want to see robots seeing and touching the world in a way more akin to humans, because I believe …
Read Matt Strong's story for October 21, 2025
Laura Wuethrich
Degree Progress Officer
Electrical Engineering
This job involves a lot of the same things I’d loved about teaching – advising students, helping …
Read Laura Wuethrich's story for August 12, 2025
Yuji Takubo
PhD candidate
Aeronautics and Astronautics
When you’re in a PhD program and you know you’ll be spending years working toward an academic or …
Read Yuji Takubo's story for July 17, 2025
Hannah Nabavi
MS ’26
Aeronautics and Astronautics
When I first came to Stanford, I was inspired because I saw that the courses aren’t just …
Read Hannah Nabavi's story for July 01, 2025
Noah Eckman
PhD candidate
Chemical Engineering
I’m excited to go into work every day because someone might be working on something I don’t …
Read Noah Eckman's story for May 28, 2025
Samuel King
PhD candidate
Bioengineering
I grew up in a very rural part of Canada and loved the outdoors, so I initially wanted to become a …
Read Samuel King's story for April 22, 2025
Marigold Malinao
PhD candidate
Materials Science and Engineering
I’ve always been inclined toward math and science, but it’s still a bit of a mystery how I chose …
Read Marigold Malinao's story for April 15, 2025
Varun Madan
Undergraduate
Computer Science
In some ways you could say honeybees are the reason I’m at Stanford today …
Read Varun Madan's story for March 18, 2025
Dan Somen
Technical Director, Product Realization Lab
Mechanical Engineering
I didn’t have an “aha moment” when it came to becoming an engineer …
Read Dan Somen's story for January 16, 2025
Sonia Martin
PhD candidate
Mechanical Engineering
When I first began making decisions about college and my career, I didn’t even know what …
Read Sonia Martin's story for October 17, 2024
Christine Baker
Assistant Professor
Civil & Environmental Engineering
I grew up in Renton, Washington, near Puget Sound, which is a beautiful part of the Pacific …
Read Christine Baker's story for September 03, 2024
Thomas Colburn
PhD candidate
Materials Science and Engineering
I was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. We were …
Read Thomas Colburn's story for June 25, 2024
Kayla Patterson
MS ’24
Computer Science
I was born and raised in Robbinsville, a small town in central New Jersey …
Read Kayla Patterson's story for June 11, 2024
Adrienne Propp
PhD candidate
Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering
I never planned to become a mathematician. I liked math growing up because it made sense to me – …
Read Adrienne Propp's story for April 23, 2024
Lara Weed
PhD candidate
Bioengineering
I was always interested in how the world worked, and looking back now, I can see my interest in …
Read Lara Weed's story for April 09, 2024
Sebastian Fernández
PhD candidate
Electrical Engineering
I was born in Cusco, Peru, located at an altitude of 11,000 feet in the Andes, where we lived with …
Read Sebastian Fernández's story for March 21, 2024
Alicia Sheares
Assistant Professor
Management Science and Engineering
I grew up about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia in Bucks County, where we were a Black family in …
Read Alicia Sheares's story for February 27, 2024