Home 2021

Simple decisions can lead to extraordinary results. The decisions to create the computer science group chat and meet a professor before term 1 were simple. However, these seemingly basic choices are the reasons why I am closer to my ultimate goal - to be a philanthropic technology entrepreneur. My simple decisions were pivotal in establishing the largest collaborative partnership at UCL and even co-founding a social-good startup called MyChariti. However, it was not the choices that were special - it was the story they created. Since my story now includes this talk, I welcome you to a new journey - one that may lead to extraordinary results.

Currently women have to fight for the right to equal pay and for respect in the workplace. An often unnoticed side of this situation is the reality of women with ASD, who face increased challenges to be recognized. As a woman with ASD, Catalina Sarmiento had to face differentiated challenges in engineering school, due to her auditive sensibility. As a junior engineer, she can talk about how the pros and cons of her disorder played a role in her opportunities of being hired, and then, in being included in a workplace.

Anyfest is a platform to experience interactive, virtual reality concerts from your phone thanks to 5G technology centered on accessibility and sustainability. This entrepreneurship project idea was awarded the first prize at the third edition of the Vodafone Campus Lab Tournament this year. In this presentation, some of Anyfest’s creators will talk about our experience participating in the competition, the transversal skills acquired by taking part in such events, and a broad perspective of the entrepreneurship process from the idea generation stage to investor pitches using our project as an example.

Well-designed Undergraduate Research Experiences (UREs) have the power to positively impact students’, faculty mentors’ and institutions’ growth from all engineering fields. In this talk, we’re going to describe how UREs promote numerous favorable skills on the undergrad researcher, through the eyes of a Science Student Organization Co-Founder and the existing literature on this matter. Moreover, we’ll recognize how proper Science Communication means a key factor in developing these skills and inspiring younger generations to follow STEM career paths. Most importantly, we’re going to understand how UREs are beneficial to all students, not just those who plan on pursuing post-graduate studies.

This talk will cover my past and current research in the field of psychophysiology. I worked with wearable devices that collect various physiological signals. Specifically, I have focused on the Muse headset which includes EEG and PPG. The signals from this are taken during different tasks and analyzed to gain insight into the cognitive states of the participants during tasks. I am running a study this year to investigate how stress state countermeasures cause shifts in cognitive state picked up by these wearables.

Nowadays, interdisciplinary work, soft skills, leadership, and practical experience are immensely important, today it is what all companies and industries need and are looking for. However, universities' curriculums have not managed to achieve this idea and that is why creating student initiatives that foster this is of the utmost importance. Just having a title is not enough! In this talk, I will tell you how you could assemble and organize a student team, create a culture of innovation and well-being, how to propose and finance the projects, and some tips. In the same way, I'm going to tell you some challenges and experiences we had and how we overcame them.

Over the summer of 2021, I helped develop a system to autonomously control our telescope and track objects in orbit. To do this, we used Python for the programming, Rabbit-MQ for the socket communication, and Linux for the programming environment. First I was tasked to develop a driver for the focus motor of the telescope, then after that I created a weather station interface. This fall, all of our work will be put together and we will perform our first on-sky test. We will likely be tracking the International Space Station first.

This talk aims to encourage young entrepreneurs to develop their ideas in technology and engineering. By explaining the bases of innovation and entrepreneurship, the Lean Startup methodology and how to go from an idea or electronic prototype to a physical product. Also I will talk about the Healthtech industry (and it’s future), and share my experience, failures, learnings, give advice and help entrepreneurs define their own objectives in their professional, entrepreneurial and leadership life.