"My journey with NNSA’s Minority Serving Institution Partnership Program (MSIPP) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) was pivotal to my career. The program immersed me in projects that developed my technical expertise and connected me to mentors who empowered me to take on leadership roles.
My experience with the program was invaluable. Through my time at LANL, I gained advanced research skills that ranged from building and designing experiments to mastering characterization techniques. The program introduced me to areas like fuel cells and fusion energy fields – areas that I am now passionate about and committed to pursue long term.
With mentors like Tommy Rockward, I was encouraged to lead projects, problem solve, and trouble shoot complex challenges. I was fortunate enough to collaborate on two projects with industry partners on membrane lifetime and bipolar plate durability. In addition, with my co-mentor Joseph H. Dumont, I was fortunate to be involved in fusion energy fuel cycle research, with projects in hydrogen permeation through membranes and all-metal pump testing for hydrogen isotopes. I was also given the opportunity to mentor younger students and incoming interns. Sharing my skills with others while learning from experts at LANL gave me an appreciation for teamwork."