Dean Boecher
Bioengineering
Dean Boecher is a second-year Bioengineering PhD student in the lab of Dr. Chris Obara at UC San Diego in the Departments of Biochemistry and Pharmacology. Hailing from Boston, Dean went on to graduate from Belmont University in Nashville, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics. Under the Interfaces program, Dean is co-mentored by Dr. Obara and Dr. Elizabeth Villa, bringing expertise in microscopy across scales. Scientifically, Dean is motivated by the fundamental questions of how structure informs biological function and how the organization of biological functions causes specific outcomes as he attempts to elucidate the intricacies of peroxisome biogenesis from the endoplasmic reticulum. Outside of the lab, Dean spends his time playing volleyball, relaxing at the beach, and hanging out with friends.
Laila Hayes
Bioengineering
Laila is a second-year PhD student in the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering, working with Dr. Karen Christman and co-mentored by Dr. Marianna Alperin in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences. She attended Spelman College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, earning a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering, respectively. Her research focuses on maternal mortality and morbidity prevention through novel biomaterial interventions and the evaluation of material efficacy using multi-scale biology. Outside the lab, Laila loves to travel, listen to live music/go to concerts, read, and spend time with friends and family.
Dylan Hirsch
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Dylan is a third-year PhD student in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program at UCSD, working with Dr. Sylvia Herbert and Dr. Boris Krämer, along with his co-mentor, Dr. Jin Zhang. Originally from Los Angeles, he received a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and an SM in Biological Engineering from MIT. In between his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, he did research in computational biology at the NIH. Dylan’s current research interests center on control theory, differential games, and their application to modeling and simulating biological systems. Outside of the lab, he enjoys running, cooking, and watching movies.
Katie Lamar
Bioengineering
Katie Lamar is a third-year PhD student in the Bioengineering department at UC San Diego where she focuses on improving brain and brainstem Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) under the guidance of Dr. Thomas Liu and Dr. Albert Hsiao. Katie's research takes both an acquisition-based as well as an AI-centric, correction-based approach to minimizing off-resonance and motion-related artifacts that significantly hinder the accuracy of brain and brainstem functional imaging. Prior to joining UC San Diego as a Bioengineering doctoral student, Katie earned a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science in May of 2022 and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering Computer Science (EECS) in May of 2023 from UC Berkeley. Katie's undergraduate and graduate research, under the guidance of Dr. Michael Lustig, focused on minimizing cardiac and respiratory-induced motion artifacts using microwave frequencies to track subject motion. Outside of the lab, Katie enjoys exploring San Diego and hanging out with her two cats, Cauchy and Riemann (Remy).
Carter Rowell
Bioengineering
Carter Rowell is a third-year Bioengineering PhD student in Dr. Takaki Komiyama's neurobiology lab at UCSD. He received his BS degree in Bioengineering at the University of Washington, where he studied diagnostic assays for amyloid diseases under Dr. Valerie Daggett. His current research, co-mentored by Dr. Gert Cauwenberghs in the Bioengineering department and Dr. Duygu Kuzum in the Electrical Engineering department, focuses on investigating the neural mechanisms of value-based decision-making in mice. He is especially interested in developing and implementing novel neural recording techniques to uncover the mechanisms of cognition. In his free time, he enjoys reading, playing music, getting outside, and playing board games.
