Priscilla X. Vazquez
Mechanical Engineering Student Focused on Sustainable Space Technologies
California Institute of Technology
ABOUT ME
I am a mechanical engineering student focused on aerospace systems and sustainability-driven design. My work spans experimental fluid mechanics, computational modeling, and hardware prototyping, from studying meltwater infiltration in porous media to designing thin-film solar structures for Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project. I’m motivated by technologies that make aerospace systems more efficient, adaptive, and environmentally responsible.
Integration of Thin-Film Solar Cells with Tensioned Kapton Substrates for Space Solar Power Applications
This project supports the Caltech Space Solar Power Project by developing a Kapton-based tensioning and thermal test stand for flexible thin-film photovoltaic cells. I designed a biaxial turnbuckle system to apply controlled pre-tension to Kapton...
Meltwater Infiltration in Layered Snow Analogs Using a Quasi-2D Flow Cell
This project investigates how meltwater moves through layered snowpack by modeling snow using two-layer glass bead porous media. I designed and ran quasi-2D flow cell experiments to study how hydraulic and capillary barriers influence preferential...
Design, Fabrication, and Control of Competitive ME72 Robots
Our team designed and built three fully functional ME72 competition robots capable of drivetrain mobility, puck handling, and integrated shooter mechanisms. My role spanned machining, CAD updates, drivetrain assembly, shooter prototyping, and...
CFD and PIV Analysis of Flow Around a NACA 0012 Airfoil
In this project, we investigated the flow behavior around a NACA 0012 airfoil using both experimental PIV measurements in a closed-loop water tunnel and numerical CFD simulations in ANSYS Fluent. We analyzed velocity fields, stagnation points, wake...
Finite Element Analysis of 6061-T6 Aluminum Tensile Specimens Using ANSYS
This project uses finite element analysis (FEA) in ANSYS to study tensile loading behavior in 6061-T6 aluminum specimens. Both 2D and 3D dog-bone geometries were analyzed with refined meshing to capture stress concentration and deformation...
AI-Driven Virtual Control Groups for Faster and More Efficient Clinical Trials
This project explores how AI-generated virtual control groups can reduce the cost, duration, and failure rate of Phase III clinical trials. By leveraging multimodal patient data, generative models, and historical clinical trial datasets, our...