Alumni

Ken Cunningham graduated in spring of 2017 and works as a Principal Engineer at Prevail Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Co. At UC Davis, Ken worked at the UCD Olive Research Center on enzymatic food processing methods. After completing his B.S. at UC Davis, Ken did an internship/co-op at Genentech in Upstream Drug Process Development. Ken then moved to New York City to work at a medical device startup, then at NYP Weill Cornell Medical Center on GMP manufacturing of CAR-T cellular therapies. Ken has now worked at Prevail Therapeutics in New York City on AAV gene therapy process development for three years. He also serves as the Chair for the Prevail LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group. 

Nashea is a research associate at TeraPore Technologies, a Bay Area start-up specializing in nanofiltration membrane technology located in South San Francisco, CA. In her free time, Nashea enjoys reading and learning to play the piano.

Arash graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor's in BAE with an emphasis on food engineering and biotech. He's been working at Genapsys, a gene sequencing startup as a process development engineer, for the last two and a half years.

Arash spoke at the 2022 BAE alumni panel

Ryan graduated from UC Davis in 2014 with a B.S. in Biological Systems Engineering. He worked at Genentech for one year before returning to UC Davis. Under the support and invaluable mentorship of Dr. Tina Jeoh, he earned his Ph.D. in Biological Systems Engineering in 2021, focusing his research on the formulation of biopesticides for more sustainable agricultural practices. He has a Professional Engineering license and currently works at Provivi Inc. in Santa Monica, CA, where he continues to research the formulation of safe and sustainable pesticides for farmers around the world.

Ryan spoke at the 2022 BAE alumni panel

Seerat graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor's Degree in Biosystems Engineering in the Spring of 2020. After graduating, she worked as a Supply Chain Manager at PepsiCo. She currently works as an Automation Engineer at Matrix Technologies. Matrix Technologies is a premier control system integrator in the Bay Area biotech industry. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, working out, and baking/ cooking.

Seerat spoke at the 2022 BAE alumni panel

Jaclyn DeMartini is a research scientist in the Nutrition and Biosciences division at IFF (formerly Genencor/DuPont). She graduated from UC Davis in 2007 with a B.S. in Biological Systems Engineering and then obtained her Ph.D. from UC Riverside in “Chemical and structural features of plants that contribute to biomass recalcitrance.” She joined Genencor in 2012, working for four years on DuPont’s Cellulosic Ethanol project, before shifting to a business development role directing the company’s biogas enzyme initiative. She currently leads the Grain Applications Research Group in Palo Alto and directs a cross-site project to evaluate technologies that improve value of existing coproducts from the grain processing industry and identify opportunities to produce new, higher value ones.

Jessica Ashkinos is a Biomedical Engineer at Medical Electronics System, the World Leader in Automated Semen Analysis Systems & Sperm Quality Testing. She loves having the ability to help couples have children of their own. At UC Davis, Jessica worked in the Post-Harvest Lab with Dr. Irwin Donis-Gonzalez studying how to improve food storage and preparation.

For her senior design project, she worked with Dr. Stavros Vougioukas to develop optical sensors for very slow-moving platforms. Her senior design project was part of a long-term effort to develop an automated, orchard platform that achieves high fruit harvesting efficiencies.

During her time studying at UC Davis, she was a part of the Davis Volleyball Club Team, Vision Dance Troupe, SOBE, and the ASABE Robotics Team. Go Aggies!

Brandon joined public service as a Water Resource Control Engineer in 2018, following a 1.5 year stint as an environmental consultant in the Bay Area. In his current position, Brandon is responsible for reissuing and implementing a statewide permit that regulates the water quality of stormwater runoff from over 10,000 construction projects. Brandon finds that engaging with interested parties to further refine the requirements of the permit, while focusing on environmental protection, is the most appealing aspect of his work. For additional details on his work, please visit: Construction Stormwater Program | California State Water Resources Control Board

My name is Sandon Du and I am a Manufacturing Engineer at Nutcracker Therapeutics, a biotech startup located in Emeryville, CA. Nutcracker is focused on the rapid development and manufacturing of mRNA-based vaccines via biochips. As a manufacturing engineer, I work on process implementation on Nutcracker’s proprietary microfluidics-based platform. Startups often have many roles to fill and hats to wear so I may occasionally help the quality assurance and validation teams. 

I was a Manufacturing Associate at Grifols Diagnostics Solutions before getting hired as a manufacturing engineer at Nutcracker. To the fresh college graduates that are struggling to find a job, sometimes you need broaden your search and take what you can get. Grifols was a good stepping stone for me to gain the experience and knowledge necessary to work as an engineer in biopharma industry (along with what I learned at UC Davis, of course!).

“I knew I wanted to be an agricultural engineer after taking a tractor driving class at UC Davis and it initiated my career path.” 

Ha received a B.S. degree in Biological Systems Engineering (Agricultural Engineering) at UC Davis in 1998.  During his study at UC Davis, he joined the Biological & Agricultural Engineering Student Club and participated in the first annual ASAE Quarter Scale Tractor (QST) Design Competition and Pull.  Upon graduation, he landed his first career job as a Product Engineer for Kubota Tractor Corporation in Torrance, CA where he utilized his degree to provide technical support for Kubota’s construction equipment.  Ha left Kubota after a few years and moved back to his hometown, Sacramento, where he has been a longtime resident.  Thanks to a UC Davis classmate and friend, Ha was offered a Field Office Engineer position in Woodland, CA with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in 2001.