Researching Innovative Space Technology
Solar cell research at MHC led me to the electrical engineering Ph.D. program at Tufts University.
Major: Physics
Research Group: Arango Lab
Maggie is currently completing a combined Master’s and Ph.D. program in electrical engineering at Tufts University in Boston. While at Mount Holyoke, she worked with solar cells in professor Alexi Arango’s lab, eventually writing her senior thesis on this research.
This first experience with renewable energy translated well to her graduate work with thermophotovoltaic cells, which use heat to generate efficient energy. She says that her time at Mount Holyoke provided her with good research skills as well as a lot of freedom and independence; she describes her time in the lab as “a collaboration with Alexi”.
Her graduate studies are being funded by the NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship, a grant for graduate students pursuing research on innovative space technology. In the future, she hopes to complete post-doctoral research and has considered pursuing work at a national lab.