Outstanding Student

Danielle Getz ’23 decided in high school that she wanted to dedicate herself to mitigating climate change. This summer she worked in theresearch group of Marc Porosoff on cutting edge research aimed at addressing the problem. The chemical engineering major and Grand Challenges Scholar says she’s “really motivated when I have awesome people I am working with, who are passionate and excited – that’s what I love about the University of Rochester.”

The Grand Challenges Scholar Program, she says, “seemed like a good way to structure the undergraduate experiences and opportunities I wanted to take advantage of, and to network with other students who were ambitious about the same opportunities.” Danielle has also been active in the Society of Women Engineers, helping organize once-a-semester day-long STEM workshops for girls still in elementary school. She has especially enjoyed serving as a workshop leader and teaching assistant — and is a passionate advocate for incorporating a workshop learning model used in physics, optics, and computer science into more engineering courses as well.

After graduation she plans to pursue a PhD, apply for a professorship, “have my own lab, study what I’m curious about, and lead a good team of students.” Learn more here about Danielle’s experiences.