Think “Tinder” for sustainably sourced collegiate gear and higher education networking. This is the idea behind my startup "college thrifts" (currently rebranding to "unicycle") which is an inclusive peer to peer platform for students/alumni to buy/sell their gently used college branded items and network amongst users The "college thrifts" goal is to create more inclusive and sustainable institutions of higher education, supporting economic development amongst college students, and creating mentorship opportunities. We are directly addressing 4 UN SDGs which include Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, Goal 13: Climate Action, and Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. In 14 months, we have grown our Instagram MVP (https://www.instagram.com/college_thrifts/) exponentially! The platform has grown to over 4600 followers representing over 250 institutions including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs))! I have designed all the UI/UX frames, website, and marketing material with limited resources as a one-person team but this scholarship would allow me to bring this vision to life in a more effective/faster way by allowing me to expand my team! However, for this to be successful, we need toe technical expertise to meet the demands of our users! We want to build a mobile application to allow for a more pleasant user experience (to complement the designs I've made)!

Born in a community where STEM is often believed to be “better suited for boys,” I questioned whether this was the right path of study for me. The statement, “You don’t look like the engineer type” led me to doubt my abilities. Growing up in Miami’s underserved Hispanic community of Little Havana, the typical response to saying I hoped to one day be an engineer was followed by an ill-formed comment along the lines of, “You want to be a mechanic? That’s a man’s job.” I asked myself how I was going to contribute to a field that I had come to believe was designed for a person I was not. After much reflection, I knew I would not let societal influences, such as the constraining power of stereotypes or the 33125-zip code I was born in, deter me from pursuing what I am passionate about. Today, I know I’ve made the right decision. I am an incoming MS student at the University of Southern California pursuing a degree in Product Development Engineering. I am passionate about utilizing a systems perspective to collaborate across disciplines and designing innovative, human-centered solutions to various 21st-century challenges. During my early undergraduate years, I traded the traditional Miami swimsuit for a lab coat as I traveled over a thousand miles to take on a full-time summer research positions at renowned institutions. From engineering 3D skeletal muscle tissue at MIT to developing a piezoelectrect sensor to detect pressure changes of the radial artery at the University of California Berkeley, I came to understand the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. Throughout these collaborative research projects, I learned the process of creating and developing new products from initial ideation and designing with the most vulnerable populations in mind. I also developed project management skills while establishing metrics for evaluating my project performance through quantitative and qualitative measures. The transferable skills I gained in the research laboratory prepared me tremendously for my shift to industry, despite the remote setting. This summer I had the opportunity to intern at Medtronic as a manufacturing engineer. My focus was on developing a process to maintain compliance, mitigate risk, and protect patient safety throughout the end-to-end labeling process, while maintaining cost-effective, efficient, and profitable operations. While working in these roles, I realized that in my journey to be more than a one-dimensional engineer, I was also identifying my passions. During my research experience at UC Berkeley, I decided to nurture my entrepreneurial spirit and begin working towards the development of my social venture focused on creating more inclusive and sustainable college campuses. I’ve learned how to react timely and effectively to changes while keeping all stakeholders in mind, which is relevant in any industry setting. I’ve also been able to hone in on my technical skills to create value for the users by implementing systems thinking and human-centered design principles. Being able to translate technical success into market success by understanding the users resulted in $31,000 from pitch competition wins and features in various media publications. Being an entrepreneurial engineer has allowed me to be more strategic in projects that I undertake, and I believe ultimately in an organization. In addition to my coursework and extracurriculars, I have focused my outreach efforts mentoring the rising generation of Miami STEM leaders. I became involved with TECHNOLOchicas, a national initiative of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) and the Televisa Foundation designed to raise awareness among young Latinas and their families about opportunities and careers in technology. My volunteer work focused on planning interactive tech workshops for young Latina girls attending Title 1 schools in underprivileged Miami communities to increase their interests in STEM subjects. Through my continuous volunteer efforts with TECHNOLOchicas, I was selected as the student face for the national TECHNOLOchicas campaign which aired nationally on Univision channels. This afforded me the opportunity to not only represent my commitment to STEM education and service but that of FIU and the City of Miami on a national platform. My focus as an undergraduate has been with an eye towards graduate school and a career at a mission-driven tech company. Throughout my research experience, academic coursework, work experience, and extra-curricular, I have proven myself to be a dedicated, driven, passionate, and successful individual.

During my freshman year of college, I first became involved with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and Society of Women Engineers (SWE) in which I facilitated K-12 outreach programs to help inspire the next generation of students in engineering and technology by hosting workshops at various schools in Miami Dade County. However, I had an itch to do more. I then became involved with TECHNOLOchicas (a national initiative of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and Televisa Foundation designed to raise awareness among young Latinas and their families about opportunities and careers in technology), which would change my life forever. My initial involvement consisted of organizing outreach activities in the local community, volunteering at workshops, and participating in interviews. I was also focused on planning interactive tech workshops for Latina girls ages nine to thirteen attending Title 1 schools in underprivileged Miami communities to increase their interests in STEM subjects. As I continued my community service endeavors with TECHNOLOchicas, I received a phone call that has allowed me to expand my community service beyond the city of Miami. I was selected as the student face for the national TECHNOLOchicas campaign (https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ngFt/technolochicas-patricia-garca-ingeniera-mecanica-spanish). The campaign is focused on encouraging more Latinas to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math by sharing the stories of powerful Latina women. Through this immense honor, I've had the opportunity to not only represent my commitment to service, but that of FIU and the City of Miami on a national platform. When the campaign launched in January, I had the opportunity to mentor about seventy Latina students from Bell Middle School and Perkins Elementary in San Diego who traveled to the Qualcomm’s headquarters for a panel discussion and hands-on STEM workshops. In addition to the service aspect of the campaign, I have had the opportunity to share my story which will be shared through broadcast television, local events, social media, online videos, workshops, conference panels, and outreach events. My time at the undergraduate level has allowed me to expand on my capacity to lead by inspiring a new generation of Hispanic students to delve into the world of higher education and become leaders of their communities. My commitment to service has also not only made me a better person, but it has further reinforced my time management skills, expanded my horizons, and built my workplace ethics. I am not only a more well-rounded researcher and engineer, but I have been molded into a better citizen which will make me a more competitive engineer in the global market. Prior to my time as an undergraduate, I thought pursuing a degree in STEM was nothing but an unrealistic goal for a Latina girl who grew up in the underserved community of Little Havana. However, through my experiences inside and outside of the classroom, not only have I solidified my passion for a long-standing interest, but I developed the confidence in myself to pursue my goals. This award would allow me to continue uplifting the rising generation of STEM leaders as opposed to worrying about how I will pay for school.

Born into a society where STEM is often believed to be “better suited for boys,” I questioned whether this was the right path of study for me. The statement, “You don’t look like the engineer type” led me to doubt my abilities because of the labels placed on me. Growing up in Miami’s underserved Hispanic community of Little Havana, the typical response to saying I hope to one day be an engineer was followed by an ill-formed comment along the lines of, “You want to be a mechanic? That’s a man’s job.” I asked myself how I was going to contribute to a field that I believed was designed for a person I was not. After much reflection, I knew I would not let societal influences, such as the constraining power of stereotypes or the zip code I was born in, deter me from pursuing my dreams. Today, I know I made the right decision. I am a rising senior in the Honors College at Florida International University (FIU) on track to be the first graduate of FIU’s newly established School of Universal Computing, Construction, and Engineering Education (SUCCEED), spearheading the brand-new interdisciplinary engineering degree with a concentration in manufacturing engineering. My passion for engineering began early on in my academic career before starting my undergraduate journey! At just 18, I was leaving Little Havana, my family, and my culture, and walking away into an unknown, mysterious world in search of that elusive engineering adventure I longed for. However, this was not just any adventure. It was a journey to transform myself into a multi-dimensional engineer. I traded the traditional Miami swimsuit for a lab coat as I traveled over a thousand miles from home to take on a full-time research position at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). While at WPI, I worked in Dr. George Pins lab, which focuses on creating bioengineered scaffolds to enhance the regeneration of damaged tissues and organs. The lab had recently developed fibrin-based composite layers to restore function following a myocardial infarction. To better understand the material properties of the composite patch, my project focused on evaluating the integration of the fibrin microthread and fibrin hydrogel phases. I conducted various fibrin pull-out tests to quantify the force it took to pull a fibrin microthread from a fibrin hydrogel which would simulate the forces the composite patch would undergo when embedded in a beating heart. I also had the opportunity to present at the national Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) conference in Phoenix in 2017! Because of my dedication to my research, the lab is now able to use the fibrin hydrogel composite model I designed as well as the testing model for future studies. In addition to the work done in the lab, I also shared my passion for engineering with middle school girls who I served as a mentor during a week-long bioengineering summer program. This experience granted me the opportunity to serve as a role model by sharing my knowledge with a younger cohort of rising researchers and thus experience first-hand the gratification this process yields. It sparked the desire to also be involved in the mentoring side of research, especially in order to provide guidance and support for students that might not otherwise obtain it, as my multiple mentors have done for me. Throughout my time in engineering, not only have I solidified my passion for a long-standing interest but have developed new interests as well. 

Throughout my time at the undergraduate level, I’ve had the opportunity to experience distinct college campuses and cultures across the United States from working on research projects at the University of California Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), and the University of Miami to participating in hackathons at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Southern California. Throughout my time at these distinct universities, I noticed there is one thing all these institutions of higher education have in common: high priced college gear. It’s the 21st century, but the university system continues to subtly discriminate and exclude low-income students, like myself, who cannot afford to purchase this merchandise while catering to those who can. When you walk into any college bookstore (no matter where in the nation), you’ll be sure to spot the $60 crewneck besides the $50 sweatpants, and $35 tee. With rising costs of tuition, room, and board, the average college student cannot afford to pay these high prices in hopes of simply sporting their school's name. Students have expressed a need for a platform that allows them to purchase gently used college merchandise at a fraction of the bookstore prices. That's why I founded "college thrifts". Think “Tinder” for college branded gear. "college thrifts" is an inclusive peer to peer platform for students/alumni to buy and sell their gently used college branded items. We are directly addressing 4 UN SDGs which include Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, Goal 13: Climate Action, and Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. Overall, our goal is to raise awareness about the environmental impacts of wasteful practices at the college level, as well as provide a platform for students to feel part of their college communities. It is our responsibility to spark sustainable consumption behavior and do our share to make the world a better place.