Alexa Ramirez

Alexa Ramirez is a first year Master's Student focusing in Quantum Information Science under the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Southern California. She is one of the 2024 USC-Meta Research and Education in AI Center Fellowship recipients. Prior to attending USC, Alexa graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. During her undergraduate studies, she was a full-time website developer for a research institute called Kavli Ensi, alongside being a communications assistant at a mechanical engineering research institute. She also did an internship with Tesla, while tutoring middle school kids interested in STEM fields. Throughout her 4 years, she did research in bioengineering, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering fields, which led her to obtain the Hispanic Scholarship Fund in 2020 and has obtained it again in 2024. After her undergraduate graduation, Alexa worked with Lockheed Martin as a Software Quality Engineer, giving her the opportunity to be part of the Liquid Propulsion Lab doing aerospace research, and being a member of the Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers here at USC. She's currently studying an Introduction to Quantum Information Processing and Linear Algebra for Engineering. Alexa is excited for her new future at USC to begin.

Alex Walburg

Alex Walburg is pursuing a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering with a focus in Control Systems. Prior to attending USC, Alex Walburg graduated Cum Laude from UCLA with a degree in Physics and Computer Science and Engineering. While attending UCLA, Alex served as a tutoring director for Upsilon Pi Epsilon, a youth mentor at LATAM and a first-place prize winner at the IBM Qiskit Hackathon. Alex works as an Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA) Verification Engineer at NASA JPL and is interested in bringing advanced control system techniques to flagship space missions.

Rhea Salian

Rhea Salian is a first year master's student in the Engineering Management program at the University of Southern California. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. As an undergraduate, Rhea co-authored two research papers focused on artificial intelligence applications in manufacturing, including the transition from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 and the evaluation of AI systems as advisory tools for small and medium enterprises. Her research experience involved survey design for industry feedback and comprehensive data analysis. Rhea has also worked at project engineering and sales engineering internships at Southland Industries and Trane Technologies, where she focused on project coordination, client relationship management, and data-driven decision-making. She is passionate about combining AI and engineering management to drive innovation and improve industry practices.