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Mia Parelius Project Manager Mia Parelius is a fourth-year Computer Science and Engineering student and the Project Manager of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Being part of this project provides her a meaningful opportunity to help underserved communities who do not have access to the health care knowledge they need. Upon graduation, Parelius is interested in either user experience design or project management as potential career options. Parelius hopes to make a difference in society through the use of coding and technology. She has a passion for the disabled community and desires to do everything she can to help them and their families through the journey. |
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Luis Cedillo Intellectual Property Officer Luis Cedillo currently studies Computer Science Engineering as a fourth-year undergraduate. In the past, he has taken on various leadership roles in and outside of the academic setting and has also won first place at a hackathon by working with a team to create an Alexa skill designed to help individuals cope with depression. Cedillo’s decision to join the Engineering Service Learning team, Project Protect, is due to its combination of humanitarian outreach and real-world engineering experience. In the future, he plans to pursue a career in his discipline while simultaneously working to give back to the community. |
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Bruce Duong Procurement Finance Officer Bruce Duong is a third-year Computer Science and Engineering major and the Procurement and Finance Officer of the Engineering Service Learning team, Project Protect. Duong joined the team to help develop and maintain a mobile application that will empower the underserved communities in the Merced area by providing educational and language assistance with regard to their health care. He hopes this will help them to take charge of their health care options for themselves and their loved ones. Overseeing the resources needed for a software application, Duong plans to gain valuable skills in relation to coding, project management, and an insight into app development. |
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Hacsibe Ayon Team Leader Hacsibe Ayon is a third-year Computer Science and Engineering student and a team leader of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Ayon's interest in Engineering Service Learning lies in her desire to generate a positive impact on the community of Merced as well as the surrounding communities. She hopes to promote attainable medical access to multi-ethnic communities through a mobile application, Healthy Host. As the team leader, Hacsibe aspires to improve her leadership, management, teamwork, and networking skills. Upon graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in software development or web development for a prominent company. |
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Jose Zarate Team Leader Jose Zarate is a fourth-year Computer Science and Engineering student and the team leader of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Zarate’s interested in becoming a researcher at a university like UC Merced. He is currently working on being part of the robotics team to build robots for competition at national events. Zarate chose Project Protect to help health patients with language barriers, to make it easy for them to communicate with their doctors and be diagnosed accurately to receive the best care. Zarate plans on getting a Ph.D. in software engineering to help him get into a research university. |
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Karla Ayala Avalos Team Member Karla Ayala Avalos is a first-year student pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Avalos comes from a Hispanic family who struggles to understand English. Understanding the hardship has persuaded her to join the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team so that others do not have to go through the same difficulties her family went through. Avalos has a history of working on data entry and, through Project Protect, she is able to maintain her skills at a good level. She believes the project will teach her valuable skills that can set her foundation for success in engineering entrepreneurship.’ |
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Victor Cen Team Member Victor Cen is a second-year Engineering student at the University of California, Merced. He is a team member of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. By taking part in this project, Cen hopes to apply his developing computer skills to create and/or improve a mobile application to assist the elderly community and their caregivers to better understand the essential healthcare information. Cen aims to improve his computer proficiency through his participation in Project Protect to provide crucial apps with functions for multiple communities in and around the San Joaquin Valley. |
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Caleb Hoppe Team Member Caleb Hoppe is a first-year Engineering major pursuing a career in Bioengineering. Hoppe is a member of Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team, where he is building a mobile application called Healthy Host to assist the underprivileged in diagnosing their health problems. Academically, he is interested in creating new technology that doctors can use to more accurately operate on their patients. In the future, Hoppe hopes to become an engineer in the medical field so that he can better help those in need, and make a difference in the lives of the helpless. |
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Richard Manrique Team Member Richard Manrique is a fourth-year Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) major and a team member of Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Manrique plans to use his experience with CSE courses here at UC Merced to provide the team with making improvements to the Healthy Host app. Manrique joined this team to help make a difference in the Merced area. He spends most of his time to working on schoolwork and improve his coding skills. Currently, he is the president of the Bobcat Martial Arts Team. His goal for the future is to get a career in the field of software engineering or game development. |
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Max Navarro Team Member Max Navarro is a fifth-year Environmental Engineering student and a team member of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team. Being part of this project provides him a meaningful opportunity to help members of his community understand the medical services available to them. Academically, Navarro is interested in soil science and the remediation of soil health using biochar and has been working with Applied Biomass Technicians. Navarro hopes to become a leading expert in the field of micro-ecological development in soil. Navarro plans on using his skill set to improve soil quality in the agricultural areas in California that suffer from soil contamination. |
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Cesar Villalobos Team Member Cesar Villalobos is a first-year pursuing his Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. Villalobos is a member of the Project Protect Engineering Service Learning team where he helps the team update and/or add a major feature to a mobile app called Healthy Host. Villalobos has a passion for building and making mechanisms, and has made certain projects like remote controlled cars. He also loves to work on and fix things with his hands. His goal in life is to have a career in the automobile industry where he will either design or build cars and parts. |
