Undergraduate institution:Â Fort Lewis College
Arielle Platero is a Diné (Navajo), first-generation PhD student in mechanical engineering. While attending Fort Lewis College for her bachelor’s degree in engineering, Arielle was involved in different research projects including nuclear engineering research, working on calculating the flow of liquid metals, and environmental engineering research looking to quantify E.coli levels in the tributaries of the Animas River. Arielle also worked in a post-bachelor high-energy nuclear physics research position working with physicists at Los Alamos National Lab, Brookhaven National Lab and CERN in Switzerland. Arielle is very passionate about K-12 outreach and believes that others with a similar background can do difficult things when they put their minds to it, that they do belong in higher education settings, and that they can succeed. In her free time, Arielle enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters, hiking, traveling, and reading science fiction books. Arielle’s research interests are fluid mechanics and experimental research in engineering.