September ’25 ASPIRE Student Section

Raquel Sarabia is a Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University, specializing in high-frequency power electronics and wireless power transfer for electric vehicle charging. With a background in industrial engineering and hardware design, her research focuses on developing cost-effective, lightweight, and efficient charging solutions. She earned her B.S. in Industrial Technologies Engineering from the University of Cantabria (Spain) in 2022 and her M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain) in 2024.

Dipanjan Ghose is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue, where he started in Fall ’24. He (mostly) loves working on energy optimization, electric vehicles, and their impact on our future — both from a technical angle and from broader societal and economic perspectives. When he’s not staring at his screen and pulling his hair over code that won’t run, he enjoys going on walks and hikes, swimming, discovering hidden songs, reading, cooking, and petting strangers’ dogs.

Bruno Cesar Krause Moras is a Ph.D. candidate at Purdue University. His research proposes solutions that align public perceptions, policies and market dynamics to make transportation more efficient and sustainable. Bruno has experience in teaching, he served as high school instructor and TA in several courses, and mentoring, being selected as recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Research Mentor Award from the John Martinson Honors College at Purdue University.

Francisco Contreras is a Civil Engineering PhD Candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder. For more than two years, he has contributed to ASPIRE’s Task 2.6 on Transportation Asset Management, with research focused on the risk and resilience of electrified roadways. His work with ASPIRE has allowed him to collaborate across multiple campuses and tasks. Outside of academia, Francisco enjoys spending time with family and friends and playing tennis.

Isaac Zuniga is a Ph.D. researcher in civil engineering with a focus on pavement systems, geotechnical materials, and nondestructive testing. Over the past several years, he’s worked on a range of projects involving intelligent compaction, foundation layer characterization, and the use of tools like the falling weight deflectometer, ground penetrating radar, traffic speed deflectometer, lightweight deflectometer, or intelligent compaction to assess pavement performance and detect subsurface issues. Whether it’s running modulus back-calculations, surveying material behavior under loading, or helping guide data-driven decision-making for transportation agencies, he’s keen about making pavement evaluation more precise, efficient, and practical.

Pedro Chavez Jr. earned his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso in December 2024, and he is now in his second semester as a graduate student. His research focuses on soil stabilization, specifically on cement-stabilized full-depth reclamation (FDR), with the objective of developing techniques that allow roads to open to traffic more quickly after construction.
As an undergraduate, he was introduced to ASPIRE and its mission to electrify roadways, which inspired him to get involved. Today, he is a member of the student organization on campus, and he is excited to both contribute to and learn from ASPIRE’s skilled and innovative team.

Ali Tasavvori is a Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Utah, where he conducts research in the U-Smart Energy Lab. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Sharif University of Technology in 2023. His research interests span power systems, renewable energy, and data-driven engineering. He is passionate about leveraging technology to solve real-world challenges.

Mackay Baugh is a student at Utah State University studying Mechanical Engineering and Business Management. He is from Providence Utah and has worked at ASPIRE for 4 years working in all projects that have passed through the mechanical teams in that time. He loves to ski, be on the river floating, and also reading books. He is always down to play board games and to try new things.

Brittany Piquet is an Electrical Engineering Master’s Candidate at Utah State University. She has worked at ASPIRE since she was an undergraduate student and enjoys the push to find innovative solutions to current problems. Throughout her time here, she has primarily worked on the Kenworth Megawatt Wireless Charger project for Kenworth Trucking.
In her free time, Brittany likes to spend time outdoors with friends and family. On the weekends, she can be found hiking and biking in the warmer months and skiing and sledding in the winter.