Student Stories & Voices

Yeganeh Ali Mohammadi

Yeganeh explains how her love of applied math brought her to the operations research area of MS&E and how multidisciplinary exploring sparked an interest in modeling epidemic infection spread—a full year before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Nathan Lam

Nathan talks about how his involvement in student organizations has been a key element of his time at Stanford and in MS&E, leading to enhanced leadership and entrepreneurial skills, lifelong friendships, and dream teams for group coursework.

Daniela Rendon

Daniela discusses the extensive benefits to her sense of empowerment, initiative, and productivity that came from a change in perspective around career-related networking, as well as the importance of self-care as she juggled work and her studies.

Alex Patel

As he looks back on his time at Stanford, Alex is most proud of the leadership roles he held in different organizations on campus, including the Club Tennis team and the Charles R. Blyth Fund, a student-run investment fund. He shares stories from his undergraduate journey in this Q&A with the Stanford Global Studies Program.

Michelle Lahrkamp

Michelle’s commitment and behind-the-scenes work likely saved the Stanford sailing program from years of rebuilding—and propelled the team to become the first all-women team to win the Inter-collegiate Sailing Association’s 2023 Open Fleet Race National Championships.

2023 PhD cohort

Meet MS&E's newest PhD students! This year's cohort comes from a variety of backgrounds and areas of expertise, but coalesces around making the world a better place.

Kelly Devens

Kelly talks about her discovery that she could complete her degree while working, and discusses how invaluable this opportunity to study while managing projects with the Microsoft Azure Space team has been for her. She also explores how she is leaning into her imperfect perfectionism as she blends her passions for engineering and all things theatrical.

Shreya Mantha

Shreya shares how her exposure as a teen to the challenges faced by trafficking victims led her to co-found the Foundation for Girls with her sister, and how her values and principles continue inform her work, decisions and future plans.

Brian Reed

Brian discusses the value of multi-disciplinary work and how he has combined economics, computer science, and the natural sciences with MS&E to quantify the threats of extreme temperatures and flooding on the economic risks and prospects for companies in various industries, and how an understanding of these can inform mitigation efforts as well as create a competitive advantage.

Caitlin and Sean Casey

Growing up, the twins had a family motto: "Caseys are kind." At Stanford, they excelled in and out of the classroom, propelled by their dedication to others.

2022 PhD cohort

A warm welcome to our 2022 PhD student cohort! Get to know some of our newest students.

Bao Phan

Bao shares how she discovered how to use engineering and computational tools to advance social good, her experience as a first-generation low-income student at Stanford, and her work on MS&E’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee.

Hannah Li

Hannah describes her research on eliminating bias in algorithms driven by artificial intelligence, and how she blends the study of technical systems with the study of the people involved with those systems.

Marco Zocco

Marco's lifelong love for creation led him to pursue both music and MS&E at Stanford. He plans to utilize the skills he learned in both disciplines to innovate and enhance both his artistry and career. 

2021 PhD cohort

A warm welcome to our 2021 PhD student cohort! Get to know some of our newest students.

Lauren Green

Lauren's interest in engineering was sparked by her parents' stories about her grandfathers, one being an electrical engineer at IBM, and the other an engineer who worked on top-secret government projects.

Andrea Banuet Gonzalez

Andrea shares how at an early age she became fascinated with the way things worked—inspecting leaves under a telescope or taking apart and rebuilding a household fan.

Emily Arbuthnott

Emily shares how the COVID-19 pandemic led her to MS&E and how the program helped her find practical applications for her background in economics.

Virgil Smith

Virgil shares that his interest in engineering became apparent as an undergraduate in the United States Military Academy (USMA), where he learned about dynamic systems and multi-criteria decision analysis.

Wanyi Li

Wanyi shares how listening to an episode of the Freakonomics podcast series featuring Professor Al Roth led her to pursue a PhD degree in MS&E. Wanyi came to Stanford to study Operations Research focused on Economic Systems and Environmental Sustainability. 

Isaiah Sanders

Isaiah’s passion for helping those around him started early. He supported underprivileged youth and has been an inspirational speaker to high school and college students.

Malik Antoine

"Where I grew up, there are certain routes you're supposed to take. The courage comes in taking a different one."

Malik describes his journey and why a Stanford degree is especially meaningful for him.

Barbara Cardona

Barbara shares with us her fondest memories about her time at Stanford and in the MS&E program. She also shares insights about growing up in Honduras and how that directly influenced her career trajectory.

Lauren Elizabeth Feitzinger

Lauren shares her fondest memories about what attracted her to the STEM field, including solving math problems with her mother at a very young age, describing it as something that was ingrained into her identity.

Catherine Gu

Catherine shares her fondest memories about her time at Stanford and in the MS&E program. She also describes how the courses she took both in and outside of the program propelled her into the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain.

Elizabeth Christy Reichert

Elizabeth shares with us her fondest memories of her time at Stanford and in the MS&E program. She goes into depth about what attracted her to engineering, including the creativity and mindful ways engineers solve problems.

Laura Sun

Laura describes watching her father work on engineering projects as a young child, and how that ignited her curiosity for engineering. Laura also shares what she will miss most about the MS&E program and Stanford, in addition to her plans for the future.

Hannah Li

"As an engineer, you’re taught to build things, to optimize things."

Averie Collins

"Soccer has taught me so many incredible life skills from teamwork to problem solving, which I think directly applies to my work in MS&E."

Melanie Craxton

"I became interested in the intersection between behavioral economics and energy policy, inspiring many of the projects I have undertaken during my time at Stanford."

Bryce Marion

"Embrace the struggle. We come to Stanford because it’s an institution that can push us to a place in which we are uncomfortable-out of our depth. These experiences will come to bear the most fruit once you’ve moved on from this time in life. "

Jacqueline Wibowo

"I knew that I wanted to have social impact mixed with technology in an organization that I would like to found in the future."

Federica Roth

"I took classes on national security, economics, bioengineering, optimization, and so much more, all within MS&E. There are so many amazing classes here at Stanford, it is important to take advantage of them."

Sruthi Thatchenkery

"I am analyzing data to pinpoint the most effective ways for medical device startups to incorporate physicians into their work in collaboration with the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) and Stanford Graduate School of Business."