Ricardo Gonzales

After completing his associate’s degree at Oxnard College, Ricardo transferred to the University of California, Davis, where he majors in Computer Engineering. Following a previous REU experience that focused on machine learning, Ricardo wanted to gain additional lab experience before pursuing a PhD in nanophotonics.

Hardware Programming for nano-electrical-mechanical systems (NEMS): Ricardo’s project with Kamil Ekinci, focused on utilizing a Nanoelectricalmechanical Systems (NEMS) Resonator with the goal of implementing a machine learning algorithm to identify differential equations based on data collected. His graduate student mentor was Monan Ma.

“It was my best summer experience so far. The research project I got was aligned with my interests and everyone from the REU program was so friendly. Got to do a lot of stuff I never thought I was going to do. At first, I thought I was only going for work but I found a community, friends, and future connections.”