Peer Concentration Advisors (PCA) Program
PCAs serve as peer advisors for pre-concentrators (and current concentrators), providing a valuable perspective and helping students to discover additional resources and opportunities.
If you would like to be matched to a PCA, you can do one of the following:
- Reach out by email to a PCA with similar academic, career, or extracurricular interests by exploring their bios below.
- Get paired with a PCA by filling out the Find my PCA Google Form. While we recognize some students might know exactly what they are looking for, we are happy to help pair you.
Irissa Machetta (Co-Captain)
Email: irissamachetta@college.harvard.edu
Hi! I’m a junior at Harvard College studying the intersections of environmental engineering, bioengineering, and economics. I’m passionate about creating opportunities to address environmental justice and health inequities. Last summer, I interned at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, MA. This summer, I interned at BCG Consulting, helping companies take measurable actions to reduce carbon footprints. On-campus, I serve on the Advisory Board (SAB) of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute; Student Ambassador; Fellow at the Lemann Program on Creativity and Entrepreneurship (LPCE); Team Lead on the Leadership Institute for The First-Year Experience, and served on the board of the Harvard Robotics Club (2021), among others. I enjoy dancing, horseback riding, hiking, and training service dogs. Looking forward to meeting y’all.
David Andrade
Email: dandrade@college.harvard.edu
¡Hola! My name is David, and I am a second-semester junior in Mather House studying Mechanical Engineering, with a focus on aerospace engineering. I am deeply in love with aerospace, astrophysics, satellites, and rockets so if any of these topics interest you, I'd be definitely more than happy to chat! I've made the rounds with many wonderful SEAS clubs at Harvard, and am currently Chief Engineer of the Harvard Satellite Team (as part of Harvard SEDS), as well as a Supervisor for the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter (HSHS); I was previously Frosh Rep Chair for the Harvard College Engineering Society (HCES). I have had extensive experience interning in the space industry, working with SpaceX for Starlink (space laser optics and atmospheric characterization), a fall internship at Blue Origin (test engineering and damping methods for the BE-3U rocket engine), and a summer internship at Blue Origin (test engineering BE-3U rocket engine heater design). I am also an FGLI and LatinX student, and empathize with a lot of the fears that come from working in spaces where I was not well-represented, or fears coming from not doing engineering or coding before college; I hope to offer some perspective there. I’m from Miami and love feasting on croquetas, watching documentaries, and finding useless trivia to tell my friends. I also am a gigantic basketball nerd, love hiking, and like volunteering in my free time. If any of these things sound like you (or if they don’t, I like learning new things!) feel free to hit me up!
Molly Bosworth
Email: mollybosworth@college.harvard.edu
Hello lovelies! I’m Molly, an Electrical Engineering Junior living in Leverett House, and also an international student from the UK. My interests lie in Integrated Circuit design and working with electronics on the nanoscale. But what I love even more is getting people hyped up about Engineering and so you’ll see me help create and teach courses, and occasionally tour people around our sparkly new SEC building. In the meantime, you can ask me about Harvard College Engineering Society stuff, Engineering Research (and funding!) @ Harvard, and about the level of crazy you need to be to take graduate classes! Outside of Engineering, I enjoy creating digital art, playing games in Harvard's premier board game club (HAPIE), and finding the best comfy sofas to nap on around campus. So yeah! Email me… or don’t… but I think it would be ultra snazzy of you if you did.
Soyoun 'Soy' Choi
Email: soyounchoi@college.harvard.edu
Hi all! My name is Soyoun ‘Soy’ Choi, and I study Bioengineering (S.B.) on the Mechanical subtrack with a secondary in Economics. My hometown is Melbourne, a peaceful beach town on the east coast of Florida. My interest in engineering design has driven me to work on designing glass-based marine instruments for climate mitigation at the Rowland Institute at Harvard. I am also passionate about equitable representation among Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC) authors in orthopedic literature, so I am currently working on a project that involves bibliometric analysis to characterize LMIC authorship among indexed orthopedic journals and identify factors contributing to disparities in representation. On campus, I have been involved in various engineering community positions such as being Co-President of the Harvard College Engineering Society (HCES) as well as President of the Harvard Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Outside of my academic studies, I enjoy playing golf and tennis with friends. I also love music and play in the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra. I am always happy to chat with you about any of the above topics or beyond, so please reach out. I look forward to meeting you all!
Alex Dyer
Email: agdyer@college.harvard.edu
Hello! My name is Alex Dyer, and I’m originally from Tampa, FL. I am a junior at Harvard College working on an S.B. in electrical engineering with a secondary in global health and health policy. Within EE, I am interested in biomedical devices, specifically diagnostic devices. For the past two summers, I have worked at Mass Eye and Ear to expand medical education surrounding vestibular dysfunction and cochlear implant surgery. On-campus, I am involved with Engineers Without Borders (EWB), the Youth-to-Youth Homeless Shelter (Y2Y), Camp Kesem, and the IOP Policy Program. Additionally, I love spending my free time hiking, exploring Boston, and binging Netflix. Please feel free to contact me about anything electrical engineering related, including deciding between concentrations and tracks within engineering, selecting courses, finding undergraduate research opportunities, and balancing engineering with premed. I look forward to talking with you!
Litsa Kapsalis
Email: litsakapsalis@college.harvard.edu
Hi everyone! I'm Litsa Kapsalis, and I'm a junior in Pforzheimer studying Bioengineering (A.B.) in the Chemical & Materials subtrack. I'm interested in the development of biologic therapeutics and drug delivery modalities, and I am super excited about translating research from the lab to patients in the clinic. I have been involved in immunoengineering research in Prof Mooney's lab at the Wyss Institute, and I previously conducted microfluidic materials science engineering research at Northwestern University (Stupp Laboratory). This past summer, I worked in biotech venture capital at Northpond Ventures, where I conducted scientific due diligence on early stage companies and created a landscape on an emerging field of biomedical innovation. Moreover, I am a Team Lead at the Global Alliance for Medical Innovation (GAMI), where I am working with a team of students from Harvard and Duke to develop an SMS-based risk screening and awareness tool for patients in Haiti. I am also involved in the Society of Women Engineers, Hellenic Society, and Orthodox Christian Fellowship. Please feel free to reach out about anything bioengineering related, including deciding between concentrations and tracks within engineering, navigating course options, finding undergraduate research opportunities, and exploring non-traditional career paths in biotech. I look forward to meeting you!
Daniel Mhrous
Email: dfmhrous@college.harvard.edu
Howdy! My name is Daniel Mhrous and I am a junior in Lowell House from Fort Worth, Texas. As an avid tinkerer that loves functional projects, I found the Bioengineering S.B. to be a great blend of practicality, impact, and innovation. Over the last couple of years here at Harvard, I’ve had a great time creating a hands-on engineering experience and hope to help those trying to do the same. I enjoy tinkering in the makerspaces across campus (good news: there are a lot), learning new programming languages, and can confidently answer almost any question you might have on how to fix your bicycle (Very relevant for any engineer at the SEC…). Over the years I have gotten to participate in a wide variety of summer internships ranging from service-oriented to research with PRISE. I’ve also gotten to do research in both medical device design as well as pure bioengineering and STEM cell culturing. In my free time, I enjoy biking, swimming, hiking, and flying drones. If you think any of these topics are super cool, (or even if you don’t) and just have questions about course selection or research, feel free to reach out!
Bella Nesti
Email: bellanesti@college.harvard.edu
Hey all! My name is Bella Nesti, and I am a junior in Leverett House studying Environmental Science and Engineering. I am originally from Honolulu, Hawai`i, and love repping my home island whenever I can. Although I formally study environmental engineering, my interest especially lies in the intersection between mechanical and environmental engineering. This past summer, I have been able to do some research with the Keutsch group to learn more about the instrumentation used to conduct atmospheric research. I love how much environmental engineering allows me to explore topics like the earth sciences, chemistry and biology while still being grounded in the design process. At Harvard, I am a part of the Harvard Hawai`i club, do a lot of work in technical theater, and enjoy participating in Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN) and Harvard Radio Broadcasting (WHRB). Needless to say, I want to be a spokesperson for the fact that being an engineer can mean you have a variety of interests, including those in the humanities and in the arts! In my spare time, I like to make art, go running and biking and find new songs and artists on Spotify. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, or if you just want to grab coffee and hang out!
Serena Zhao
Email: serenazhao@college.harvard.edu
Hey! My name is Serena Zhao and I’m a junior in Lowell House on the premed track, pursuing an S.B. in Bioengineering and a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. Though I’m interested in all things related to biotech, medicine, and engineering, I’m especially fascinated with applying mathematical and engineering concepts to redesign biological organisms ( known as synthetic biology) for medical applications. Within this specific field, I’ve been developing tunable genetic circuits for cancer immunotherapy at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute; this past summer, I also interned abroad at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, working on implementing a Cas9 protein diversification system within E. coli to achieve wider CRISPR-Cas9 sequence recognition. I love bringing science and technology to the public, whether that means working with medtech startups or educational organizations. On campus, I’m the Managing Editor of Content at THURJ and I volunteer with Chinatown ESL, a PBHA program. In my free time, I love exploring scenic hikes, trying new recipes, and hopping into any Boston-area concert I can find. If you want to chat about finding opportunities and networking in research/industry, interning abroad, balancing premed and engineering, or anything else, please reach out! Would love to chat and pass on any *insider’s* knowledge/advice that may be of use :)