I'm currently a first-year student at the University of Leeds, studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering.  My research project is on Electric Vehicle charging point infrastructure planning, addressing a critical aspect of the transition to sustainable transportation. It seeks to optimize the design of EV charging infrastructure in public spaces. Through the evaluation of diverse charging configurations and the application of local/regional datasets, I will generate optimal location and capacity guidelines. These findings will aid local government authorities in establishing efficient and equitable public EV charging infrastructure.

Hello! I’m Trisha, a fourth-year student at Cornell University from Texas, USA. I’m majoring in Environment and Sustainability with a dual focus on food systems and wildlife conservation, and minoring in International Relations. My interests in combining my enduring passions for writing and wildlife conservation have driven me to explore multiple perspectives on highly-controversial issues such as trophy hunting, retaliatory animal killings, and illegal wildlife crime. Thus, during my first summer as a Laidlaw Scholar and as a member of the Morally Contested Conservation team, I wrote a literature review on the interconnectedness of climate change and human-wildlife conflicts in East and southern Africa. In June and July 2024, I furthered this research by traveling to the University of Oxford and to the Burunge Wildlife Management Area in Tanzania. I will be returning to Oxford and Burunge in June and July 2025 to report my results.  As an aspiring environmental policymaker and journalist, I am passionate about making technical scientific information more accessible to the general public. At Cornell, I am an Institute of Politics and Global Affairs Scholar, through which I interact with policymakers monthly to discuss pervasive issues in international politics. I also speak Marathi, Spanish, and Swahili at varying levels of fluency and plan to continue to grow my language skills to communicate environmental issues across continents and cultures.  For fun, I love to turn even the most mundane materials into recycled art, spend hours on end working through jigsaw puzzles, and go for runs while listening to podcasts. And as a diehard foodie who loves to travel, I’m always looking for recommendations of places to visit or new recipes to try!  The Laidlaw Scholars Program has been an invaluable component of my undergraduate experience. The friendships I’ve made, as well as the research and language skills I’ve begun to develop, have encouraged me to continue to ask and seek answers to complicated questions about global affairs and environmental science. If anyone has questions or feedback about the Laidlaw Program, is interested in collaborating, or just wants to say hello, please feel free to email me at trb238@cornell.edu. I hope we can meet in person someday!

I am interested in the fields of mechanobiology, biohybrid prosthetics, biophysics, Jungian psychology, and philosophy. Recently in association with Laidlaw; In Cornell University (N.Y, U.S.A.) I worked on curating an art book on biomechanics for charity to raise awareness in this field of science. And in Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), we worked on developing a microphysiological model of the osteocytic network in the bone that can be used to better understand the (patho)physiology of bone using Direct Laser Writing technology using MLO-Y4 cell culture.  On the side; In ETH Zürich (Switzerland), I was working on understanding bio-hybrid muscle actuators using C2C12 cell culture by amassing literature review, designing biobot unit, and conducting biocompatibility tests along with growing and differentiating muscle cells for further electrical stimulation. At DogPatch Labs's Patch (Dublin, Ireland) I was experimenting with creating a start-up company to help amputees get affordable prosthetics.  On the (other) side; I like to dance, write, and read anything I get my hands on; be it music, poetry, or even shampoo bottles. Please feel free to contact me here or on LinkedIn for any discussions regarding the aforementioned topics!