Allyson Tarifa
Allyson has been creating mechanical engineering resources for Research Girl and contributing to our website since June 2024.
About
Allyson Tarifa has always loved the maths and sciences. Since she was a little girl in her backyard collecting and categorizing rocks, building three-dimensional paper houses for her toys, and reading books on space and time, she was drawn to the wonders and inner workings of the physical world. Her journey truly began when she chose to study Black Holes for her eighth-grade science project. The experience of interviewing university students and professors, researching the fascinating nature of the universe, and preparing a presentation for her peers profoundly inspired Allyson. When it came time to choose a degree, to continue her quest of learning more about the world around her, Allyson decided to pursue Mechanical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Out of an interest in participating in research and studying fluid and thermal energy systems during Allyson’s second year at college, she joined the interdisciplinary research group for the Thermal Management of Solar Cells. In this position, she got the chance to work under the guidance of Nuggehalli M Ravindra modeling and analyzing the heat transfer of solar cells. This work resulted in a completed paper on the Optical Properties of Crystalline Silicon that Allyson presented and gave a talk on at the International 2023 Minerals, Metals, & Materials Society Convention in San Diego, California. As a member of the Thermal Management of Solar Cells team, Allyson also created a novel, fully integrated program that predicts how different environmental parameters affect the performance of commercially viable silicon solar cells across different wavelengths. She continues to work with Nuggehalli M Ravindra and is excited about future advancements and projects in solar cell technology.
During Allyson’s undergraduate career, she also completed an internship at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight with their Space Environmental Effects Team. This internship helped spurn Allyson’s passion for continuing to develop a career in Research and Development. Now, as Allyson undergoes her second summer internship with NASA, she looks forward to using all she’s learned during her undergraduate career to help other students succeed and find the career path they love.
Allyson deeply resonated with the mission of Research Girl and is excited to add Mechanical Engineering insight, advice, and resources for interested, motivated, and curious students.